| VAISON-LA-ROMAINE lies 27km northeast of Orange and hit the headlines in 1992 when the River Ouvèze, which divides the medieval and eighteenth-century towns burst its banks, destroying riverside houses, the modern road bridge and an entire industrial quarter. Though the town has recovered remarkably, its character has changed. It seems much more commercialized and less friendly – perhaps because of the mass of ghoulish tourists who flocked to the town to see the damage. It still, however, has the strong attractions of its medieval haute ville, with a ruined clifftop castle, a Roman bridge that held out against the floods, a cloistered former cathedral and the exceptional excavated remains of two Roman districts. Just south of Vaison there are sculptures in natural settings to be discovered at the Crestet Centre d'Art.
Pages in section ‘Vaison’: The Town, Information, Restaurants, Le Crestet and Mount Ventoux.
| 
