Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

After the "touristic attractions" of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse the atmosphere of the former little industrial town of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (17km/10.5mi from Fontaine and 23km/14mi from Avignon) comes as a welcome relief. By the Sorgue, which divides here into several canals and reminds the visitor of Venice, 70 water-mills used to provide power for papermaking, cereal poduction, oil pressing, woolen and silk mills and a tannery. Six of the water-mills still exist and have been restored, including those on the Avenue des 4 Otages (on the edge of the park), in the Place E. Char and the Place V. Hugo. The church dates from the 17th C. and has a richly decorated interior; during the revolution the art treasures which had been confiscated were assembled here and formed one of the finest Baroque collections in Provence. Other buildings worth seeing are the public corn store of 1779 (now the Office de Tourisme), the Hôtel Donadeë de Campredon, an L-shaped palace of 1773/1775 (Rue Dr. Tallet; exhibitions of important artists) and the Hospital (Place des Fr. Bruns) with its wrought-iron gate of 1762 and the wood-panelled Apothacary's, which houses a collection of Moustiers vessels and a gigantic bronze mortar.