47km (29 miles) SE of Avignon; 37km (23 miles) NW of Aix-en-Provence; 53km (33 miles) NW of Marseille
The hometown of Nostradamus is in between Aix-en-Provence and Avignon, and makes an excellent stopover between these towns. Today a busy modern town, it grew up as a fortified hilltop fortress centering on Château de l'Empéri. With a population of some 35,000, it has been a center of the olive oil industry since the 15th century, although it owes much of its prosperity to the French Air Force's officer training school centered here.
Salon de Provence was the birthplace of Adam de Craponne (1527-76), creator of the famous canal that irrigates the region of Crau and bears his name.
