For six weeks every summer, the plateau turns purple and the roads fill with cars stopping for the same photograph. Then the harvest comes, the fields go grey-green and the crowds leave almost overnight.
The quiet season
September is still warm. The markets are still full. But the cafés have tables again and the village squares belong to the people who live there.
What to do instead
Walk the old paths between villages, eat late lunches, buy honey from the farms that were too busy to talk in July. Swim in the lake while the water is at its warmest.
A note on timing
A few fields at higher altitude bloom late. Ask in the villages: someone always knows which ones are still in flower.
