Pernes Les Fontaines: it's a village I've passed hundreds of times by bike or by car, a small town just outside Carpentras, and not far from Avignon. Doing some scouting for Walk Inn this past Tuesday, I entered the old part of Pernes for the first time, breaching the old ramparts. For someone from the "New World", for whom architecture is more a contemporary contemplation, I'm continuously awestruck, never tired of centuries-old buildings, dilapidated stone structures, ancient fountains and wash basins...
My boss Yann had talked of this town often, and I never really got the point until I entered the heart of it myself. In the picture below you can see one of the town's 40 fountains (hence its name), the village ramparts, and half of the old covered market (and my work tool: my bicycle).
A woman and her grandson contemplating the village ramparts and the Nesque River.
A peek inside the old town gate:
