PROVENCE

"In stunning Les Baux, Provence, skip the beautiful but expensive hotels at the base of the village and opt instead for the more distinctive—and remarkably affordable—three-room Le Prince Noir, built into the rock at the top of the village. My husband and I had the evocatively lit village to ourselves at night (along with the cats and a few hundred residents), an incomparable view, a fabulous breakfast on the roof, and something truly priceless: the chance to sleep next to works of art by some of France's most famous 20th-century painters. The Black Prince's modest owners don't advertise this privilege, but if you inquire gently, they will regale you with the story of their parents' wartime bicycle escape to Southern France and their fashioning with their bare hands of this house of rock as a refuge for their artist friends—some of whom left behind tokens of their esteem. How incredible that the owners share these objects of love with guests."
—sanna

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