Provence is a land apart, a territory of outstanding beauty that has fascinated outsiders since earliest times. It remains the best-loved of France's provinces, and in the nearly 300 color photographs here, it is easy to see why. Accompanied by Michael Jacobs's evocative accounts of rural Provence, veteran travel photographer Hugh Palmer shares his images of such locales as the Luberon, the Alpes-Maritimes, the Vaucluse, and the Bouches-du-Rhone, which boasts such architectural gems as Bonnieux and Gordes. Moving east to the Var and the Alpine departments, here too are the tranquil villages of Les Arcs, set amid some of the finest vineyards in France.