Chiara Basso
An old spice shop
In the middle of the historic centre of Aix-en-Provence, in a small street that seems like something out of Sherlock Holmes, there was an old spice shop. Today it's been transformed into a hybrid: at lunchtime, a restaurant, and at night a B&B. It is run by Luc, a nice gentleman who counts among his ancestors none other than Leonardo Da Vinci. The B&B has five rooms on the upper floors, two of which are actually suites that can accommodate a family of four. Each room has its own private bathroom. The rooms are named after spices ... I remember Cinnamon and Vanilla, and I think the others might have been Rosemary, Thyme and Lavender, but I'm not sure.
On the ground floor there is plenty of bric-a-brac - tin cans, newspaper clippings, ladles, mousetraps, model cars, gardening tools, boxes of cough drops, scales, bird cages and so on ... at first glance, it looks more like Ali Baba's cave than a restaurant, and the four tables in the room seem like they're there by chance. The manager explains that in reality, it's not a real restaurant with a set menu; you eat the same food from the local monastery, with vegetarian dishes made from strictly organic products purchased in the morning at the nearby fruit and vegetable market.
The prices are reasonable (13 euros for a meal excluding coffee), and there are four courses: soup, cooked vegetables, mixed vegetables, and baked vegetables. The rooms, which are lovely and clean, cost from 100 euros (two people) to 130 (the suites for 4), including a hearty breakfast with plenty of tea and jam, plus homemade cakes and fried eggs. The garden, enclosed by four walls, allows you to relax lying on a deck chair and reading a good book ... a great location if you want to spend a few days surrounded by history!
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