SuperDave's Adventures in Eastern France's Wine Country COMPLETE!! 6/13 About This Page:

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

That hotel is beautiful - I love all the character to it.

So much to it! Just so unique in that great courtyard...was such a great experience! Oh,,,the dinner and wine were quite good as well!

[SuperDave]

Wednesday, May 15 (Day 2 of 3 in Provence-Part I)

After, a great start to Provence yesterday, it was time for day two in this beautiful and historic region of France. There is such a difference between the upper and lower towns here in Vaison La Romaine. Most of the buildings in the upper town date back over 400 years, while the lower town is not quite as so, with many being built over the last century.

Went down to breakfast at around 7:30 a.m. and had my usual croissants (2 of them), orange juice, coffee and a cherry yogurt. It was a small dining room, but quite nice that overlooked the courtyard.

Today, our group would be visiting the Roman Ruins in the lower town. We’ll be leaving at 9:15 a.m. for the walk into town. After we get our tickets for this sight, we are free to explore it at our own pace.

After breakfast, I returned to my room, grabbed my camera and took a few more photos of the upper town. It really is quite striking and reminds me so much of the scenery from the French movie Chocolat from about ten years ago or so.




Nice views of the lower town, from the paths in the upper town, which has some great views.


This is actually a street and cars do travel on this as narrow as it seems to be! This is just up a bit from my hotel.


Like these narrow stone tunnels that lead out to nice views of the lower town below.




More of the street in upper town and another narrow tunnel.

At 9:15 a.m our group met in the lobby in the hotel with our tour director Toni and we began to make the walk into town and visit the Roman Ruins. It was a bit overcast today and the forecast was for showers over the next two days. Not exactly what I wanted to hear.


One of the tunnels walking from the upper town. It is very down hill to say the least. It’s a bit tough walking uphill, but manageable.




Apartments in the lower town.


World War II memorial in the upper town, near where the upper and lower town meet at the River Ouveze.

The walk to the beginning of the lower town (after crossing the bridge over the river) was about five minutes. After walking a lot down hill it was good that the rest of our walk would be pretty even now. The road splits here. On the left leads you to the car park (where our bus dropped us off yesterday) and the right leads you into the center of town towards the shops and restaurants We took the right and the entrance to the Roman Ruins was at the end of this street and near where some of the wider streets take you out of town.

Just before we got to the Roman Ruins, we noticed a lot of police activity in the area. We saw that a small car had somehow crashed into the front of one of the shops here. The shop had one of those metal pull down gates or doors with a chained lock that gets pulled down at the end of the day. It seemed that most of the damage was to that and not the rest of the shop. Kind of odd to see this. Didn’t seem like anyone was hurt.

Just after this we arrived at the entrance to the Roman Ruins. We got our tickets, audio guides and map of this sight and we went on our own to explore this at our own pace. We just had to be back at the hotel by 2 pm as we were going on another visit later in the day.






Some of the Roman Ruins, that date back to the 1st century.


View of some vineyards from the Roman Ruins. I think these are everywhere you look in France. At least it seems that way!


Roman amphitheater on this sight, that is in process of being restored.






These were home dwellings many centuries ago!








More historic Roman Ruins. Seeing these up close is quite amazing. Loved those of the dwellings and Roman columns the most.

The audio guide was quite an assistance to the Roman Ruins and gave you a lot of background and history on this area. It was well done and gave you just enough as you wanted to listen to it and not turn it off, if it had gone on too long. There was quite a lot to see here and I enjoyed it quite so and learned about the history of these ruins as well as the influence of Rome in this area and Europe in general during this period. It was just after noon, when I finished my tour of the Roman Ruins.

[Cam22]

The upper town with its very narrow roads and the Roman ruins look very interesting. How now to tour the ruins at your own pace, too.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Cam22

The upper town with its very narrow roads and the Roman ruins look very interesting. How now to tour the ruins at your own pace, too.

The upper town, where my hotel was is quite amazing! The walk down is a little steep, but not that bad. A little trouble, once the rain came down at times.....especially, uphill!

It was a fun day and really enjoyed seeing the Roman Ruins and learning the history of it!

[chezp]

The Roman ruins look beautiful. Glad no-one was hurt in that car crash.

[Colexis Mom]

Great pics of the Roman Ruins!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

The Roman ruins look beautiful. Glad no-one was hurt in that car crash.

The roman ruins were quite amazing up close, especially when learning the history of them! Especially, the dwellings that are there and what remains of them!

It was a small car into the front of the shop. Lot of front end damage, but that was it. It probably happened not too long before we saw the result. The roads were wet, so that may have had a result in this.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great pics of the Roman Ruins!

Glad you liked them. Seeing them up close was amazing and learning their history! Definitely, a morning well spent!

[SuperDave]

Wednesday, May 15 (Day 2 of 3 in Provence-Part Deux)

Just a short update now, unless I have time for more later tonight.

After exiting the Roman Ruins, I decided to find a place nearby and have lunch. It was just a little after noon right now. I walked around checking out a few places and ran into Jerry and Christina from my tour group. They asked me to join them for lunch. I thought that was quite nice of them! We looked at a few places in the area and settled on the brasserie I went to last night after dinner for a nightcap. Can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s in the main square in town.

Just before we went inside it started to rain a bit and got quite heavy while we were dining. I ordered a half bottle of Seguret red wine. It’s a wine local to the Provence region. Jerry and Christina ordered a full bottle of the same for themselves. For my entree I had a salad with various lettuce, endive, strawberries and foie gras. Jerry and Christina ordered a pork dish of some sort (probably tenderloin) and shared it. I also ordered a double espresso, after my meal. The salad and wine were both very good and Jerry and Christina, felt the same about theirs. It was also fairly reasonably priced. We talked for a while about France, wine and our tour and how much we’ve all enjoyed it over the last ten days.


My salad with Foie Gras


Jerry and Christina, enjoying some wine during lunch

We finished up at around 1:15 and made the short walk back to the hotel. By now the rain had stopped! At 2 p.m we would be leaving with our group to the town of Orange to see some more sites.

Stopped in the hotel lobby and use their computer and check my emails from back home. After this, I went to my room for a bit and get ready for our trip to Orange this afternoon to see more sights.

[chezp]

What a great lunch.

[Cam22]

All of your meals have been so delicious and I like that you hunt out spots. Nice that this meal also included some good company.

[Colexis Mom]

Great lunch Dave!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by chezp

What a great lunch.

It was quite good! Better yet, having a relaxing one with a couple of tour colleagues, while enjoying some good French wine! You can't beat that in France!

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great lunch Dave!

It certainly was! Had to abbreviate it a bit, but the rest is certainly coming. Just holiday stuff and work related to do at the time, being a bit tired! Somehow, it will conclude eventually. Still, a few installments left. I think there are three nights left and my departure home.

[SuperDave]

Wednesday, May 15 (Day 2 of 3 in Provence-Part Trois)

Well, I’ve had a long hiatus on this TR unfortunately! Once, the Christmas season was here it became difficult and in January, I just couldn’t seem to get around it. Well anyway, it’s back. We left off in Vaison La Romaine in Provence on day two.

After having a nice lunch with Jerry and Christina in a brasserie in the lower town, we all returned to the hotel at around 1:15 or so. At 2 pm our group would be going by bus to the town of Orange and visit the Roman Theatre there. In the meantime, I just went to my room and relaxed for a bit.

I went downstairs to a room off the lobby, at around 1:50, where some of my group was gathering before our trip to Orange. It was a nice little sitting room, that was quite relaxing. After everyone was there, we walked extremely down hill like before and to the lower town and the car park, where Hilda was waiting for us in the bus. It was about a ten minute walk. Well, at least the rain had stopped for now.

We left at about 2 pm and it was only about a forty minute trip to Orange. It’s a fairly small town with a population of about 30,000.


Statue in Orange near the Roman Theatre.




Outside of the theatre.

After seeing the outside of the theatre for a bit, we went inside to watch a 15 minute film on the history of the theatre. It is still used to this day with many plays as well as classical, pop and rock concerts held here as the acoustics are fantastic here as you’d expect. It is one of three ancient roman theatres in the world with it’s back wall behind the stage still intact. It is known as the Theatre Antique d’Orange and was built in the 1st century. Many different forms of entertainment were performed here many years ago from plays, opera and concerts.


Steps leading up to the entrance to the theatre


Outside the theatre



Inside the theatre and its’ back wall.




Like this view from the very last row!





I spent probably a good hour or so inside as there was much to see and was amazed by it. There was a long corridor that went around the entire circumference of the theatre. Here were various entrances to the sections of the theatre. There were also lots of small rooms off to the left, where various artifacts of the theatre were there and a few short films were shown during my time here, which I took a look at. It wasn’t well lit in these parts, so the reason for no photos. The Theatre Antique d’Orange was quite a sight and glad I got to experience it.


Like this little square with its’ plants and cafes.


Outside the rear of the theatre


This is quite an interesting sign as our tour director Toni translated and explained it to us. It’s about a building project in town that has been very slow with out of control spending and basically one political party is blaming the other for the lack of progress, while they would of had it done if it were their project. I thought, that was kind of funny!


The Triumphant Arch of Orange or Arc de Triomphe d’Orange, located near the theatre. Loved the sight of this!

We left at around 4:45 pm from Orange and returned to Vaison La Romaine at about 5:30 pm.

I walked around the lower town for a bit and checking out the various small shops in town. I was a bit hungry so I had a crepe from a stand cooked in Grand Marnier and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was quite tasty! Went back to our hotel in the upper town at around 6 pm.