Vaison la Romaine
Unfamiliar with the towns we visited, I was never sure where the next attraction was located or where to find parking once we found our destination. In Vaison la Romaine we followed the signs to parking and were very surprised there wasn’t a fee at the huge parking area. We walked a little ways up the street to where a sight seeing tram was parked along the sidewalk. People were climbing on so I asked the gentleman how much? He said he’d come around and collect in a few minutes. We had no idea how much it would cost or where the tram was going but it was hot and the idea of not walking sounded like a great idea. The girls were a little skeptical but the ride turned out to be a great idea. The tram took us all over town pausing at the different sites of interest and ruins, explaining the history in French and English. The first five pictures were taken from the tram.
The town square had water features, this long trough and water dancing a few feet high from holes in the ground at which kids were having a great time playing.
Looking across to the other half of the town, the higher side, across the river.
I liked the decorated cross walk leading to the entrance of the middle ruins. There were three levels of ruins around town. We didn’t climb the hill to the highest level.
How could we pass this up?
We visited the museum then went searching for the theatre – amphitheater. There was a long line of sarcophagi on our way to the theatre.
We climbed a hill, enter the hill via a carved tunnel, exited downhill, climbed uphill to enter the amphitheatre at the highest point. This tunnel was a wonderful cool break from the heat.
This was a lower entrance to the amphitheater. Again a nice cool spot to linger and contemplate how all this was built.
Lunch. The girls aren’t real brave about trying new foods so they chose chicken nuggets from the kid’s menu. The young waiter thought they didn’t understand but Michelle pointed to another child’s plate across the patio and said ‘just like that’. Heidi said she’d have the same thing – I had grown up food, mushroom tart and a salad. There was an unexpected benefit for the girls……
……ice cream came with their meal and it was served just how a child would receive it, in a ceramic duck base holding the dish of ice cream. I changed the girls’ photos to black & white and manipulated my food since we sat under yellow awnings. The photographs were horribly tinted yellow.
After lunch we headed for the lower area of ruins.
And of course, the latrines.
