So big it's got it's own weather system

Rognes (week 29)

Another town that struck our fancy in the Secret Provence book was Rognes.  It is now known for a few things.  One is for being one of the four towns largely destroyed in the 1909 Lambesc Earthquake, which measured ~6 on the Richter scale - that might not be overpowering for modern Pacific rim buildings, but 19th century stone houses were not built to withstand it.  Another thing for which it is known is its old quarry, giving building stones of a distinct colour (they were popular with the people of Aix).  A third is the gigantic ex voto to the Virgin for saving the town from damage in WWII, carved into the former La Foussa château fortification.  It is six metres tall, although you can't get right next to it for a proper sense of scale.  Ironically, it looks larger from the hill a couple of kilometres outside of town than it does close-up.

the Tour Guide

We wandered around the town, which was very nice, including a friendly cat that followed us for several blocks that the boys named "The Tour Guide".  We eventually found our way up some rough footpaths to the ruins of the château.  Although we were told at the tourist bureau it was on private property, it was clear that the path was well-used and there was no indication that it was, in fact, private.  Along the way you pass some ruined foundations from the earthquake, along with sections of garden walls around current houses that are obviously old and jagged, presumably also survivors of the quake.  New construction is proceeding apace on the site of the old town, so if you want to see the ruins, you'd better come soon!

Further along the path, we passed some grottoes and troglodyte dwellings, around which have been found evidence of prehistoric dwelling.  The ruins on the hill are called Le Foussa, which is the name of the 13th century château, but some of the surrounding ruins appear to be from an earlier period and are called the oppidum, the Latin word for a type of Celtic hill-fort, suggesting a town from at least the period at the start of Roman era.  The most prominent remains from the medieval Le Foussa is a piece of wall that includes a window.  I like the description in the walking tour guide produced by the town: "La légende raconte qu'un seigneur tyrannique a été défenestré à cet endroit et que la fenêtre aurait été conservée pour mémoire," i.e. a local tyrant was thrown from the window, so it was saved as a memorial.