Sunday 12 July 2009
We stay a while in Vaison la Romaine. Archeological digs have revealed immense, luxurious, and elaborate Gallo Roman homes. There were floors in mosaics, marble, marquetry, and statues, ponds, atriums, and private thermal baths, all showing life in Roman times.
On the left bank on top of a rocky spur is the Haute-Ville, originating in the 13c. In Medieval times the villagers settled in the heights at the foot of the castle to protect themselves from robbers and invasion.
There are little shady squares, ancient doorways, and narrow cobbled streets dotted with superb fountains or lined by the facades of 16th and 18thc. mansions.
During the late morning of 22 September 1992 a flash flood in and around the city of Vaison-La-Romaine caused 35 fatalities and hundreds of houses were destroyed, with property damage was estimated at nearly five billion French francs
Shows cathedral built upon foundations of plundered Roman columns and capitals
My feet at the Roman Amphitheatre
The streets of the medieval Haute Ville, Vaison la Romaine
Shows the roman bridge and nearby houses completely engulfed by the flood
not at home 