"Aiguines France (Alpes de Haute... " a Aiguines Travel Page by firechick

Aiguines is a small town in the Alpes de Haute Provence set high on a hill (800m) overlooking the beautiful turquoise Lac de Sainte Croix, which is formed by the Verdon River (and some hydro-electric dams!).

It is a short drive to some really great sections of the Verdon Gorge for hiking (the Grand Canyon section) and rock climbing and a short drive in the opposite direction down to the lake St Croix for swimming/boating etc..

The site http://www.aiguines.com has some information about the town and activities, but is only listed in French.

The town itself has much of the same shopping you will find elsewhere in Provence - Olive Oil, Honey and Lavander (all regional products) as well as spices, wines and linens. Sadly, due to the growing popularity of the Provence region it is rare to find deals on any of these products. Look for the less attractive stands, the roadside farmstands and anyone who has not spent a lot of money to make their shop look 'quaint' if you want to find a good price. It is certainly easy to pay silly prices ($25 for a bottle of olive oil) if you like that sort of thing. . .

We found in Aiguines a wood carver who made unique beautiful pieces out of carved olive wood and his workshop was part of the store, to prove that the items were all made by him alone. There was also a shop selling hand-made dolls/figurines from wood. These are the types of stores I liked to look for and buy things in whenever possible.

There are plenty of older buildings and doorways around Aiguines. It is an ancient town where you can wander the small streets on the hillside and see all kinds of interesting things people have done to their buildings over the centuries and the beautiful gardens or flowers which they have planted in some of the smallest places you can imagine.