The Fountains of Puyloubier

Puyloubier

One of the things we've noticed is the large number of fountains even in the small towns.  They seem to be along every few blocks.  Of course, there are famous fountain boulevards, like the Cours Mirabeau in Aix, but each little square and intersection seems to have some sort of fountain, even if just a block away from a major fountain.

By Craig's count, there are four fountains in Puyloubier, not including the various community taps (these are treated potable water taps where anyone can fill up a water bottle).  We thought doing a blog post on the fountains in town would also give a chance to give more information about the town in which we're living.

Starting from the west end of town (a few houses west of our place):

1. Place du Mairie.  This is the fountain in front of the mairie - the town hall.  The term hôtel de ville is also used in France, it seems to be regional which term is used.  Our mairie has a square in front of it with plane trees, as you can see in the picture.  In the afternoon (and evening in the summer), people play boules (lawn bowling) in this area.  There's enough room for 3 or 4 simultaneous games.  It's usually the retired men of the town, although I've seen young men and women also playing - it seems very democratic, with mixed-gender and mixed-age games commonly occurring.  The mairie building contains the town administration offices, as well as the poste and a common room where the town holds its pilates and aerobics classes.  This square is also where they set up the beer garden when the exhibition is in town, and similar social events.

Places de la Republique (l) and Damase Malet (r)

2. Place de la République.  Moving east up the Ave. Pierre Jacquemet (the road our home is on), we come to the Café Sainte Victoire.  This is the local eatery, with plats (what we would call entrees) ranging in the €8-15 range.  It has limited inside seating, so it has taken over the Place de la Republique as its outdoor seating area. In the centre of that is this fountain, which you can see is used by the café to hold up its sunshades.

3. Place Damase Malet.  Continuing east on what might be considered the same street, but with a new name (Grand Rue), we come to this fountain in a tiny square that consists of one tree and a couple of benches (and the fountain, of course).  Just a few homes downhill from here is the Festival des Pains, our usual patisserie (we go in maybe 5 times a week, which is very irregular relative to the natives, who might visit twice each day).  It is a relatively busy intersection, being a T-intersection at the end of the road to Trets.

4. Place Henri Verlaque.  Again changing its name as we move eastward (to rue Jean Jaurès), we come to the local library, which is also a museum located in a former olive oil-production facility (the moulin à huile).  As is befitting such a pedigree, there are two olive trees in the place along with this fountain against the far wall (the entrance to the bibliotheque is on the right just out of the picture).  This building and square also hosts various events such as exhibitions by local artists and, I think, can be hired for wine-and-cheese parties by local organizations.  You may be able to tell from the picture that there is no water flowing in this fountain.  Although not uncommon, far more fountains in Provence have water flowing than are dry like this one, which seems strange since it is quite an arid climate and pumping in the water might seem to be a superfluous expense, especially in a small community like Puyloubier.