April 8, 2019: Vaison-la-Romaine

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Coat of arms of Vaison-la-Romaine

Today we went back to Roman times with a visit to Vaison-la-Romaine, 28 km (18 miles) from Sarrians. This village has several remarkable options to explore. Perched atop a hill above the river Ouvèze is a castle and cascading down from the castle to the river is its medieval village. Two romanesque churches grace the western edge of town across the river from the medieval village. And then there's the Roman city on the north bank of the Ouvèze, uncovered over the past century.

With packed lunches, we head out under glorious blue skies and temperatures in the 60s. The drive, as usual, is beautiful. We drive through flat agricultural lands filled with fields of vines and occasionally other crops. Sturdy farm houses (called "mas") built of local limestone dot the landscape. Small villages, many with recognizable wine names, interrupt the endless vista of vineyards at intervals of every 5 or 6 miles. Mont Ventoux and the Dentelles rise in the distance to break the flat topography. The roads are narrow two lane local highways (if you could call them highways).

theatre

kitchen of a fancy Roman house

image from a tile floor

After scoping the town (polite talk for wandering aimlessly looking for parking), we find a lot near the Office de Tourisme which is where we will start. We learned there that we should buy tickets next door to enter the Roman excavated ruins. There is a museum of Roman artifacts where we can also get audio guides in English. So the museum is our first stop. It is beautifully done, easy to navigate and has an English video that helps us understand the lives of the rich and famous of Vasio (the Roman name for the town).

ruins of a Roman villa

This town is somewhat unique in that, once conquered in the Gallic Wars, it becomes a "civitas", a federated Roman city, rather than a colony. It was an important Roman administrative center and maintained a degree of independence in its government, which brought a prosperous upper-middle class to the city.

Electric scooters are not made for these bumpy "paved" Roman roads

Thus, the excavated town we will see included large houses of these wealthy families whose responsibilities extended to housing their extended families as well as slaves for household labor. Homes included living areas, open-air atria and peristyles, gardens, kitchens, baths and latrines. As well, there are shopping streets where merchants had shops on the lower portico level and lived above their shops. Public buildings such as a theatre and arena were also uncovered. The theatre was rebuilt in the 19th century and is used today for contemporary theater presentations.

Door to the public baths

lunch outside the museum

We spent an hour in the museum learning about the town and the excavations and then found a lovely place for our picnic lunch just outside the museum with a view of the castle and medieval town to inspire us.

Roman bridge

A visit to the Roman bridge across the Ouvèze river completed our day, as we've run out of time. We agree that we will come back another day to visit the church, cloisters and medieval city.

Because.....

Domaine de Nalys

We have to visit a winery in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. And what a winery Dan has found for us. Domaine de Nalys has a very fancy tasting room. We are giving the hostess who provided the tasting the benefit of the doubt. A busload of people had entered just ahead of us. Our hostess came out of the office and probably serving us interrupted her real job. She seemed a bit cold and unfriendly when she saw the 7 of us and perhaps she figured we'd taste and not buy.

The wine producer Dan picked for us to visit.

wine tasting room

And it's true that we don't buy large quantities, although we tend to buy nicer wines. She eventually warmed up after taking a few phone calls and helping a man who came in for a large number of cases of wine. In the end she provided all the information in answer to our questions. We did taste some lovely wines and we bought 8 bottles and a magnum between Dan and us. Outside, we took a last view of the beautiful surroundings of Domaine de Nalys and headed home for apéros.

View of Mont Ventoux from the vineyards at Domaine de Nalys

our apéros

Clark uncorking the wine for Dan

Our usual aperos of cheese, sausages, olives, bread and wine was a special occasion as Dan shared his magnum of magnificent 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape with us all. Our sommelier, Clark, showed his most excellent training, white napkin and all (OK, it was a paper towel, but the sentiment was correct) in uncorking and pouring the wine. He waited patiently to be invited to join us in drinking a glass. We will keep him in our employ for a long time, me-thinks.

Dan with his magnum

Châteauneuf-du-Pape (yum)

The magnum didn't last long enough, but it was oh, so good. A simple dinner of salad bar with left-over chicken, followed by ice cream and Belgian chocolates (guess where those came from...). Again we sat long at table, telling stories of child-rearing adventures, vacations, and families. We laughed till we cried, and empathized with each others' experiences. It's easy to see why the French enjoy their dinner table - they, too, spend their evenings over good food and good wine surrounded by family and friends.





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