The village of
Tourettes is a 10 minute drive west of
Seillans, and is actually within walking distance of
Fayence, a village that we visited on an earlier trip. In France, when you enter the limits of a town, there is a sign indicating the town's name and when you exit, there is another sign with a red line striking through the town's name. We've driven through some villages that are so small that the two signs come within seconds of each other. Google Maps indicated that it was a 14 minute walk between the centres of Tourettes and Fayence, but based on the road signs, the village limits are literally within a few yards of each other. You need to be careful of the exact names of places in France, since another village called "Tourettes-sur-Loop" is over an hour's drive away.
Tourettes is a perched village with narrow streets that spiral up a steep hill. It is known for its "Open Air Art Gallery" that has outdoor art installed throughout the village.
It felt like we were on a treasure hunt as we wandered around the streets, spying paintings, murals, mosaics, and mixed-medium sculptures hung on stone rampart walls, or painted over doorways and window sills. There were over 80 works on display in the labyrinth of pathways.
Our favourite work was a trompe-l'oeil painting on the wall of an ancient tower, very realistically depicting a boy climbing out of a window. Sculptures could be found in the main squares including the one where the town hall or mairie was located.
In addition to the outdoor art, Tourettes is also home to many art galleries and artist's studios. One pottery shop in particular produced some very unique and avant garde ceramics in the shapes of bustiers, partial busts of women wearing bikini briefs or thongs, sneakers and army boots. Another shop featured collages of apples made up of many slivers of paper, as well as a rolodex decorated to look like a hedgehog.
We had lunch on the outdoor patio of La Pause Tourrettane, which again had a gorgeous view of the hillside. This was becoming a norm for us in this Var region within the south of France. From our table, we could see the Chateau de Puy at the top of the hill and decided that we would go visit it after lunch. We ordered the set menu of tempura shrimp followed by barbequed ribs served with guacamole, salad and rice.
The Chateau de Puy was built in 1830 by Alexandre Fabre, a noted civil engineer who modeled the castle after the Saint Petersburg Cadets School in Russia. Today the chateau is a retirement home and is not open to the public.
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