Fountain 13. Vaison la Romaine. 29 July

                                                        Bicycle Tree with fruit.

On the road linking Malaucene and Vaison la Romaine is a grand old oak tree dripping with bicycle fruit. Perhaps the seeds were sown by passing cyclists peddling to Mt. Ventoux. 

I almost said that taking this photo was my nearest brush with a car, then I remembered several other near death fountain experiences. Especially the one in Aix. Fortunately it is generally acknowledged that tourists, especially those with a camera, have no fear.

 Vasio Vocontiorum, or Vaison la Romaine to you and I, has been inhabited since the Bronze Age and by the end of 400 bc it was the capital of a Celtic tribe known as the Vocontii. They were later taken over by the Romans who left a mass of ruins, mosaics, a theatre, etc. including a sculpture that is now in the British Museum. After that it was taken over by the various Barbarians: Christians, who used the theatre benches as tombstones, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Clotaire I, the King of the Franks, various bishops and counts whose disputes were settled by Good Pope Clement etc etc. It was then nearly washed away by a flood in 1632 and then by another flood in 1992 which gained it a spot on prime time telly, in Discovery Channel's Destroyed in Seconds.

Whew, and now, all this history is history. Vaison is a gentle place with many tourists, geraniums, art galleries, gem stone shops and the very helpful Willy's Motorcycles where Louise gets new tyres, and more importantly, brakes, while I use their computer to catch up on emails.

                                  
                                  

 

                   Fountain 13 in the vernacular style surmounted with a pineapple.

In the haute ville, where narrow arched ways lean left and right and rough cobbles passively threaten to trip up and twist delicate ankles, the counts made life difficult for the bishops.   

     

Down below, on the other side of the river where the land is flatter, is a large, almost modern square. In the shade: a group of musicians sit with friends and snap open plastic take-away containers of anti-pasti. In the sun: readers tug their shorts higher up their thighs, pull out the bookmark and re- enter their imaginary world. In a dappled light: a toddler makes a beeline to a column of water which rises and falls from a hole in the pavement. Silent and purposeful, she attempts to hold the water down with her foot until her disposable nappy sags and her skin turns blue.