L'Isle sur la Sorgue

Birthplace of the poet René Char, Isle-sur-La-Sorgue is a small paradise of greenery crossed by many arms of the Sorgue river on which old waterwheels still turn. In its old centre, narrow streets and canals are intertwined. Stairs go down to the wash houses and quays border the river.

Former fishing village (until the 19th century), L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is nowadays well-known among art and antiques lovers. More than 300 permanent antique shops and second-hand dealers are open all year round (Saturday/Sunday/Monday and sometimes more), making the town one of the most important European antiquity marketplace.

The big fairs of Easter and August 15th bring together five hundred exhibitors and attract thousands of antique dealers and lovers from France and abroad.

To be seen: Antique villages, the baroque church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges; the 17th century Hôtel Dieu with its vestibule, chapel, pharmacy and garden decorated with a fountain; the hotel Donadeï de Campredon art center which most often houses exhibitions related to Photography and Contemporary Art, Le Partage des Eaux, the museum of toys and antique dolls, the large Provençal market on Sunday mornings, the floating market on the first Sunday in August, Pêche d'antant (a fishing festival) and Les fééries Nautiques (local festival on water with lights and flowers) in July...