Les Taillades via Vaison-les-Romains (5 October 2024)

Haute Vaison-les-Romains

We took the scenic route to Vaison-les-Romains.  This meant driving down some quite narrow roads and occasionally there were very fast drivers coming toward me giving me a few heart stopping moments.  It seems my judgement isn’t too bad as so far I’ve avoided hitting another car!

 

We went past a number of medieval and older villages which had served as palaces for the Popes when they were based in Avignon. 

 

I had been to Vaison-les-Romaine about twenty years ago and the place was almost unrecognisable.  I remembered wandering around the excavation of the ruins and not having to pay anything but now it is a big tourist attraction. 


 

The town is focussed around the ruins and of course it is full of restaurants and cafés.  I had to fill up the car with petrol and next door was a boulangerie which was very popular with the locals so we had a bite to eat there. 



 

There are two parts to the town.  The haute village which is medieval and the lower village on the other side of a river.  Over the river is a Roman bridge that is still in use. The two parts of the are village came into being due to a dispute with one of the popes or bishops and when they didn’t get their way they moved from the Haute Village to the site of the ruins on the other side of the river. 

 


After wandering around there for a while we made our way to Les Taillades where we were to spent six nights and five days of cycling. 

 

Our host, Natalene, was there to meet us when we arrived and took us through how to use a Garmin GPS as well as talking about the way the rides worked.  She was delightful and even had a suggestion for where to eat that night.

 

The venue was a restaurant in Coustellet about 10kms from our villa.  I was a bit reluctant to drive there as I did not know the road and it would be dark plus I think my cataracts are impacting my visual acuity.   The food was very good, the owner did the cooking, serving and welcoming to the restaurant.  I thought the meal was superb.  It was country French cooking at its best.  Different and interesting.  

 

We're stuffed


The Roman bridge linking the two villages

Some of the Roman ruins


 

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