Why I loved Vaison-la-Romaine..and why you will too

Vaison-la-Romaine is a little provençal town in the Côte-d'Azur that is a beautiful mix of modern, roman and medieval.

I 100% realize how pretentious that sentence makes me sound, but I don't know how else to describe it. 

We fell in love with this city as soon as we drove our car too far up its winding cobblestone streets, almost got stuck and had to back out 3 mph as the locals sat at their little outdoor tables, smoking cigarettes and watching us try to navigate roads that date back over 2,000 years and were meant for foot/hoof traffic and certainly not our weird Mercedes mini van.

Pro tip: Small Asian women (especially if they are your mother) make everything seem larger.

We went in May which in retrospect was the perfect time of year to go. The weather was warm but comfortable and there wasn't a ton of tourists, which meant that it felt like we were on a private tour for most of the sites.

In addition to the medieval city center, there are roman ruins with several very intact structures. The layout helps you imagine how the town looked, and also makes you realize that modern builders have NOTHING on them. If my house was abandoned for 50 years it would crumble into dust and disperse in the wind like dandelion fluff.

The city center has a lot of small shops and an open air market that is open every Tuesday.

So why did I love Vaison-la-Romaine? Even though it's a well known town with cultural and historical significance, when we went it felt forgotten. There were hardly any tourists, many shops were empty and there seemed to be a stillness in the air there. Almost like we had stumbled into a time trap. There were overgrown stairs and alleys, and it was so walkable, you could spend several days wandering the streets and discovering something new. We only spent one night here, but I think you could easily spend a couple of days, soaking up the provencal sun, walking along the time worn cobblestones and smelling the fresh lavender that seems to permeate the city. Ok, I'll stop now.