Puyloubier Car Boot Sale

A car boot sale under the plane trees of Puyloubier

Every year in June, the Jean Casanova square, in front of the Puyloubier Town Hall, transforms into a vast second-hand market. Organized by the Puyloubier Tourist Office, this traditional and family-friendly car boot sale brings together around a hundred exhibitors under the square's ancient plane trees, from 6 am to 4 pm. Individuals and bargain hunters gather in a relaxed atmosphere, typical of Provençal village car boot sales.

A wine-growing village at the foot of Sainte-Victoire

Puyloubier is a charming village of 1,800 inhabitants located at the foot of the southern slope of Montagne Sainte-Victoire, twenty kilometers east of Aix-en-Provence. Its vineyard of over 1,000 hectares, the largest in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, produces wines with the AOC Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire appellation, whose rosé has been renowned for centuries. Legend has it that King René of Anjou, in the 15th century, wanted no other wine than that of Puyloubier. The cooperative winery, founded in 1924, now brings together 110 winegrowers, while eight private estates complete the local production.

The estate of Captain Danjou and the Foreign Legion

Since 1954, Puyloubier has been home to the Institution des Invalides de la Légion étrangère (Foreign Legion Invalid Institution), located on the domaine du Capitaine Danjou, a vast 220-hectare estate acquired in 1953 by the Ministry of Defense. Named in honor of Captain Jean Danjou, a hero of the Battle of Camerone in Mexico in 1863, the estate accommodates wounded, disabled, or elderly former legionnaires. It includes a 40-hectare vineyard, an 8-hectare olive grove, a ceramics workshop, a bookbinding workshop, and a museum. The estate's wines supply Legion bases worldwide.

A remarkable sacred heritage

The village boasts exceptional religious heritage, recognized with the national Ruban du Patrimoine (Heritage Ribbon). Since 1998, the municipality has restored several remarkable buildings: the hermitage of Saint-Ser, a troglodyte chapel clinging to the cliffs of Sainte-Victoire where Saint Ser lived in the 5th century; the chapel of Saint-Pancrace; the Neo-Romanesque church of Saint-Pons; the chapel of Saint-Roch; and the remains of the church of Sainte-Marie, a medieval dependency of the feudal castle converted into an art exhibition space.

A land of ancient history

The territory of Puyloubier holds nearly 200 prehistoric sites identified by the CNRS on the southern foothills of Sainte-Victoire, attesting to human occupation since 3,000 BC. In 102 BC, the Roman general Caius Marius won a decisive victory against the Cimbri and Teutons in the Arc plain, a battle that may have given the mountain its name. The fortified medieval village, then named Podium Luperium — the wolf's hill —, has been mentioned since the 9th century.

Strolling after the car boot sale

Visitors to the car boot sale can extend their day by taking the Sentier des Vignerons (Winegrowers' Trail), a three-hour walking circuit starting from the cooperative winery, marked with informative panels about the vineyard and chapels. More experienced hikers can climb Montagne Sainte-Victoire to the Croix de Provence, at an altitude of 945 meters, to admire a spectacular panorama of Provence, from the Luberon to the Mediterranean. A visit to the domaine du Capitaine Danjou and its wine and ceramics shop completes a day rich in discoveries.