it's raining again (The Mediterranean Sea)

it seems like a never ending theme. Everyone we meet tells us that the weather is unseasonal - just like the weather we left at home, but, climate change? Rubbish! Hmmm.

Anyway, this is an amalgam blog that brings us from Alaigne to Vaison-la-Romaine in Provence. There are pictures, but not many because it was raining. Der.

Jayne's first close up of the Mediterrean.

So, on a rainy Friday in Alaigne we headed for the coast, hoping things would be different. And they were! It wasn't raining, but it was windy enough to blow a dog off a chain. The markets were packing up and we went for a walk down the beach side promenade. As usual we walked in the wrong direction and ended up at the river. *sigh* Turn around and walk back.

How fresh is the seafood here?

The coast here is like everywhere I guess. Partially overly developed, dependent on holiday money. There wasn't a lot happening outside of the lunch trade but we knew that was about to change on the weekend. They were hosting the festival of wind. OK, I might have made that up, but it is associated with water sport and wind. Given the 'mild breeze' the day we were there, who'd be surprised?

Getting in some practice.

Our last night in Alaigne, we went wine tasting. It was about 200 metres from the B&B. No cars required. A village of just over 300 people and they have their own winery - amazing. 

Curiously, we both found the whites to be a better option than the reds. We haven't found a lot of great whites (we haven't hit the Chablis region). They also do a Bag-in-Box (BiB) deal, that's a wine cask for you Aussies reading, serious value.

We left Alaigne for Provence with no particular stop overs. Jayne decided that Montpellier might be interesting and from what I saw, she was right. There are no pictures because we didn't stop. However, we did circumnavigate the old city and attempt to park the car in an underground station. I drove the car down the narrow path, took a ticket, rubbed the front wheel against the barrier, bent around the corner - to be faced by cars, cars and more cars - and Jayne said, "Get out of here". So we did and resumed course for Vaison-la-Romaine.

Jayne on the balcony at happy hour.

And we got there! Another delightful little gite in the vineyards. It is really beautiful, views of vines from every window, a few minutes from the Roman village and close to a lot of other Provence tourist attractions. We could probably stay here another week and not see everything. Hmmm, maybe we need to come back.

All hail Caesar!

Sunday and the rain begins again. I was wondering whether it was because we were attempting to visit another Roman amphitheatre. Too much paranoia? You're probably right. We made a valiant attempt to see the site before the thunderstorm - unsuccessfully. We sheltered where we could, but we weren't able to look through the area that was under excavation, or other areas that were out in the open.

I have such a headache!

Fortunately, the theatre also had a Musee attached. Unfortunately, it was across the road and it was raining more heavily. 

The static display had some wonderful sculptures and artefacts from the original sight of the theatre.

Alas, poor Yorick.

Anyway, tomorrow the weather forecast is much the same as today so we will do the obligatory breakfast run and attend to hair cut/colour needs as well as visiting local sights to see - Tuesday the markets here are renown across the region so they will command our attention as well as the local Roman ruins and a winery or two at the local vignerons' cave.