Driving through Villelaure on my way home from visiting friends who run a vineyard in Ansouis (www.stestevedeneri.com) I came across a rather intriguing sign.

Green Asparagus – Marseille London Paris.

On December 24th just after the celebration of midnight mass 13 desserts which symbolise Christ and the 12 apostles are served.  In Provence there is no traditional cake or pie at this time of year.  Instead they prepare a gathering of what used to be exotic fruit and nuts that came to the seaport city of Marseilles from other Mediterranean ports.

Carding or cardage in French is the process of brushing fibers to prepare them as textiles. It’s no surprise therefore that many towns in Provence, which has been sheep ridden since the Romans, have a street called rue des cardeurs or place des cardeurs.

Red coral or precious coral is still harvested throughout the Mediterranean Sea at depth of 30 metres or below.  Jewellery of all shapes and sizes has been made using coral since antiquity.

While in North America recently I was taken aback by the number of screw tops on wine bottles. Screw tops have long been synonymous with plonk in France.

Just in time to commemorate the allied invasion of Provence, the U.S.S. Annapolis has arrived in the Port of Toulon. Operation Dragoon originally called Anvil (the southern counterpart to Operation Overlord) www.operationdragoon.com took place on August 15, 1944 with allied landings on beaches all along the coast between Toulon and Cannes.

It's that festive time of year again and the streets of many European cities from Paris to  St. Petersburg are all equipped with lights manufactured right here in Provence. If you have seen how remarkable the Champs Elysées looks before Christmas it's all thanks to the designers at Blachere Illumination in Apt.

The Fête des Rois (or Festival of Kings) takes place on the 12th day after Christmas and is known as the Epiphany. In France the tradition is marked by a dessert known as the Galette des Rois or King's Cake which is sold with a paper crown.

The Cousteau Foundation and The National Geographic Society ship Alcyone, also known as " Daughter of the Wind", was in the Vieux Port of Marseilles recently.

Provence was dotted with ice houses that produced and stored giant cubes of ice needed in city centers to store perishable goods.The Glacière de Pivaut located in Mazauges at the foot of the Sainte Baume mountain pictured above was fully functional until the late 1780s and recently restored. Like it’s counterparts it was built on an incline so as to be able to load on one end while taking ice out from another.

You can spot these lovely lavender wands for sale on a few markets in Provence and in the Alpes de Hautes Provence. By weaving different colour ribbons through freshly cut lavender that remains malleable these hand-made objects are both beautiful and useful.

Every village in Provence has a shop that sells locally made pottery. But if you’d like to know more about how they are made and the origins of the shapes and colours, there are 3 manufacturers worth visiting.