We're back in the week after Easter. The long weekend (only Monday) we spent in the Vaucluse region of Provence.
Saturday we drove to Vaison-la-Romaine, found a campground in nearby St Marcellin then drove into the town and walked around. First up the hill to the ruined chateau cum fort, through the old medieval town then across the Roman pont to the opposite side of the river Ouveze. The town had a massive flood in 1992 so there has been rebuilding but the extensive Roman ruins are still there. We didn't pay to go in but walked around and looked through the fence at the impressive amphitheatre.

We missed out on a meal in a rather rustic looking fixed-menu restaurant in the medieval part so opted to try Morroccan for a change. Entrees of cumin-spiced tomato, eggplant and zucchini and a pancake (brique) with chicken and sweet sauce were followed by couscous (of course) with beef and prunes for Pat and meatballs for me, again in a tomato sauce.

The first night in the tent was very cold, even after taking a short walk along the riverbed.

The following day dawned clear (although we woke up after 9.30!) so we drove up Mont Ventoux after a stop in Malucene for bread and a drink. Ventoux is the highest mountain in Provence (2010m) with its own ecosystem. True to its name it was blowing a cold wind up there and snow dusted the trees higher up, above the road closure. A short walk away from the road gave us a slightly better view of the ski slopes (now bare) and the various towers on the summit. The view off the mountain was a bit hazy. After a picnic lunch on the way down we drove through the fields back around to Vaison-la-Romaine via another old village, Seguret. There we admired the little paved alleys and the strangely woven plane trees over the carpark.
We found another campground in a different direction from Vaison and finally found one of the Michelin-guide-recommended places to eat. Dinner was a three course menu in a busy upstairs room next to a tiled shaft down to the floor below and a fake staircase up the wall to an old door in the mezzanine. I started witha goats' cheese tart and Pat had a rabbit(?) terrine ,which was a bit bland and complete with bones. My main was sauteed porc in a mustard cream sauce and Pat's was baby goat (chevreau); chocolate gateau and fraise et cafe glace for dessert.
After a warmer nights rest and a shower we left to drive home via a few more stops. We found an interesting Chateau in Suze-la-Rousse. The wind was now blowing freezing cold. Before lunch we found the trogolodyte village of Barry near Bollene and walked around its many buildings and looked at the view of the Rhone. Back-tracking a little we found a picnic table in some woodland and had a rather chilly meal. Last stop was Orange where we found the amazing Roman relics of a triumphal arch and huge theatre. The theatre had a very interesting audio tour although the wind whistling through didn't make one want to hang around. The remaining marbles collected from it were in the museum opposite. There was a very nice oil painting of the port of Nice in there too. Pat tried unsuccessfully to drive me past the Chateauneuf des Papes winery (with a tiled roof he claimed to remember) but only succeeded in finding the chateau in the town of the same name.
We headed back on the motorway (after we found it and after we negotiated the hazard of filling up the car and getting back into a traffic jam or two).

All in all an enjoyable trip.