Transcript for Episode 543: Living the Dream: Moving from Australia to Paris, Burgundy, and Provence

Categories: French Food & Wine, Moving to France, Provence

Discussed in this Episode

• Paris
• Burgundy
• Provence
• Nuits-Saint-Georges
• Loire
• Le Mans
• Tavel
• Avignon
• L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
• Cavaillon
• Ménerbes
• Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
• Arles
• Baux-de-Provence
• Apt
• Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt
• Robion
• Oppède
• Oppède-le-Vieux
• Côte d’Azur
• Alps
• Bretagne
• Normandy
• Basque Coast
• Escape Magazine
• Le Saint-Hubert (restaurant and hotel)
• Airelles (hotel group)
• Le Mas des Infermières (winery)
• Ridley Scott
• Languelot (wine)
• Bras Ouverts (concierge service)

[00:00:15] Introduction and Guest Welcome
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[00:00:15] Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 543, cinq cent quarante-trois.

Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.

[00:00:31] Today on the podcast
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[00:00:31] Annie: Today, I bring you a conversation with Alexandra Lalak, an Australian travel and food writer living in France.

Join me as we explore her journey from Australia to Paris, Burgundy, and finally Provence. Discover her love for French culture, cuisine, and the beautiful landscapes of Burgundy and Provence.

Alex shares valuable tips for anyone dreaming of moving to France or just visiting. This episode is filled with insights on French wine, local markets, and the serene, fulfilling Mediterranean lifestyle.

Tune in for an inspiring and informative conversation.

[00:01:11] Podcast supporters
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[00:01:11] Annie: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the Southwest of France in my electric car.

You can browse all of that at my boutique: JoinUsinFrance.com/boutique.

And remember Patreon supporters get the podcast ad-free as soon as it’s ready. Click on the link in the show notes to enjoy this Patreon reward for as little as three dollars per month.

And I’d like to remind you that to see the show notes for this episode and the transcript for this episode, you need to go to JoinUsinFrance.com/543. That’s the numeral 5-4-3.

[00:02:02] The Magazine segment
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[00:02:02] Annie: For the magazine part of the podcast today after my chat with Alexandra,I’ll discuss changes coming to the Airbnb market in France that are going to affect visitors as well.

[00:02:23] Annie and Alexandra
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[00:02:23] Annie: Bonjour, Alex Lalak, and welcome to Join Us in France.

[00:02:27] Alex: Thank you so much, Annie. It’s lovely to be with you.

[00:02:30] Annie: Wonderful to talk to you. We have a lot of fun topics to discuss. You live in France, and you went from Paris to Burgundy. So, we’re going to talk a lot about moving to France, how to find great places in France. You’re a travel writer as well, so we’re going to talk about that.

And if you have, you know, suggestions for people who are looking to visit Burgundy, and all of that good stuff.

So, why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?

[00:03:01] Alex’s Journey to France
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[00:03:01] Alex: Sure. I’m an Australian food and travel writer, and I’m currently living in the South of France, but as you mentioned, I did, I was going to say did some time, that makes it sound bad, but I spent some time in Burgundy, which was amazing actually. But yeah, my France story began in Paris originally, I would say six or seven years ago, I lose track. I first moved to France, I think it had always been a little dream of mine to live in Paris, I think as it is for many people.

And I thought I would move to Paris for maybe two years, I had in my mind as a sort of time, I thought that would be a nice amount of time to spend in Paris. But I, to put it simply really, I was seduced by France, and I was also seduced by a Frenchman, I should probably mention as well.

[00:03:45] Annie: Yeah.

[00:03:46] Alex: Who is now my husband, so…

[00:03:49] Annie: Yes, yes, yes.

[00:03:50] Alex: That story ended well.

[00:03:52] Annie: Good.

[00:03:53] Alex: It wasn’t just my wonderful husband who took me in, I really, I just fell in love with France and I fell in love with the life here, much more than I expected actually, when I first moved here.

[00:04:02] Annie: Yeah.

[00:04:03] It’s about the French way of life
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[00:04:03] Alex: I thought Paris would be beautiful and I thought living here would be lovely, but I’ve really found that I love the way of life and the way that the French people approach life and the philosophies, and the quality of life that we enjoy here. So, that’s one of the reasons why I’m still here.

[00:04:18] Annie: Yeah. And your husband is from which part of France?

[00:04:22] Alex: His family are from, originally from the Loire, just outside of Le Mans. But he actually grew up in the US.

[00:04:28] Annie: Oh.

[00:04:28] Alex: He’s French American. He’s actually French Peruvian, but he grew up in the US. So, we’ve got quite a mix of nationalities going on in our household.

[00:04:36] Annie: Wow. So does he have French nationality as well?

[00:04:39] Alex: He does, yes.

[00:04:40] Annie: Okay. So you don’t have a lot of problems with visas and things like that?

[00:04:44] Alex: No, I’ve been doing my own visa, now that we’re married, I’ve changed to one connected to him. But no, it hasn’t been an issue. And he, as a French citizen, he has no problems. And we have a little baby, a little Frenchman of our own, so he obviously, he was born here, so he’s a French citizen as well.

[00:04:59] Annie: Oh, congratulations. How old is your baby?

[00:05:01] Alex: Mm-hmm. Thank you. He’s 17 months. Leonardo.

[00:05:04] Annie: Ooh.

[00:05:06] Alex: Yeah. Yeah, he has a lot of energy.

[00:05:08] Annie: Yes, I bet.

[00:05:09] Alex: Yeah. And is currently navigating.

[00:05:12] Annie: Is he walking yet?

[00:05:13] Alex: Oh, he is. He is running. Running, climbing. He was quite an early walker, so he gets around a lot. And he’s sort of navigating the two languages at the moment, so he’s just on the cusp of speaking, so that’s been quite fun as well.

[00:05:27] Annie: Wonderful. Well, that’s going to keep you very busy for the foreseeable future.

[00:05:31] Alex: Yes. Yes. Yes, absolutely.

[00:05:34] Annie: Okay.

[00:05:34] Life in Burgundy
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[00:05:39] Annie: So you mentioned that you were in Burgundy, but you moved away from Burgundy to go to Provence?

[00:05:40] Alex: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:42] Annie: Tell us a little bit more about that. What are the things that people need to know about these two parts of France, when they’re considering a place to move to? And Paris as well. I mean, you’ve lived in all three.

[00:05:53] Alex: Yeah. I think for me personally, so as I said, I moved to Paris because it had always been a little dream of mine. I have to say actually I’d always, like a lot of people, had a little dream of living in Provence very down as well. I think the first time we all read A Year in Provence, you know, the Peter Mayle classic, I think I just sort of always dreamed of being in that area.

But my husband or then boyfriend, but now husband, when we were living in Paris, it was very hard to get him out of Paris. He really was very committed to Paris and didn’t like the idea of moving elsewhere.But we were living there during the pandemic, and we were in a very, a lovely but very small apartment in the first lockdown.

And I’d previously been working from home as a freelance writer. He had started working from home as a, he does corporate training.The two of us working from home in a tiny apartment was just not going to cut it.

So, when we had the summer where things opened up, we had friends of a friend, had a gite in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

And so we went and spent a week or maybe even two weeks there, just to go for a holiday. And I said, “Let’s just go for a little visit to Burgundy and see what it’s like.” And fortunately, we both really liked it.

We loved the owners of the gite who live around the corner and have become friends of ours, and we really liked the area. The gite had quite a lot of space, it had three bedrooms and it was a little terrace house.

So, when it became clear that there was going to be another lockdown and that they were looking for someone to rent it, I put up my hand immediately andwe made the move quite quickly actually from Paris to Burgundy. It all happened within a couple of months. And almost as soon as we got there, the second lockdown began, and that was over the winter. It was not ideal circumstance, we couldn’t really get around very much, we couldn’t see a lot, and yet it was absolutely beautiful.

And I think it’s because of the beauty of Burgundy.

[00:07:37] Exploring Burgundy’s Wine and Cuisine
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[00:07:37] Alex: I mean, Burgundy’s not an unknown region by any means, but I really think it’s underrated by a lot of people, particularly tourists coming to visit France.

I don’t personally speak to a lot of people who say, “Oh, I really want to go and spend time in Burgundy.” You know, they’ll say Provence, always Paris, you know, maybe some other areas.

[00:07:56] Annie: Normandy, Provence, Paris.

Alsace as well is getting very popular.

[00:08:03] Alex:

Yeah, but Burgundy… this is the thing, I think people often will go to Bordeaux. I personally, I really like Bordeaux and the area. I just absolutely loved Burgundy. It’s very lush and green.

[00:08:14] Annie: Yeah.

[00:08:14] Alex: The produce was exceptional. I really… Going to the local Nuits-Saint-Georges market every Friday morning, and I went every Friday morning. I mean, during lockdown there was really not a lot else to do, and so I-

[00:08:27] Annie: Right.

[00:08:28] Alex: I would go to the market and I would come back laden like a pack horse, with huge bags of this absolutely gorgeous produce and then I would just spend the entire weekend cooking and having fun with food.

And it was a really wonderful time for me to explore recipes I hadn’t had a chance to do and things like that. But it was because the quality of the food there is so fantastic. The incredible cheeses. You know, the wine of course. And so we know about Burgundy, we know about the wine. But I really think the landscape and the quality of the produce and the food is underrated as well.

So, we just had a wonderful time there. The weather is fairly similar to Paris and therefore not amazing.

[00:09:05] Annie: Yeah.

[00:09:05] Alex: I mean, if you like sunshine as I do, as an Australian. So, you know, it would… It tended towards quite chilly in the summers and not necessarily particularly hot, but some people love that.

[00:09:15] Annie: Sure. Yeah, yeah. if you want a part of France that’s not super hot-

[00:09:18] Alex:

[00:09:18] Annie: … usually, you know, there are exceptions, but yes, Burgundy would be good.

[00:09:23] Alex: Yeah. It’s perfect for that. It’s just very lush and green. Really nice for sort of outdoor walks and outdoor activities and things like that.

And obviously, it has so many beautiful chateaus, really beautiful little villages and a lot of wonderful restaurants actually, as well. We discovered there were quite a few villages where it would be quite a small village, they wouldn’t do much other than make wine as they all… All the villages would make beautiful wine, but there would be like one amazing restaurant in that village and really amazing.

[00:09:52] Annie: Yeah, I find Burgundy to be kind of upscale overall.

[00:09:56] Alex: Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that.

[00:09:58] Annie: That’s the impression it gives when you, as a French person, when you visit.

[00:10:02] Alex: Yeah.

[00:10:02] Annie: You’re like, “Oh, I’ve stepped into an upscale kind of lifestyle-

that people have.” I’m not sure if the prices are really outrageous compared to Paris or compared to, I don’t know, Provence or-

Mm-hmm.

… any other parts of France, but it feels upscale, let’s put it that way.

[00:10:19] Alex: I absolutely agree. I mean, for one thing the architecture is very notable, I remember being there and looking around and thinking, “Oh, you can really tell that historically there’s been a lot of money in this region because they’ve invested in beautiful architecture.”

And also things are very well looked after, so the villages are very clean, and beautifully taken care of, and they’ll have lovely roses and things that I find maybe in the south, some villages are a little bit more rough around the edges. Particularly, the village that we live in, Tavel, at the moment, is a lovely little village. It’s a wine-making village as well.

[00:10:54] Annie: Tavel, right?

[00:10:55] Alex: Tavel, yeah. We’re not far from Avignon.

[00:10:59] Ways to Sell Wine in France
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[00:10:59] Alex: And it’s also a wine-making village, but it feels so different to a-… a Burgundy wine-making village, you know. It feels rough around the edges in a charming way of its own, but yeah, Burgundy is definitely very refined.

[00:11:11] Annie: Yeah. Tavel makes everyday wines. They make reds, they make rosés.

[00:11:17] Alex: Rosé, of course.

[00:11:18] Annie: Do they make whites? I’m not sure if they make white.

[00:11:21] Alex: Not really.

[00:11:21] Annie: Okay.

[00:11:22] Alex: Not really. I mean, it’s mostly rosé. There is a little bit of red, there’s a little bit of other, but it’s mostly rosé. And fine sort of table rosé, it is, but this is not Burgundy wine.

[00:11:33] Annie: Right, right. Tavel, you wouldn’t pay more than five, six euros even for the famous ones, you know, but in general.

[00:11:42] Alex: Yeah. Well, there is actually one amazing winemaker in our village that’s become very, very well known internationally and they run a little bit higher, but again, nothing like Burgundy levels. They would be 30 or 40 euros a bottle. It’s called Languelot.

[00:11:57] Annie: Aha. Yes.

[00:11:58] Alex: And it’s very, very hard to get. You actually can’t buy from the cellar door. They don’t sell direct, and it’s very hard to find it in shops. Usually, you can only find it in restaurants, and there’s one restaurant in our village that sells this particular wine. So every time we go there for lunch, we order the Languelot.

[00:12:15] Wine distribution in France
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[00:12:15] Annie: So this is something that I’m not sure listeners understand, but in France, there’s several ways to sell your wine. There are people who sell their wines internationally. These are the ones that you find at Costco and in the US and Canada, et cetera.

These are big producers who could always make a few thousand bottles, you know, predictably export them, et cetera. Then you have the people who make wine to be sold through grocery stores, and those are also, usually fairly big producers. Not as big as the exporters, but big.

And then you have the people who sell to restaurants. And those are the people who make pretty small productions comparatively, or they sell at the door.

So clearly this   Languelot is in between. They have probably enough to be sold to some restaurants, but they don’t have enough to sell directly because they don’t make enough is the issue. They don’t have enough, big enough production to sell themselves, which is weird.

And there’s also wine producers in the Southwest who pretty much only sell themselves. You can’t buy it anywhere other than if you stop by and buy some.

[00:13:32] Alex: This is what we loved finding in Burgundy actually, the winemakers who were those smaller winemakers who weren’t making enough to be selling certainly internationally or doing big amounts, but were making absolutely beautiful wine. And often quite, by Burgundy standards, really affordable wine.

[00:13:49] Annie: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:50] Alex: The way we found these wines were through the locals. The locals know what’s what. Particularly local winemakers, I mean, obviously, but local winemakers are incredibly knowledgeable about the local wines, and they’re very, you know, even though they’re trying to sell their own wine, they’re very happy to tell you about other winemakers.

They’re really supportive of each other. And so, particularly if you buy a bottle or two of their wine, you know, and show appreciation for them, but they’ll more than happily tell you about other places to find really good wine. They’ll tell you about their favorite, and they’re really good at finding value, like delicious wine that doesn’t cost a lot.

We were buying some wonderful wine in Burgundy. It’s actually probably ruined us for wine anywhere else because through our winemaker friends, we were finding wines that would be 12 euros a bottle, 15 euros a bottle, which is not super, super cheap, but nothing crazy. That was absolutely delicious.

[00:14:40] Annie: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:41] Alex: And now by comparison looking at, it tasted like the kind of bottles of wine you would get elsewhere that would be easily 30 or 40 euros. It would be that kind of level of quality. And we just found it through recommendation. So I really recommend talking, going, doing some tastings, going to some cellar doors, just chat to them. Most people speak at least a bit of English, they’re very welcoming, they’re very happy to discuss and give tips.

And also I’ve discovered winemakers, again, good taste goes in all directions, they usually are very good at giving restaurant recommendations as well. So if you’re looking for somewhere to go for lunch or a few times where we would be going somewhere and doing a tasting in the morning, we’d think, “Where are we going for lunch?” We’re like, “We won’t even bother looking. We’ll just talk to the winemaker in the morning and they’ll tell us where we should go,” and they’ll always know. So those are my tips.

[00:15:28] Annie: Yeah.

[00:15:29] Travel Writing Career
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[00:15:31] Annie: So you are a travel writer. Talk a little bit about that, that part of your experience. What sorts of publications have you done? What sort of work do you do?

[00:15:38] Alex: Sure. I mainly work for magazines. So I work a lot for some publications in Australia. Probably the main one is called Escape, which is a, they have a number of different formats, but they’re a weekly lift-out from a newspaper.

They also have a magazine every couple of months and they have a great website. So I do a lot of writing for them, but I also write for a number of other publications as well. And I’m also in the process of writing a book, which is in its very early stages, but also a sort of food and travel focus. So, they’re the sort of areas that I love writing about. I love traveling and I love eating and cooking, and so the extension of sort of writing about those things and sharing what I’ve learned and what I discover with other people has really been something I’ve enjoyed doing. So it’s been really wonderful to be able to make a career out of that.

[00:16:25] Annie: Sure. Yeah. So do you have a website as well?

[00:16:28] Alex: I do. I have a website. It’s alexlalak.com. It’s very straightforward. And I have on there some of the articles I’ve written, and sort of tips and things.

A lot of the articles I tend to write or that I pitch to editors tend to be based actually on either places that I’ve gone to and I always do a lot of research, because, you know, I want to and because I love doing that, finding the best places, talking to locals, and then I love sharing those through the articles.

Often, also through things that I get asked by people, particularly family and friends, they’ll often ask me for advice if they’re going somewhere. And once I sort of realize what people are interested in, I think, “Hmm, I should put that into an article and share it with some other people.” So the articles on there are sort of combination of those things.

[00:17:12] Living in Provence
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[00:17:12] Annie: So what is it like living in Provence, living in Tavel?

[00:17:16] Alex: It is wonderful. It really… There’s no other way to put it. I absolutely love it. We’re actually in the process of moving house.

[00:17:24] Annie: Uh-huh.

[00:17:24] Alex: So we’re in Tavel at the moment, but only for a couple more weeks, and then we will be in the heart of Provence in a village called Robion.

[00:17:32] Annie: Aha. Yeah. Robion is further east?

[00:17:35] Alex: It is, yes. So it’s near Cavaillon. It’s near, some of the villages nearby, it’s near a number of well-known villages. L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is well known, for its amazing antique shops and antique market, so that’s maybe 10 minutes away from Robion. It’s in that sort of area. Near Ménerbes is another famous one that people love, it’s a beautiful village.

It is wonderful living here, I have to say. I really… as an Australian who loves sunshine, for me this is definitely the part of France that has the most sunshine, and I really appreciate that. It really creates an atmosphere of warmth, not just in literal warmth, obviously the summer, it does get very hot, I have to say.

[00:18:13] Annie: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:14] Alex: But it does just feel every day… we get something like, I believe, 300 days of sunshine a year, is the statistic. And I would believe that. I feel like even all through wintertime, it’ll be very, very cold outside, but the sky will be bright and blue and we’ll get lots of sunny days, so it’s really beautiful.

And actually, I really recommend visiting these areas in winter, actually, as well as… or maybe not even necessarily the heart of winter, but in the shoulder months, not just in summertime. Actually, I would say that summer is perhaps my, if I had to pick one, maybe my least favorite time to be here, in the very peak of summer, that July, August period, because it is just so hot. It is so, so hot.

There tend to be a lot of visitors, which is nice, but it, you know, it becomes- it starts to feel, you know, the markets are sort of overfilled with people and it’s hard to get around and you just can’t really live life the way that you normally do.

I think we all… all the locals sigh a little sigh of relief come, you know, the 1st of September, La Rentrée, when sort of all the visitors go away and suddenly the market has half as many people and you can get around and talk to people and do what you want.

But yeah, those shoulder months particularly, sort of April, May, and September, October are really spectacular. And winter is wonderful as well.

[00:19:30] Tips for Visiting Provence
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[00:19:30] Annie: So, do you have favorite villages to take people to when you have family or friends visiting Provence? Where do you take them to and, I mean, if they can’t stay with you, where do you tell them to stay?

Because that is the biggest question, is where do you stay when visiting Provence? Because it’s kind of a long area like, you know, between Apt and, and Avignon, really, there’s a lot.

[00:19:54] Alex: It’s huge, actually. I would actually probably say, my recommendation, and this is a little bit of a challenging recommendation because I realize not everybody can do this, but I would probably say don’t try to do everything in one trip if you can avoid it. If you can come back more than once, I would really recommend doing that because it is a huge area to try to fit in.

And sometimes, people will come and then they’ll spend literally one day doing an hour, hour and a half drive to get somewhere, spend a couple of hours somewhere, and then driving back. You end up just spending all of your time driving, you know, trying to get around.

[00:20:26] The 3 parts of Provence
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[00:20:26] Alex:

So I wouldn’t really recommend that, and I think understanding that there are really sort of three main regions of Provence to explore. There’s the Luberon, which Robion, where we’re moving to, is sort of in the heart of, and that’s a well-known part of Provence.

There’s the Alpilles, which is a lovely area, and that’s where you find, you know, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Arles and beautiful places like that, Baux-de-Provence. And then there’s the, the part of Provence that’s more the Cote d’Azur, closer to the coastline. And for me, those three areas are quite separate, particularly the Cote d’Azur because it stretches so far along.

I would recommend really making that- if you’re going to do a trip, just do a trip focused on that area alone. Perhaps the Luberon and the Alpilles, you could combine, but just be prepared for a bit of driving.

And I find when we want to take people out, there are places in both… I mentioned Saint-Rémy because we love, we love visiting there and there are some beautiful restaurants around that we like to go to. Baux-de-Provence is really beautiful as well, very spectacular.

And they’re the sort of areas actually that when you’re- even if you are doing a bit of a long drive, the landscape is so beautiful that it’s actually really lovely to drive through those areas and enjoy the landscape and get to see, because it is quite different, the beautiful cliffs and the trees are quite- it- it’s just has quite a different feel to other parts of Provence.

Arles is actually really wonderful as well. It has a slightly wilder feel to it somehow. It’s not quite as pristine as some of the other Provençal villages. And it has some wonderful museums, some really fantastic restaurants have started to open in that area, so that’s another nice one to visit.But if you’re around the Alpilles,sorry, around the Luberon, there are some wonderful spots around there. We like heading… I mean, Apt is great and they have a beautiful Saturday market that’s worth visiting.

[00:22:08]  Le Saint-Hubert Hotel and Restaurant
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[00:22:09] Alex: And actually there’s a little village, probably about 15 minutes or so north of Apt called Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt.

[00:22:15] Annie: Okay. Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, okay.

[00:22:17] Alex: It’s quite a small village, but it’s becoming more and more known, because there’s a little restaurant hotel. They just opened the hotel section there called Le Saint-Hubert.

And actually the beautiful owners of the restaurant have become friends of ours just from going there and getting to know them and they’re absolutely lovely. It’s a couple, they’re both chefs.They opened the restaurant not long before COVID.

[00:22:40] Annie: Oh.

[00:22:41] Alex: And poor things, they got it all set up, it was absolutely amazing, and then COVID hit so they sort of did their best to get through that time.

[00:22:48] Annie: To survive, yeah.

[00:22:50] Alex: And to survive, and bless them, they did. I mean, it wouldn’t have been easy at all. But they’ve continued and gone strength to strength, and just this year they’ve opened a little hotel above the restaurant which was originally part of the building, which is really beautiful so I really recommend going there for lunch.

They’ve got a terrace at the back, a very small terrace, with a fabulous view out over the valley of the Luberon. So we love to go there and have a lovely long lunch. I’m a big fan of the long lunch.

Gazing out at their view and then go for a walk around the village after lunch, it’s really beautiful.

[00:23:22] Annie: Yeah. That’s part of the lifestyle, is you take a long lunch and then you have a… a stroll, you know?

[00:23:28] Alex: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:29] Annie: It’s very fun.

Places like L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, La Fontaine de Vaucluse, all of those typical one, do you take people to those as well or are they just too many tourists?

[00:23:41] Alex: No, we do, we do, because they’re still beautiful. There’s a reason why they’re popular with tourists.

And I have to say, other than those really peak summer months, you know, there’ll be tourists in all these places, but actually it’s not too much of a problem, I don’t find… it doesn’t feel sort of overwhelmed by tourists at all.

[00:23:56] Annie: Yeah.

[00:23:56] Alex: No, we definitely go to all those places.

[00:23:58] Luxurious Experiences in Gordes
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[00:24:02] Alex: We love Gordes. And again, Gordes can be a bit of a tricky one, because it is quite small and when it’s busy with tourists, it can be quite hard to move around and see things. There’s a very, very beautiful five-star hotel in Gordes right on the cliff side. Airelles, I think is the hotel group.

[00:24:15] Annie:

[00:24:15] Alex: It’s A-I-R-E-L-L-E-S.

[00:24:18] Annie: Okay. Okay.

[00:24:19] Alex: And it is very, very expensive. You know, if you were able to stay there, then I would highly recommend it, but I think that’s probably out of most people’s budgets.

But what is wonderful and what we like to do is actually go there just for, you know, a coffee in the afternoon and a little dessert or go for a little cocktail or just go and do something, because they have a wonderful little terrace bar that you can go to.

There are two wonderful restaurants as well, but again, they tend to be a little pricey. But if you go to the bar, you can order a little dessert, order a little coffee, enjoy the view, enjoy the atmosphere, and still have that five-star experience, and it’s a really, really wonderful way to experience Gordes.

[00:24:58] Annie: Wonderful. I didn’t know about this. Next time I’m in Gordes, I will try it.

[00:25:03] Alex: Oh, I thoroughly recommend it. It really feels very special. It’s a lovely way to see it.

[00:25:08] Annie: Okay, more recommendations like that? I love those…

(Mid-roll ad spot)

[00:25:13]  Le Mas des Infermières à Oppede
—

 

[00:25:15] Alex: We have, I have so many recommendations. We have so many different little places that we like taking people to.

Another place that I really enjoy and I really recommend visiting, which is actually going to be very close to our new home in the village of Oppede, is a beautiful winery called Mas des Infermières.and it’s actually owned by the Hollywood film director, Ridley Scott.

[00:25:39] Annie: Le Mas des Infermières à Oppede, c’est une cave à vin à Oppede. Very good. So that’s a good place to stop and have… Enjoy some local wine?

[00:25:50] Alex: Oh, it’s lovely. They do a really nice selection there, which is one of the things I like. Sometimes when you go to wineries, depending on what their produce is like, they might only make rosé and maybe a little bit of other things.

What I really like here is they make a really wonderful rosé, just a really good standard table rosé. They also make a really lovely sparkling rosé, which actually incidentally we had as our sparkling wine at our wedding earlier this year, because we love this winery, it was very special for us.

So we really love that wine, but they also make really nice red wines and I think they might have started doing one or two whites as well.

So, basically everyone’s covered regardless of what you like. But they’re just, they’re very warm, very welcoming. The staff speak excellent English. They happily give you a taste of everything. There’s also within the main sort of cave when you first enter, which is a beautiful building, a few sort of bits of Hollywood memorabilia that Ridley Scott’s put in, which sounds a little bit cheesy, and to be honest, I would not have been very into, but it’s actually quite lovely. There are some really beautiful pieces that he has. Apparently, he sends pieces of costumes and things from his films and things-

[00:26:56] Annie: Cool.

[00:26:56] Alex: … that he’s held onto. It’s actually really cool. When you go there, if you might be able to persuade them if you’re there, and it’s a quiet day and you get lucky, but otherwise they have certain weekends where they do tours.

But if you can do a behind-the-scenes tour, they’ll take you and show you where they make the wine. But also if you go downstairs, they’ve got an incredible room where they store hundreds of barrels of wine.

And then there’s another beautiful room that they use for, like, meetings and things and it has a lot more memorabilia and things down there.

So, if you can get a little backstage tour, I recommend doing it, because we’ve done that a couple of times and it’s been lovely. But even just to go and taste the wines and just have a little experience.

[00:27:32] Annie: Do they sell these tours and wine tastings, or do you just taste and buy a few bottles the same way?

[00:27:40] Alex: You just taste. Yeah, it’s all free. It’s all free. They’re very welcoming. I mean, you know, these places you could go and taste and you don’t even have to buy any bottles. There’s no expectation there, but…

[00:27:50] Annie: That’s true. They would like you to, though.

[00:27:54] Alex: It’s delicious. Yeah, I would recommend it, because they have really delicious wines, but there’s no actual requirement. And often we’re bringing friends with us who are traveling and it’s quite hard taking bottles with you when you’re traveling. So-

[00:28:05] Annie: Yeah.

[00:28:05] Alex: … you know, they might maybe take one bottle, but you know, the people in these places understand that and it’s completely fine.

[00:28:11] Annie: Actually, on their website it says, “Accessible without appointment. The shop is open all year round. View our opening times here.” So I’ll just put a link to their website and you can decide if you want to make a stop or not. And  Oppede is a lovely town.  Oppede-le-Vieux is-

[00:28:25] Alex: Oh, it’s charming.

[00:28:26] Annie: … is must see as well.

[00:28:28] Alex: Oh, it’s gorgeous. Yeah, absolutely gorgeous.

[00:28:31] Navigating Provence: It’s Almost Impossible Without a Car or a Guide
—

[00:28:31] Alex: And even just driving around, so this is another thing that I would really recommend if you come to visit Provence, is you really should rent a car. It’s very, very hard to get around without a car.

[00:28:42] Annie: Yeah.

[00:28:43] Alex: There are some buses. There are, I think, some taxis. I’ve never taken one, and I’ve never really seen one, but apparently they exist.

[00:28:51] Annie: What I tell people is either you hire a guide who’s going to take you around for a few days, or you do day trips. You could do day trips from Avignon, for example. You stay in Avignon, you hire a different guide to take you to, or the same guide, to take you to do different things different days. But you need a car. It’s, this is not, you know. And you need to be fairly comfortable driving on narrow, windy roads,because that’s what you have there. I mean, if I remember correctly, the road between Rubion and L’Isle-sur la Sorgue is one of these where people think they can drive like 100 kilometers an hour, and they shouldn’t.

They will also… I think what you just need to be prepared for as well is just don’t stress. You just drive in your own way, just drive carefully. And if anybody comes up behind you and is tailing you, which unfortunately does happen quite a lot on the French roads, don’t worry about it. That person will go around you probably at speed as soon as they’re able to.

Yep.

[00:29:52] Alex: I find this all the time, so I just, if someone comes up behind me, I don’t panic about it. I just keep driving the way that I’m driving, and I know that they’ll go around me and speed off, and that’s fine. And just don’t get upset about itor stressed by it.

[00:30:03] Annie: Usually, I just say, “I’m ahead of you, sweetheart. Just find a way to get around me.” If I can pull over, I will, you know, but yeah, I was here first.

[00:30:13] Alex: Absolutely. Occasionally, I mean, sometimes that is the best way. If you just pull over and let them go past to give yourself that bit of space, and just as, because this should be enjoyable as well. You should be enjoying the drive and enjoying the landscape, so don’t let it be stressful. But also, don’t let that stop you from driving, because I really think it’s worth it.

And the Vaucluse, I would say, on a bicycle is not ideal. These roads, there’s a lot of very aggressive drivers. I wouldn’t do a lot of cycling in the Vaucluse, unless I’m with a guide who knows exactly where they’re going and will take you off, you know, around, away from those roads. I agree.

[00:30:49] Annie: And again, the distances are really quite far. You really need to be very realistic, because I think doing a bicycle tour in a small part of an area, for example, around Apt, there are some really, really beautiful bicycle tracks.

[00:31:03] Alex: Actually, right through the Luberon, they’re putting in more and more bicycle trails and whatever. That’s lovely, but that’s not really going to get you from A to B very much, because it actually is quite a distance to get between a lot of these villages. So I think a car is necessary.

[00:31:15] Annie: Yeah.

[00:31:16] The Joys of a Relaxed Lifestyle
—

[00:31:16] Alex: I think while saying that as well, and what we tend to do when we have people staying with us or friends in the area and we want to meet up with them, what we tend to do is don’t be too ambitious.

I think, really probably visiting one place in a day is probably quite enough, maybe two. I really wouldn’t try to visit more than two, two places in one day, unless they’re very close together. It’s just too much.

I usually would like to do something nice in the morning, so maybe go to a market that I know that’s on that day, or go to a village or a town that has a museum I want to visit or something like that. We have a nice morning activity. We’ll go and have a nice long lunch, because I love a long lunch, and I think that’s really important. And then in the afternoon, often after a morning of exploring, a long lunch, you’re full of food, you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, there’s not really a lot that you want to do in the afternoon. Let yourself have a bit of a rest.

So maybe go and do something small, you know, you can stop somewhere, go for a little walk, something like that. But then go back to wherever you’re staying, relax, enjoy yourself, you know. Don’t push it too hard, because that’s how we approach it here as people living here. You know, we enjoy the day but don’t expect too much of it.

[00:32:24] Annie: Yeah, a lot of places where you’re going to be staying, be they hotels or Airbnbs or whatever, are going to have a swimming pool. So go relax by the pool.

[00:32:33] Alex: Make the most of it.

[00:32:34] Annie: Yeah.

[00:32:34] Alex: Absolutely. You know, enjoy the garden, being outdoors or, you know, sit and read a book or have a nap, I mean. Life in Provence is about enjoying things, but also just enjoying your own day, enjoying your own life, eating good food, resting, relaxing, just having a really pleasant time.

You don’t need to tick everything off on your to-do list every time. That’s why I said, you know, even if you don’t know if you’re going to be able to come back another time, let’s be optimistic and say that you will, and just pick a few things that you want to do and then maybe leave the others for another time.

[00:33:07] Annie: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:33:08] Alex: It’s a good excuse to come back.

[00:33:10] Moving to France: Insights and Tips
—

[00:33:10] Annie: Maybe share some advice that you have for people who are hoping to also move to France. What are some things they should know? Who is the ideal candidate to move to France? The few ideal candidates in your experience?

[00:33:25] Alex: Mm-hmm. I feel like in many ways, to be honest, I mean, an ideal candidate to move to France is someone, this might sound very obvious, but someone who really wants to do it.

I think really wanting to move specifically to France, you know, wanting to, having an understanding a little bit of what French life really means and what life will be like here, I think, is really important in advance.

So I would, for one thing, I would definitely recommend visiting at least once, if not numerous times prior to planning a visit, just so that you can really get an understanding for what… what it feels like to be in France.

And try to come for, not for a weekend or a few days or a, you know… Try to actually come and spend a week or a couple of weeks. If you’re able to come and spend a month in France ahead of moving, just to come and, again, get a real feel for it, I think that really helps a lot.It is not absolutely essential to speak French, but it definitely helps, particularly outside of Paris. And I think even in Paris as well, I think the French have a certain expectation that… that people who are living in their country will have some level of French. And quite frankly, I think that’s pretty fair. So I think that’s definitely important.

[00:34:33] Annie: If I moved to Australia and I didn’t try to learn any English, you’d think, “Oh, this person’s not going to do great,” right?

[00:34:41] Alex: Absolutely. And it just makes life harder for you than it really needs to be.

Having said that, again, I wouldn’t be afraid to do it, if you haven’t learnt French or you only have very basic French and you really, really wanna move to France, go for it, but make an effort with the language. And I find so often with locals that they appreciate effort so much.

[00:35:00] Annie: Yeah.

[00:35:00] Alex: So even though my French is not great and I make so many mistakes still, they don’t mind because they can see that I’m making an effort and I’m really trying to communicate in French and trying to understand French language and culture, and I think that really means a lot.

I find,actually French people are so much warmer and kinder than they sometimes get credit for. I think maybe there’s a little bit of a… a brusqueness there sometimes that, that might come across as being rude. I mean, sometimes, look, sometimes French people are rude, but sometimes people in all countries are rude as well. There are plenty of Australians who are rude.

So that definitely happens, and I think you’re more likely to get that kind of experience, I think, if you come in and don’t take any effort or time to sort of assimilate, even as a tourist, you know?

I think even as a tourist, small things, you know, being able to say please or thank you or just little, little things in French I think would make such a difference, and I think people really appreciate that.

So, I think having the right mindset is really important for moving to France. I think planning is really important as well.

As we talked about, you know, I started off in Paris, and then we made the move to Burgundy for a year, which we loved, but it wasn’t quite right. And we thought about moving back to Paris, but I’d always had this little hankering for the South of France in my heart. And so we moved down and gave it a try, and then have discovered that we absolutely love it down here.

But that, I really recommend doing that, not necessarily being completely committed to, “I’m moving to Paris, and that’s the end of it.”

[00:36:27] Annie: Yeah.

[00:36:28] Alex: Maybe that will be right for you. Maybe it won’t and be open to maybe trying some different places, moving around.

I have another friend who’s Australian who lived in Paris for a couple of years and went back to Australia, and she’s come back to France and was planning to live in Paris again. And she just got back to there and said, “Actually, this isn’t right for me.”

And so she’s currently in the South and really loving it, along the Cote d’Azur. And I think probably she’s going to build a life on the Cote d’Azur now. And she’s found that really suits her.

But she was really open to that change, and when she got to Paris, didn’t think, “Okay, I’m not enjoying it here,” for whatever reason. I think maybe the city atmosphere wasn’t right for her or whatever, but didn’t write off France as a whole.

[00:37:08] Annie: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:08] Alex: She just sort of looked for where… Because I think this is the other thing with France, and, you know, as a tourist you can see this, but it’s really the different parts of France are so different.

[00:37:18] Annie: That’s right.

[00:37:19] Alex: There’s a thread that holds them all together, absolutely, but the experience and the environment and so many things are so completely different that I think, you know, I really feel like almost anyone could find somewhere in France that they really loved, certainly to visit if not to live, you know, because I think you can have from living in the Alps, to living on the Cote d’Azur, to being in the cities, it is really, really different.

[00:37:43] Annie: Or Bretagne or Normandy or…

[00:37:46] Alex: But… Exactly.

[00:37:47] Annie: … or the Basque Coast. I mean, you know, it’s a country of a lot of differences. Paris is amazing. I love Paris. But…

[00:37:56] Alex: Me too.

[00:37:57] Annie: … I would be miserable living in Paris full time. I cannot do it. It’s too high-octane. You run into situations that I find difficult to handle all the time.

Whereas if it’s occasionally where I live, it doesn’t, I mean, I find I get over it. But in Paris, it happens over and over and over again, and I don’t like it. Like, I just can’t… But, you know, I’m a country girl. That’s just…

I was born and raised in a big city. Toulouse is a big city by French standards, but, as soon as I lived in the countryside, I was like, “Oh, that’s what I like.” That’s for me.

[00:38:33] Alex: I feel the same way actually, because I’ve always lived in cities as well, including cities like New York, you know. I’ve really lived the big city sort of experience, and I loved that in ways, but I just could not do it right now. And I felt the same way when I got to the country. I think there was a part of me that just went, “Oh,” just…

[00:38:51] Annie: Yes.

[00:38:52] Alex: I just suddenly relaxed a little bit, and I think it’s something that I keep realizing here. Particularly, I think because my husband and I both work from home, so we’re not commuting to and from work, we’re quite flexible with our schedules. You know, we have a lot of benefits that we’re very, very grateful for.

But it’s also made me realize that we… we don’t have a huge amount of stress in our life. I mean, of course there’s some there, there’s always stress with life and a toddler running around and whatever. But not in the way that I think at other times in my life, I’ve sometimes felt really stressed and, you know, busy and pulled in lots of directions.

And I feel like sometimes life in a French village, you know, it lacks some of the excitement that you get from city life or from living in other places, and so you have to sort of accept that. But also it comes with a sense of calm that is so soothing and so wonderful, and I really enjoy that.

[00:39:41] Annie: Yeah. And it’s like with children, you know, sometimes you have to, you have to let your kids entertain themselves.

[00:39:47] Alex: Yes.

[00:39:48] Annie: It’s important that they find ways to entertain themselves because that’s how you discover what you like and what… And it’s the same with living in a quiet place. Like… there’s not always something entertaining, reaching out to entertain you. It’s you thinking about, “Okay, what would make this day pleasant? What would make this day nice?” And you think of it yourself, which is a wonderful way to live, I think.

[00:40:15] Alex: It absolutely is, and I think the same thinking can actually be applied to going on a vacation as well, you know, the holiday approach, particularly in Provence. Not every minute and every day needs to be filled with activities as well.

There’s actually a lot to do in Provence, and it really, to be honest, is one of the reasons I really have enjoyed moving here. Burgundy is, as I said, incredibly beautiful and I love living there, but for me, there wasn’t quite enough variety in activities to live there long-term, whereas in Provence, there are so many options.

[00:40:44] Annie: Always stuff to do.

[00:40:46] Alex: From cultural things you can do, you know, museums you can visit, the markets. I’m an absolute market junkie, let me tell you, so-… I’m always happy to go to markets, and there are so many to pick from here.

But also a lot of wonderful outdoors things you can do, from cycling to kayaking to all sorts of things.

But you also don’t need to do things all the time. I think it is, like you said, I think when you were talking about where to stay or what kind of accommodation would be recommended, I really recommend somewhere that has a little bit of outdoor space, a garden, maybe a swimming pool if you’re here in summer. Definitely a swimming pool, actually, if you’re here in summer, I really…

[00:41:21] Annie: Yes.

[00:41:22] Alex: I thoroughly recommend that. But somewhere that you can comfortably go back to and enjoy the space, relax, sit outside, like I said, sit and read a book or, you know, sit and have a little gin and tonic in the afternoon in the garden.

Something like that I think is really, really important to have those restful times, places where you can go walking, even just a beautiful village that you can go and walk around. I think that’s one of the nicest activities you can do here, is just going from, just going for a walk, just a simple stroll and the beautiful things that you’ll see, and the experience doesn’t need to be structured. It can just be very loose and relaxed, and it will be really, actually some of the most memorable things you’ll do, I think.

[00:42:01] Annie: Yeah, you can be in the moment.

[00:42:03] Embracing the Mediterranean Lifestyle
—

[00:42:03] Annie: Well, it sounds like you’ve adjusted to the Mediterranean lifestyle very, very well.

[00:42:09] Alex: I’ve done my best, I mean, it’s not hard to adapt to.

[00:42:14] Annie: It’s a beautiful way to live, I must admit.

[00:42:16] Alex: Glorious.

[00:42:17] Annie: Absolutely.

[00:42:18] Conclusion and Farewell
—

[00:42:18] Annie: Well, Alex, we have been talking almost an hour, so we have to say goodbye. But I hope people visit your website, Alex Lalak, read your articles. Let me know when your book comes out. I’ll link to it in the show notes, and all the recommendations you’ve shared will be in the show notes for this episode. Thank you for inspiring us. A travel writer is an inspirer. That’s a great job you have, you know? It’s like, you make people feel better.

[00:42:44] Alex: I tell you,it is a lot of fun.

[00:42:46] Annie: Inspiring them to do things, it’s wonderful.

[00:42:48] Alex: Hmm. It is really lovely.

[00:42:51] Annie: Merci beaucoup, Alex.

[00:42:54] Alex: De rien. Merci, Annie. Au revoir.

[00:42:56] Annie: Merci, au revoir.

 

[00:43:04] Thank you Patrons
—

[00:43:04] Annie: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that. You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.

And a special shout-out this week to my new Join Us in France champions, Jolyn, who joined at the Groupies du Podcast yearly level, and Tamar May, who was a boot camper, so I know her personally. Bonjour, Tamar.

Would you join them too? You can do it for as little as $3 a month, but if you can afford it, I would love to have you pledge more so you can have access to more rewards.

This week, I shared two extra pieces of content, one called Access Restrictions at Notre-Dame de Paris, and the other: How to Use an eSIM When Visiting France. And this one is more like a step by step, what is it? How it works? Will it do this? Will it not do that? Et cetera. I think it’s going to be very helpful for people who’ve never tried this before and are a bit hesitant, but you do need data when you visit France.

So to become a patron, go to patreon.com/joinus. And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/elysart.

[00:44:20] Tour Reviews
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[00:44:20] Annie: Somebody left this review of my tour this week, and if you want to read more of these reviews, go to joinusinfrance.com/vmr, which stands for VoiceMap Reviews, about my Latin Quarter tour, “Great tour of the Latin Quarter. My only regret is that I had to break the tour into two days and did not arrive in time to see the Roman arena. Next time. Many thanks.”

Yeah, sometimes you get there and it’s closed. That’s just how it is.

About Le Marais, “Great tour. I loved the engaging style of storytelling and details provided.”

About the Saint-Germain-des-Prés tour: “An amazing tour to special hidden places and amazing corners that we would have never come across on our own. Thank you.”

Yes, thank you very much reviewers, I try to make these tours truly something that not everybody knows about.

Podcast listeners get a big discount for buying these tours from my website, and it’s best for me because that way I get to keep more of what you pay instead of giving it mostly to Apple or Google.

But if you buy from my boutique, it is a manual process, so don’t expect it to be instant like it would be if you were buying directly from the app, but most of you listening plan their trip at least a few days in advance.

Some of you, it’s more like a few months, right? So you’re probably not in a big rush.

To use your codes, open VoiceMap, bottom right it says Tour Codes, tap on it, enter the code, download the tour, and this is a digital product that you own forever. Even if you change phones, for example, log into your VoiceMap account and you can download all the tours you own again forever.

Think of these tours like walking around Paris with your French friend, a friend who loves history, architecture, and art, and can’t wait to share it with you. Take me in your pocket with my VoiceMap Tours.

And if you’re planning a trip to France and you need personalized advice, you can hire me to be your itinerary consultant. It’s a very busy time of year for these consults. Don’t delay too much or the spots are all going to be full. Again, you can book that by going to joinusinfrance.com/boutique.

[00:46:39] Tourist Rentals in France
—

[00:46:39] Annie: All right, let’s have an important update on tourist rentals in France. If you’re planning to stay at an Airbnb or short-term rental in France, listen up.

Some new national rules are being rolled out that might explain why the place you booked suddenly becomes unavailable.

In 2024, the Le Meur law introduced a much stricter framework for tourist rentals, especially in cities where housing is tight. Now, I’m not just talking about Airbnb. This is for all short term tourist rentals.

I’m going to give you the basics, but if you own property in France and you want to rent it out, talk to your city hall or notaire for the details. Until now, whether or not you had to declare a furnished rental like an Airbnb or VRBO or Gites de France depended on where in France the property was located and if it was your primary residence or not.

But going forward, registration is mandatory across the whole country for both primary and secondary residences.

There’s going to be a national registry and an online system to handle it all. It’s expected to launch by May 20th, 2026. So it’s not today, but it’s in a year.

There are also new energy efficiency requirements for all rentals, although that’s not coming into full force until 2034, but it’s getting rolled out as well.

The French legislature wants to preserve housing for local residents and also improve the quality of the rental units on the market, which means go after slumlords, because we do have those.

So what does this mean for traveler? Mostly that there will be fewer short term rentals eventually. In large cities with lots of demand from visitors, the market for short term rentals will mostly be captured by folks who own several units and make it their profession. It’ll probably go back to the situation we had 10 years ago. There were rental agencies who handled short term rentals, Airbnb swooped in and put a lot of these agencies out of business.

I think they’ll make a comeback, because when visiting Nice for a week, I’d rather deal with a local agency than go through Airbnb, which is impersonal and doesn’t give a hoot about anything but their profits, really.

If you book a place that’s not properly registered, the listing might disappear. Now you have to admit, if you lived in a building in Paris that has different people rolling in with their suitcases every few days, you would know exactly what’s happening and you’d be sick of it too.

I mean, you know, whoever owns that apartment has the right to use it in any way they like, if they comply with local rules and regulations. And if they’re not doing this, goodbye listing.

And if the building is in a building with a condo board, that’s a copropriété, the building itself may now ban short term tourist rentals with two thirds vote of the owners.

Also, cities now have the power to lower the rental limit for primary residences. Previously, you could rent out your main home for up to 120 days a year, but now that might be cut to 90 days depending on the city. Bottom line, if you’re using short term rentals in France, especially in high demand areas like Paris, Lyon, Nice, you may notice fewer listings or changing rules.

Book early, read the fine print, and if your booking is suddenly canceled, it may be due to these new regulations.

If you need a place with a kitchen, consider renting an appart hôtel instead of an Airbnb. An appart hôtel in France is a hybrid between a hotel and a furnished apartment.

It includes a small kitchen, living area, private bathroom, offering more space and flexibility than a standard hotel room. Services like reception, cleaning, and breakfast are sometimes included. You can book them for two nights or two weeks or however long.

In Paris, Citadine are one such option.

[00:50:59] Consider Home Exchange Options As Well
—

[00:50:59] Annie: Another option to consider, very strongly, is a home exchange program. I will release an episode about that in the next few months, hopefully sooner, but we’ll see. I think home exchange is an excellent choice for people who want to live like a local. How about you actually stay in somebody’s home and see how they live?

You can’t get any more local than that, can you?

You can search for hotels that have small kitchens in Booking or in your favorite search tool. There will be more and more of those in France because there’s a need for them now. Visitors like having a fridge, a hot plate, microwave, a coffee maker so they can have some of their meals in their accommodations.

And not to forget, somewhere to make tea. A kettle, they need a kettle, and so do I. If you want to be sure you’re staying somewhere legal and safe, look for listings with a registration number and good communication from the host.

France is still very much open to visitors, of course, but it’s tightening the rules to make sure locals still have a place to live that they can afford.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

Many thanks to podcast editors Anne and Christian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts and the audio.

 

[00:52:17] Next week on the podcast
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[00:52:17] Annie: Next week on the podcast, an episode about the best of the Savoie department with Elyse. You can join us as we delve into the enchanting Savoie department in France. We explore the rich history, the breathtaking landscapes, renowned ski resorts, charming villages and delightful culinary offerings.

Thank you so much for listening and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir.

[00:52:45] Copyright
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[00:52:45] Annie: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent, and Copyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

 

 

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Categories: French Food & Wine, Moving to France, Provence