Provence

For many, dining is a big part of traveling. For a growing number of people, cooking is part of the pleasure, too, especially when they learn how to cook something different and delicious. Here is just a taste of what's available. Classes that feature the native dishes of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula are offered year round in the historic colonial city of Merida. The cooking school, called Los Dos, is in a renovated historic home five blocks from the Plaza Principal, and has two guest rooms available for overnight stays during the one-, two-, or three-day classes.

MARSEILLE — Within minutes of arriving for a study abroad program at Aix-en-Provence years ago, the school administrators warned us: Never go to Marseille. The city next door was useful only for its airport and train station. Even then, we should watch our bags. It was 1978. “The French Connection,’’ an Oscar-winning film about New York’s heroine pipeline, was still in our minds. Marseille was viewed as a dark underworld, home to international drug kingpins. I would steer clear of the city in two subsequent trips to Provence.

It's what the French call Le Train de Grande Vitesse (very fast train), or TGV for short. And there we were in plush reserved seats on one heading for a rendezvous with a canal barge for a week of slow cruising, sightseeing, and luxuriating with nine other passengers. Just 3 1/2 hours after leaving Gare de Lyon station in Paris on the TGV, one of the world's fastest and quietest trains, my wife and I found ourselves 450 miles away in Montpellier, a city of 240,000 in Provence near the Mediterranean Sea. At speeds topping 150 miles an hour, we had whizzed by miles of flat...

ST. REMY DE PROVENCE — Would I care to spend a few days “en Provence’’ at the home of my friend Mireille Guiliano, author of “French Women Don’t Get Fat,’’ and her husband, Edward? With a last-minute deal on Air France, I booked my ticket. I couldn’t wait. I had been to Provence years ago, but with Mireille and Edward as guides, I would spend a few days visiting markets, dining at their favorite spots, and seeing the region through the eyes of locals. An overnight flight to Paris, followed by an hourlong connecting flight to Marseilles, and I was in Provence by 8 a.m. During the...

"A Good Year" is a sun-drenched fantasy about the power of wine, women, and Provence to cure whatever ails us, and it is no deeper than a bowl of consommé. And what of it? Movies are fantasy, too, and when a craftsman like director Ridley Scott and a gloomy Oscar-winning gus like Russell Crowe decide to take a vacation, it can be time off for us all. Based on a novel by Peter Mayle -- who for 15 years now has been selling Provence to the masses like shrink-wrapped ham -- the new movie is a shamelessly enjoyable retread, an ode to la belle vie that has been well turned on a factory spindle.

ST. REMY DE PROVENCE — Would I care to spend a few days “en Provence’’ at the home of my friend Mireille Guiliano, author of “French Women Don’t Get Fat,’’ and her husband, Edward? With a last-minute deal on Air France, I booked my ticket. I couldn’t wait. I had been to Provence years ago, but with Mireille and Edward as guides, I would spend a few days visiting markets, dining at their favorite spots, and seeing the region through the eyes of locals. An overnight flight to Paris, followed by an hourlong connecting flight to Marseilles, and I was in Provence by 8...

BOSTON, Aug. 2 — President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will not be traipsing through the lavender fields of Provence or sunning himself on the Riviera on holiday this year. Instead, he is spending his summer vacation on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, Colin Manning, a spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, said Thursday. Mr. Sarkozy is staying in Wolfeboro, a town that bills itself as the oldest summer resort in America, with a postcard-perfect Main Street that might appeal to the pro-United States Mr. Sarkozy, who has said he...

What to do American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at W. 79th Street 212-769-5100 www.amnh.org Adults $14, children $8. Features dinosaurs, fossils, minerals, ocean life, the universe, and more. Greenflea Market Corner of Columbus Avenue and W. 77th Street 212-239-3025 www.greenfleamarkets.com Open every Sunday at 10 a.m., rain or shine. Antiques, collectibles, and farmer's market. Free. Where to eat Nice Matin 201 W. 79th St. at Amsterdam Avenue 212-873-6423 www.nicematinnyc.com ...

MARSEILLE — Within minutes of arriving for a study abroad program at Aix-en-Provence years ago, the school administrators warned us: Never go to Marseille. The city next door was useful only for its airport and train station. Even then, we should watch our bags. It was 1978. “The French Connection,’’ an Oscar-winning film about New York’s heroine pipeline, was still in our minds. Marseille was viewed as a dark underworld, home to international drug kingpins. I would steer clear of the city in two subsequent trips to Provence.

In spirit and practice, Bastille Day, July 14, is to France what the Fourth of July is to the United States: a nationwide celebration with parades, parties, and fireworks. And picnics, of course! Here we look to the south of France, particularly Provence and the Riviera, for inspiration. Pan bagnat is the superstar sandwich of Nice, ubiquitous in the city’s food shops and markets. The name translates loosely as “bathed bread.” Think of it as a salade nicoise – tuna, anchovies, hard-cooked egg, tomatoes, olives, and more – on bread.

Lincoln has a lot to offer. Historic sites. Modern art. Pastoral landscapes. But not restaurants. Maybe that’s why when Chris Chung and Christian Touche opened Aka Bistro here in March, they decided to give the town a twofer. It’s a sashimi bar! It’s a French restaurant! And for the most part, the twain don’t meet. Aka Bistro keeps its cuisines as separate and distinct as the land masses from which they come, as the words “aka’’ (Japanese for “red’’) and “bistro.’’ Chung, born in Hawaii and raised largely in Macau, was previously the sashimi chef at Uni. Touche, from France,...

Great singers, as we all know, make us feel they are our personal property and we theirs. They do this with their individual timbre, the absence of technical self-consciousness, and the right mixture of loyalty to the music and spontaneous touches that give us the feeling we're being spoken to in the deep heart's core. When the singer is a medievalist like the French-born soprano Anne Azema, there is an extra thrill. Time and space seem to collapse, and we encounter a long-lost lover from Aquitaine or Provence.

Blue, the Inn on the Beach, may be nestled in the dunes of Plum Island, Newbury, but it takes its styling cues from the boutique hotels of Miami's South Beach. This is the first year the inn is open year-round, so to encourage off-season visits, a 2-for-1 special is being offered through the end of March. Stay two nights and the second night is free, resulting in a nightly rate beginning at $122.50. Visit www.blueinn.com and click on Special Promotions or call 978-465-7171. Provence and Picasso How would you like to see...

BOSTON, Aug. 2 — President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will not be traipsing through the lavender fields of Provence or sunning himself on the Riviera on holiday this year. Instead, he is spending his summer vacation on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, Colin Manning, a spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, said Thursday. Mr. Sarkozy is staying in Wolfeboro, a town that bills itself as the oldest summer resort in America, with a postcard-perfect Main Street that might appeal to the pro-United States Mr. Sarkozy, who has said he is proud to be known as...

"A Good Year" is a sun-drenched fantasy about the power of wine, women, and Provence to cure whatever ails us, and it is no deeper than a bowl of consommé. And what of it? Movies are fantasy, too, and when a craftsman like director Ridley Scott and a gloomy Oscar-winning gus like Russell Crowe decide to take a vacation, it can be time off for us all. Based on a novel by Peter Mayle -- who for 15 years now has been selling Provence to the masses like shrink-wrapped ham -- the new movie is a shamelessly enjoyable retread, an ode to la belle vie that has been well turned on a factory spindle.

Great singers, as we all know, make us feel they are our personal property and we theirs. They do this with their individual timbre, the absence of technical self-consciousness, and the right mixture of loyalty to the music and spontaneous touches that give us the feeling we're being spoken to in the deep heart's core. When the singer is a medievalist like the French-born soprano Anne Azema, there is an extra thrill. Time and space seem to collapse, and we encounter a long-lost lover from Aquitaine or Provence.

In spirit and practice, Bastille Day, July 14, is to France what the Fourth of July is to the United States: a nationwide celebration with parades, parties, and fireworks. And picnics, of course! Here we look to the south of France, particularly Provence and the Riviera, for inspiration. Pan bagnat is the superstar sandwich of Nice, ubiquitous in the city’s food shops and markets. The name translates loosely as “bathed bread.” Think of it as a salade nicoise – tuna, anchovies, hard-cooked egg, tomatoes, olives, and more – on bread.

What to do American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at W. 79th Street 212-769-5100 www.amnh.org Adults $14, children $8. Features dinosaurs, fossils, minerals, ocean life, the universe, and more. Greenflea Market Corner of Columbus Avenue and W. 77th Street 212-239-3025 www.greenfleamarkets.com Open every Sunday at 10 a.m., rain or shine. Antiques, collectibles, and farmer's market. Free. Where to eat Nice Matin 201 W. 79th St. at Amsterdam Avenue 212-873-6423 www.nicematinnyc.com A...

Abercrombie & Kent 800-554-7016; 800-680-2858 www.abercrombiekent.com Our Provence barge cruise was $3,690 per person, not including air fare to Paris and train to Montpellier. The TGV Paris-to-Montpellier fare was $156 per person first class, $122 second class (914-681-7216, www.raileurope.com).