Discover the beautiful city of Aix en Provence with its luxurious 17th and 18th century architecture, its markets and cafés, its mansions and fountains, its lively streets and lovely stores. Aix is known for its Baroque street plan and town houses, because the "Parliament de Provence" turned the city into a prestigious residence for the Provencal nobility. Rich families, in order to show their wealth bought rural properties near the city. There, they built country houses ("bastides") where they stayed during the summer heat.

These houses reveal a sumptuous interior. "Pavillon Vendome" and "la Mignarde" are good examples of this elegant way of building. Terraces, fountains, statues made a transition between the house and the garden which is laid out of geometrical designs with box trees and long vegetal perspectives.

Nowadays these country houses are still present in the Provencal countryside. Vineyards often surround them.

Numerous painters have honoured Provence, in which the unique light accompanies its special sounds and scents so well. Painter Paul Cézanne, pioneer of modern painting, was born in Aix and spent almost all his life there. His most famous paintings are those of "La Sainte Victoire", an impressive white limestone mountain of 1011m high. It is the major landmark of the Aix en Provence area and one of Cézanne's favourite motifs. This natural rock formation with the sunlight and shades produce an astonishing array of colours. His paintings of Aix en Provence and surroundings (Le Tholonet, L'Estaque...) had a great influence on the cubist painters such as Braque and Picasso.