Sainte-Jalle

A small village about four kilometres east of Rochebrune, worth a short detour for its Romanesque church and the views across the Ouvèze valley. The church of Saint-Étienne dates from the twelfth century and retains an unusually intact carved portal — the blind arcading along the exterior walls is among the better examples of local Romanesque craftsmanship. The village itself is very small, with a handful of old stone houses clustered around the church square.

Sainte-Jalle sits at the edge of the Baronnies Provençales, a pre-Alpine area of lavender fields, limestone ridges, and truffle oak groves that extends south towards the Vaucluse. Driving south from here on the narrow roads through the garrigue takes you into increasingly Mediterranean landscape — it is one of the more pleasant transitions in southeastern France.

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