Yesterday our first outing from Orange started out on the freeway in the pouring rain. It continued to rain most of the time we were inside our first church, but got gradually nicer throughout the day.
That church, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in the village of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, was an ideal place to wait out the rain because there were sculptures, murals and mosaics to keep us busy! It was very dark inside so we both had the tripods going, too.
The most interesting feature of this church is a 13th-century floor mosaic in the apse that depicts the city of Jerusalem. Mosaics from this period are pretty rare.
One of many medieval murals
Our second stop was the parish church of La-Garde-Adhemar. It's in a pretty little village atop a hill overlooking a green valley (and TGV tracks). It has no one great feature, but some very nice architecture and a great location.
The last stop of the day was by far the best. It's a small town called Vaison-la-Romaine and it has a Romanesque chapel, a Romanesque cathedral, and extensive Roman ruins. Plus, the sun came out and stayed out. Plus, in a very full parking lot we scored a great spot right next to the bathrooms, which we needed. There is also a castle on a hill nearby, which we didn't visit but took some photos of from the roadside.
Then it was off to find the cathedral, which turned out to be a short walk right alongside the Roman ruins! There are actually two different archaeological sites in town; this is the one called La Villasse. There is admission to enter, but you can get a great view over the whole site just by walking around the outside of the fence.
I'll have to leave the next two days' trips, which include a great day in Avignon and a really nice lunch in a small town, for a later post.