Provence is a region in the south-east of France. It runs from the Mediterranean coast up into hills and mountains inland. People know it for wine, fruit, olive oil, and lavender, and for long warm summers that draw tourists to the beaches and the countryside. The big coastal cities people name are Nice and Marseille (older English often wrote Marseilles). In the kitchen, herbes de Provence is a dried mix of herbs meant to taste of that countryside — though actually the jar in a supermarket is a flavour idea, not a legal map of the old region. The modern administrative area has a longer name, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, so tourist “Provence” and the official borders do not match perfectly. In English the stress sits on the second syllable.