When Erin and I were leaving Roubaix our AirBnB host asked us where we were heading next and we told her "Provence". "Oh yes, heading to the Sun," she replied. They say that is so windy in Provence that any clouds at all are rare. Driving down the freeway just outside of Provence we saw the sign for the Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge - we made the snap decision to get off and see it just before sunset - and it was the last we saw of the sun for the next few days. Eating lunch in Nimes the next day with one of Erin's friends(who was living there while teaching English) he said, "Well, you'll be the only one with rainy Provence photos!" Glass half full for sure....
The first century Pont du Gard is the longest aqueduct bridge in the Roman world and one of the best preserved. I've seen photos of it in history books my whole life and always dreamed of seeing it in person. It was part of a 31 mile aqueduct carrying water to Nimes.
It is one of the most visited(photographed) sites in France but that didn't stop us from adding to the collection.
The protruding stones were to support the scaffolding while it was being built.
Almost no mortar or concrete was used - gravity has supported it for 2000 years.
Part of the reason it is so well preserved is because it served a toll bridge for centuries after it stopped carrying water.
The sun comes out!
To the left is an 18th century road bridge.
View from the bridge.
Interestingly Nimes had plenty of water from springs. The Romans built this to provide luxury and project wealth - it could be called frivolous.
I was pretty thrilled that we caught this light.
It would be nice to be here in summer too - there is swimming, kayaking and hiking.
We arrived in Arles after dark, checked into our AirBnB and headed out for some dinner. This is the city's Roman arena.
It was a quiet night in Arles and it took us a while to find an open restaurant.
I shot this while we were walking to the car to head out for the day.
I believe we ducked under here to get our bearings.
Not a good day for this guy.
We met Erin's friend in Nimes, had some lunch and did some sight-seeing. All in the rain. The Tour de France started in the city last year and I instantly knew this was a city I wanted to see.
Nimes Roman arena - well preserved because it served as a walled city during the middle ages.
The Maison Carrée - a Roman Temple built in 19 BC. Like the Pantheon in Rome it is extremely well preserved because it was in constant use.
"Rain and Ruins"
The Temple of Diana
The Jardins de la Fontaine - they sit on the site of the Roman baths.
The Tour Magne - "The Great Tower". It was a lookout tower on the city walls. Unfortunately it was mostly destroyed by a man who believed there was buried treasure underneath it.
View from the top.
You can see the arena in the center of the image.
We stopped at this olive farm and did a tasting and bought some olive oil. Erin's French came in handy as I only really understood, "green, black, peppery etc"
Our room was right on the town square which sat atop an ancient Roman Forum. Having been in the rain all day we had stopped at a bakery, cheese shop and grocery store and decided to have a French picnic on our bed.
Arles is the city Vincent van Gogh cut his ear off in - and the cafe next to our place is in one of his famous paintings.
Morning Stroll
It stopped raining for a little bit.
The old part of Arles sits about 17 feet above where the street level was in Roman times - as you can see from where the bottom of the arena is in this photo.
We stopped in the town of Beaucaire - Erin discovered it was a market day but was a little let down as most of the vendors were not producers.
The market may not have been the greatest but we also checked out this castle - The Château de Beaucaire.
The sites in this part of France are suppose to be very crowded - the combination of the rain and being slightly before high season gave us some of them all to ourselves.
The landscape in Provence is beautiful with its rivers and quaint farms and then also this moonscape-looking area. We were glad we had the car to cruise around in with all the rain - which is also I why I don't have a lot of nature photos to share - besides this one.
We took a stroll around Les Baux-de-Provence which sits atop a rock outcropping and is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France.
There aren't many permanent residents anymore and the industry is tourism - but it didn't feel cheesy and the stores sold mostly quality items.
There is a ruined castle at the top of the village but we didn't pay to go in. In all honesty we were a little tired of being in the rain.
Our plan was to return our car in Arles and hop on the high speed train back to Paris but the car rental place was closed(it wasn't even late). Erin made a nervous phone call in French and we ended up driving to Avignon, dropping the car there, and hoping on the train. We would have liked to explore the city but we didn't have the time. If I ever get back to France, Provence will still be high on the list - we barely scratched the surface here.
When we got on the train someone was in our seats and we weren't sure what to do. We ended up finding seats in the bar car where we bought some drinks, ate our packed lunch, and enjoyed watching the countryside pass by the large windows. Couldn't really complain! We arrived back in Paris in the early evening for a last few days of vacation.
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