Vaison de la Romaine

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introduction

It is still early in the morning when we arrive from Avignon by bus in the small (about 6000 people live there) but popular town Vaison La Romaine. As the name suggests, you can visit here special Roman remains and that’s exactly the reason why we are here too.

It appears to be the largest archaeological site in France and it’s kinda strange that we both never heard about the place. The bus station is near the information center and here we first ask what is here to see so we can think about how to do this all. It turns out that there is an upper- and lower city where the big sights can be seen in the lower part but the old medieval town of “Vaison” is on the hill which sounds logical.

Vasio Vocontiorum

Because we pass this sight anyway and we are so close, we decide to take a look at the cathedral "Our Lady of Nazareth" with its 12th century Romanesque monastery. Then it is time to go to the real big landmark of the city and those are the ruins of the Roman city Vasio Vocontiorum.

The city has always been an important trading hub, but the real wealth came when the Romans arrived in the region. This city flourished between the 6th and the 2nd century BC. and is therefore quite old. The remains are divided into two sites and we first go to the archaeological site of Puymin. We can, among other things, distinguish a selection of Roman houses with beautiful mosaic floors. The highlight of this section is of course the Roman theater, built in the year 20 BC, where once 6000 people could follow the play.

The theater is still being used for theater plays, we are told. Before we leave we walk into the archeological museum which is also on the site. There are a number of beautiful statues. The second part called "La Vilasse" is about 5 to 10 minutes walk. Here we see real Roman streets of limestone built with antique underground drains below. The streets are adorned with shops on both sides with the famous Roman columns. Finally, you can also see the foundations of Roman baths.

The medieval upper city

The river Ouvèze flows through the municipality and separates the high city (13th century) from the modern city. One of the bridges over the river is the famous Roman bridge that is still in use. This is one of the city's main tourist attractions and beautiful to see. The bridge has played a strategic and important role in the past.

During the Second World War the bridge was heavily damaged by German shelling. The bridge was fortunately restored to its original state. On the other side of the bridge, the climb to the old medieval town that lies on top of the hill is pretty steep. The old labyrinth is a complex of small narrow streets where the castle is the highest point.

It is completely walled and the cobbled streets make this place a perfect place to walk around. We do not have much time anymore and watch the 12th century castle actually too quickly. However, we still enjoy the view - the foot of the famous Mont Ventoux, the giant of Provence, famous from, among other things, cycling is only 10 km away.

We are diligently looking for a green place to camp tonight. The Dentelles de Montmirail mountains are located south of the city and are an attractive climbing and cycling area so we walk in that direction. But what seems so easy can occasionally be disappointing. We do not want to walk too far from the town because tomorrow we have to get back to Avignon with an early bus. We wanted to put it on the plateau of the next hill to enjoy the view but that plan doesn’t succeed unfortunately. It becomes a small piece of green along a road. In the evening we prepare some sausages in the pan and rinse them away with a few cans of beer.

tips & advice (2007)

The bus station of Vaison is located about 400 meters east of the (new) city center. There are a number of buses a day to Avignon; price is about 7.50 euros and the 50 km is covered in about one and a half hours.