A Journey Through Belle France
Day 6 - Roman Ruins, Les Girasols,
Gigondas & Vaison la Romaine
Roman
Ruins
Vaison la Romaine
This morning we started with breakfast on the second story terrace above the entrance of the hotel. It is a great location to people watch and so we sat there munching on croissants and tea while we watched the locals head off to work. I love being on vacation. After breakfast, we took a short walk over to the Roman Ruins and met Anne-Maria, our tour
guide. Anne-Maria is a little five-foot tall fireball who really knows her
stuff. She started the tour in Puymin in the remains of a mansion believed to have belonged to a man of local political importance. The place was huge, with a large entryway flanked by columns, a library, and mosaic floors. From the mansion, we went to the pubic restrooms, which had running water. Amazing! In the photos you can see the gutters in the floor that carried the water and the carved stone seats where the Romans sat to do their business and conduct business from what I understand. I guess if you have to use the facilities in public, you might as well make good use of your time. As you can see, Linda, Elena, Steve, and Sy were more than willing to try out the public bathrooms. Is it me, or do our adventures on
this tour always end up in a
bathroom? I guess we are a
group of simple people who are
obviously easily amused.
From the public facilities, we
headed up the hill to the 6,000
seat theater. This theater was
much like the one we saw in
Orange, but not nearly as well
preserved, though it is in the
process of being restored. Like the theater in Orange, this one is also used for contemporary concerts and festivals. As you can see from the pictures, we had an overwhelming urge to do the wave while we sat in the theater. We are, after all, the product of American sports. Just past
the theater, we saw the ruins of some of the
more humble homes of the lower classes and
what was once a shopping street full of little
stores.
Right in the center of this archaeological site,
a museum has been built to house the more
fragile artifacts found on the site. We said
our good-byes to Anna-Maria and headed
Anne-Maria in the mansion's entryway (left)
Anne-Marie et al check out the public bathrooms (below)
Laura decides to explore the oven pit.
The group gives Anna-Maria the wave.
into the museum. The museum is a walk through everyday
Roman life 2,000 yrs
ago. It includes art
pieces, mosaic
floors, 
toiletries, jewels,
water pipes, and
ceramics.
2,000 year old water pipes
Column toppers
One section of a mosaic floor
Les Girasols
After we saw the museum, we loaded onto the bus and headed south to Les Girasols winery. Les Girasols is a little family run winery that was started in 1974 by Paul and Marie-Elizabeth Joyet. They had been vegetable farmers, but decided to try their hand at wine making, and lucky for us, they were successful. They are now retired and the winery is operated by their daughter Françoise and her American husband John who learned about wine making near my neck of the woods, Napa Valley, California.
Françoise gave us a
tour of the winery and showed us the wine making process. Then we all
sat down for a wonderful lunch prepared by Marie-Elizabeth. It was definitely
the best food on the entire tour. Not only was there great food, but
there was lots and lots of wine. Françoise just kept bringing out
bottle after bottle and personally served it herself. 
A few of the wines we enjoyed at Les Girasols.
Françoise serving the wine.
Rich stops to smell the flowers.
Me and Francois in the vineyard.
Once lunch was
complete, we had the chance to look around the grounds and admire the
beautiful vineyard and the adjacent home where the family lives. It is
such a peaceful, tranquil place. I could very easily imagine myself
living there, and I think everyone else could as well. 
Our experience at Les Girasols was so superb, from the warm hospitality of the family to the delicious food and all that yummy wine, we decided to commemorate our afternoon among the grapes with a group photo.
Gigondas
From the winery, we made a short detour to Gigondas before heading back to Vaison la Romaine for a free evening on the town. Gigondas is a prosperous little town in the middle of the Côtes du Rhône vineyards. We only had a few moments to spend in this sleepy little wine town, so we all headed up to the highest point, the church above the town, for a good view of the valley.
I have to say that it
was definitely worth the climb. Not only is the town very pretty and
very quaint, and view is phenomenal. We didn't
have 
the time for any wine tasting. But by this point I had consumed so much wine (between lunch and last nights dinner), that I needed a little break.
Clockwise from left:
(1) The church at the top of the town.
(2) A local couple taking an afternoon stroll.
(3) The view of the valley from the church.
(4) The town in all its provincial colors.
Vaison la Romaine
When we arrived back in Vaison, Linda and I went to go visit the cloister at the cathedral Notre-Dame de Nazareth. The walk
to the cloister is along a small residential street that runs adjacent to the second archaeological site in the city. It is off the main road a bit and feels completely different from the area where the hotel and the main shopping street is. I think this is worth noting only because they are located within blocks of each other.
When we arrived at the
cloister, I said bonjour to the woman at the ticket booth and she asked
if I wanted my guide in French. Well, I was honored, but graciously
declined and asked for one in English. I didn't want to miss some great
tidbit of information because I remembered my high school French
incorrectly. 
I fell in love with the cloister as soon as we entered because it was so quite and tranquil there. The way the light filtered through the columns, the wildflowers in the tower and the courtyard, sense of peace within the building. It seemed like the entire town completely disappeared once you were inside.
The inner walkway of the cloister, as you enter the building.
Once we left the
cloister, Linda and I headed toward the Roman Bridge. We had a date with
Donna and Elena to go explore the medieval city. We had learned from
Sabine that there was a flood in Vaison in 1992 and that the high water mark
was displayed on the bridge. Once we arrived we found the plaque that
commemorates the flood and shows how high the water actually got. 
Two views of the tower from the inner courtyard.
Amazingly, this 2,000 year old bridge is the only bridge in town that survived the flood. I guess those old Romans really knew what they were doing.
From the bridge we all headed up into the medieval town (circa 13th century) on the narrow cobble stone street. We really didn't see many people, except for the odd shop keeper, so it felt like we had the whole
town to ourselves. I could
feel that Indiana
Jones urge creeping up again. I could see myself searching for treasure
in this forgotten city while huge boulders rolled through the narrow streets
almost crushing me. Alas, it was just a fantasy. The town is quite
beautiful and well kept and I am jealous of the people who are lucky enough to
live here. We slowly meandered through the serpentine streets and 
Donna, Linda, & I in front of chapel of Sainte-Constance
finally made it to the very top of the hill to the ruins of the castle. The castle was built by the Count of Toulouse, Raymond V, in the late 12th century. From the top of the
hill you can see the whole town of Vaison, which is really a spectacular view.
As we headed back down the hill, we stopped in a little souvenir shop for some postcards and cookies.
When I walked into the
shop the man behind the counter smiled and said "Bonjour Madame."
I said bonjour to him as well and then told him that I was not a madame but a mademoiselle.
At that point he took my hand and kissed it and "Enchantez
mademoiselle." I love that! 
The Count's castle
As we left the medieval town, we crossed the bridge and began walking up and down the shopping street trying figure out where to have dinner. En route we found Laura and the five of use began looking in earnest for a place to eat. Elena and Donna decided to go to a restaurant down the street and so Linda, Laura, and I were standing there undecided in the
Our new friends.
middle of the road when a couple sitting outside at one of the little restaurants asked us to join them. It turns out that they were from Canada and had been in the country for about three weeks. They heard us speaking English, and thought it would be fun to have dinner with us. They offered us some wine, but I had more than my fair share at lunch and, can you believe this, I declined. The only time on the trip (or in my life for that matter) that I have ever turned down wine. We talked about their trip, the tour, our jobs, and all sorts of wonderful things. Today turned out to be a great day for meeting new people, both locals and other travelers.
After dinner, we exchanged mail addresses with our new friends, said au revoir and headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. I was absolutely exhausted, in a good way!