Vaison-la-Romaine Birthday/Babymoon

This weekend, Frederic took me on a mystery four day weekend to France. It's not a surprise that we ended up in Provence, his favorite region, known for lavender, wine, olive oil, and the Mediterranean diet. Specifically, we stayed in a small village called Vaison-la-Romaine, situated between Orange and Avignon.

Vaison-la-Romaine has a very long history:

-First records of human habitation date to 2500-2000 BC.
-During the iron age, the haut-ville (upper city) was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called the Voconti.
-This tribe was defeated in by the Romans in first century BC, and Vaison-la-Romaine became a major Roman city and political center for the duration of the Roman empire.
-In the 12th century AD, the haut-ville was added to by medieval priests, and a castle was built to provide protection in the war-torn region. The Counts of Provence and local Bishops fought for possession of the city, until a treaty was signed in 1251, negotiated by the future pope Clement IV.

The lower city is filled with Roman ruins, some still in very good condtion. We walked through the foundations of ancient villas, some still with tile mosaics on the floors.

For the less rich Romans, Vaison-la-Romaine still offered attractions: public bath houses, a huge amphitheatre, and a solidly constructed bridge to transport goods from the high city to the lower city over the Ouveze River.

This river flooded in 1992, destroying a large portion of the modern town, but the bridge, standing since 100 AD, was totally unharmed.

In the upper city, Roman ruins are replaced with narrow, winding medieval streets and buildings.

In addition to taking in the sites, we ate lots and lots of typical Provencal food- grilled fish, fresh vegetables, and excellent desserts.

ps. I forgot to mention that the lady taking tickets for the Roman ruins sites said (after I took off my oversized fleece sweatshirt and revealed *the belly* in a t-shirt) "Aha! Now I understand why you've been wandering around these ruins for an hour! You are hoping to have a little archeologist in the family!"