Gémenos — Sainte-Baume & Saint-Maximin: private taxi tour

This is one of the tours I prefer because it breaks from postcard Provence. We leave Gémenos to the east and reach Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in a little under an hour. The basilica is a shock every time: it is the largest Gothic church in the south of France, begun in 1295 to house the relics of Saint Mary Magdalene. You enter, the light falls from the stained-glass windows, and in the crypt you approach the golden reliquary. Then we head to Brignoles, the historic capital of green Provence: Place aux Aires shaded by plane trees, the old lanes, the Pays brignolais museum housed in the former palace of the Counts. Finally Cotignac, one of the most beautiful villages of the Var. The tuff cliff overlooking the village is pierced by troglodyte caves inhabited until the 17th century, and you can climb up on foot. On the village squares, fountains flow constantly and the cafés seem not to have changed in a century. Back to Gémenos through the Caramy valley. Book on +33 6 98 46 63 34.