We weren't quite ready to leave Provence before visiting another market so we had timed our visit to Vaison-La-Romaine for its large Tuesday market with over 400 vendors. Ancient Vaison-la-Romaine was more than just a colony as it had a treaty with Rome and therefore had a preferred status. This combined with its thriving farming economy of olives and vineyards made it a prosperous town of 6,000. Vaison only recently reached the same population levels it had during Roman times. Every Tuesday morning since the 16^th century, when the pope gave Vaison market-town status, the old town is transformed into a farmer’s market with plenty of fresh produce and Provencal (and not so Provencal) products. We knew we were going to be in Vaison till the mid afternoon at the least so we drove in early (around 8:30 am) to get a parking spot. After a couple failed attempts, we found a parking lot near the stadium. We then set off towards the market which occupied nearly the entire historical centre. The market was already in full swing and we’re glad we got there early because by about an hour later, it was so jam-packed with people, we literally had to pick a "lane" to walk in and just go with the flow. Definitely not a market for claustrophobes. We saw some good bargains (having visited at least 10 markets just in Provence, we know what the going rates are for various items such as tablecloths of a certain quality, produce – especially melons and so forth) and some outrageously overpriced items, such as 2 ears of corn for 3 Euros! Imagine paying over $4 for 2 pieces… As with all the other markets, there was lots of “degustation”, or sampling, to be done. We picked up a chausson and a chocolat & almond pastry to start off the day, just in case we ran out of energy at some point during the day. We sampled honey at a couple of stalls and found some acacia and lavender that we really liked so we picked up a jar of each. I love taking photographs of the produce stalls and there is usually some new variety of vegetable or fruit I haven’t seen before (like “Simiane” onions that were oblong). Or often the presentation of a particular stall just demands that it be photographed – like the stand that was just selling garlic and onions and had many braids of garlic hanging from the umbrellas. There were quite a few colourful flower stands and quite a few selling lavender products, too. Unlike the Forcalquier market, it seemed liked there were much fewer clothes and footwear vendors which for us made for more interesting browsing. We were on the lookout for a couple of tablecloths and we finally found some that we liked and to top it off, the vendor we bought it from had been setting up his stall every Tuesday in the same place for the last 38 years and only sold locally made cloths! We ended up with quite a few purchases and we finished off the market by buying some produce and fresh fruit for the coming days, including an entire pot of basil which was probably 18 inches tall!

As we had wandered around the market that morning, we had checked out a couple recommended restaurants. We decided to book upon seeing our second menu of the day just because it looked so good and we returned to “La Lyriste” at just after 1 pm to sit down for a three course meal. We were there for nearly an hour and a half, savouring every single course. For entrées we had tomato gazpacho, drizzled with cream and with a lemon-basil sorbet. As the sorbet melted, the flavours blended perfectly with the gazpacho and helped to cool it down further. Megs got a green asparagus risotto that was formed into a rectangular block and then slightly browned, with a side of green salad. We actually shared our entire entrees because we liked them both equally. For our mains, we both went for the pork medallions stuffed with ricotta cheese, served on a bed of buttery mashed potatoes with a honey-mustard sauce. I tried to take very small bites to make it last longer and we sent our plates back completely clean, with even the sauces mopped up with bread. For dessert, Megs went for the “Liégeois Chocolat” with mascarpone and a very thick apricot nectar that was all layered beautifully in a glass. I went for the “Gourmandaise chocolat” which was a chocolate cake with a moist interior, topped with a scoop of plain yoghurt sorbet and two “wings” of salted caramel. This was surrounded by a delicious red berry coulis. All in all, this meal definitely ranked among the top ten of our trip and I would definitely go back on our next visit to Vaison.

The market was completely wrapped up by the time we left the restaurant and the street cleanup was in progress. It was another scorching hot day and by the time we had walked back to the car and driven to camp, we were ready for a swim. Megs stayed at the pool longer than me as I had to head back for job search related phone call. The interior temperature of the van that night was around 29 degrees and there was no breeze at all so we had a hard time getting to bed. The following day, we were finally leaving Provence after nearly six weeks and heading north to get a start on our 1100 km drive back to the UK.