Ollières

• Var (83470) • Population: 331

Ollières is a tiny village in a wooded valley about 4 km northwest of St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume. Small and without commerce, Ollières is a pretty little cluster of Medieval houses packed on a small hill, topped with a Medieval chateau that shares its site with the Château d'Ollières winery.

The open, grassy hillside beside the village gives a lovely view across the forested hills nearby, and down across a pretty little park to a shady parking area below the road that's popular for picnic lunching.

Ollières is a pretty little place, without tourist attractions, but quiet and peaceful. It's a great place for a rest and a picnic, and visiting the winery and chateau if you're here during the week.

Ollières' only café-restaurant is a pizza place during the week, and offers standard village fare on weekends. Very basic, but very friendly. We had a nice home-cooked daube and a salad.

History of Ollières

Name

First record, 1008 Oliarrias. The name probably derived from "Oules", from a bulbous pottery that was manufactured here in the Middle Ages.

From the 10th to the 20th centuries (950 - 1919), Ollières was one of the "Three Grand Lands" of Provence, along with Cadarache and Gémenos.

Gallo-Roman: Signs of Roman occupation were found here, at a place called "La Pièce Romaine" (literally, The Roman Coin). We couldn't find a place with that name on our IGN hiking map.

Hiking

• GPS: 43.482941, 5.828612

Maps

IGN (1/25,000) #3344 OT "St-Maximim - Barjols"

There are no marked hiking trails from Ollières, but a very large expanse of forested hills extending northeast and north from the village could be explored. Begin at the east side of the little bridge at the southeast end of the village.

Transportation Ollières

Department 83, Var Buses

See Beyond's Var Department Bus Schedules for downloading the Var bus-lines map [Plan du Reseau] and bus-line schedules [Horaires] (link for PDF files).
Schedules for the Var bus lines are on the VarLib Horaires-Ligne page (http://www.varlib.fr/horaires_ligne/?rub_code=6") - type the line number in the Numéro ... ligne box to access the bus schedule PDF link. (Type a couple of digits in the box to get a list of route numbers.)