For us, Belgians who go on holiday to the Provence region, the vacation really starts once we’ve passed by Lyon. From there, the end of our long journey is really near. We can almost smell the lavender fields and in our minds, we are already enjoying a glass of rosé wine or pastis at a cozy café. The views from the highway start showing the typical southern landscapes and the warm sun forces you to have a mandatory stop to change clothes and put on sunglasses.
If your destination is Origan Village, however, you know that the best is yet to come. Just before Nice, you’ll take the turn towards the route de Grenoble and that’s where the natural beauty really starts. It’s not a ride that should be taken lightly though. Previous visitors had told us that it was best to make sure that we’re freshly awake when we started this part of the journey. The mountain roads are magnificently beautiful, but also quite adventurous if you’re not from the region. And a source for miscalculations, as you’ll never reach the maximum allowed speed. In our case, we barely ever reached half of it. This road definitely gives you a sneak peek of what to expect once you arrive at the campsite. The high peaks, deep blue rivers, and mountain nature are exactly what you’ll find at Origan Village as well. This is one of the reasons why we enjoyed this campsite so much. This is not just nature, it’s unspoiled wild nature. We made our way through the entrance gate and towards the reception desk. During the registration procedure, the receptionist informed us that due to the COVID restrictions, the “welcome drink” was unfortunately canceled.
A real pity, because we love the welcome drink. And not just for the free refreshment. If you’ve been to naturist campsites in France before, you’ll probably know the principle. A “welcome drink” is most often organized once or twice a week. Many of the campsite guests get together for a free drink and this is an excellent moment to meet new people. Most often, the campsite staff will give an introduction of the campsite, maybe some history, probably an overview of the planned activities and will often also point out the highlights of the region. This saves you a lot of research time.
Anyway, that didn’t happen in the summer of 2020 for the obvious reason that it wasn’t safe to bring many people together. But then came the good news: We were still getting a free drink. We received a ticket that we could exchange for a cold beer or a fresh glass of wine and made our way past the swimming pool and up the stairs. What was waiting for us there, wasn’t just a very welcome refreshment. The ideally located bar also gave us the most impressive view of the whole day. We looked up to the Alpine mountains and a bright blue sky in the backdrop and knew that we were likely to spend a lot of time at this bar. And not just for the drinks.
