48h in Aix-en-Provence

Two days in Aix-en-Provence, former capital of Provence, whose thousand fountains still feed its squares. The trip opens on the Cours Mirabeau, an avenue lined with plane trees and seventeenth-century mansions, then Cezanne's studio, left intact with his objects and unfinished canvases since his death in 1906. The Roy Rene confectionery, making calissons since 1920, the Montagne Sainte-Victoire that Cezanne painted more than eighty times, and Vieil Aix with its Provencal market close the stay. The fruit and vegetable market is held on Place Richelme every morning. The climb to the Croix de Provence takes three hours return from Les Cabassols and should be started early: the massif sometimes closes in summer because of fire risk.