How many times have you heard of the phrase “water gives life?” Ancient Romans certainly understood it. Every city was built on the water, by the water, if not, for the water.
Our journey around the historical sites around Provence brought us to the world-famous aqueduct bridge, Pont Du Gard.
Pont Du Gard is part of a 50-kilometer long water project that supplied the city of Nimes from spring sources around the city of Uzes just north of Nimes. Even though this was not the longest waterway in Roman time, it took a considerable amount of effort from the planners. As the aqueduct needed to go through rivers, streams, and hill while needing protection against the natural elements, calculations need to be precise. The planners need to work with a limited budget, human elements, and natural terrains, all while ensuring that the aqueduct uses gravity to gently feed the water into Nimes. The calculation is so precise that the water level only drops 12m over the course of 50km of going through rivers and hills. Because of the need for consistency in the slope of the aqueduct, Pont du Gard needed to be as tall as the hills nearby. The result is the highest aqueduct in the Roman age. Certainly, one of the wonders of the world.
You can spend a good 4 hours here at the Pont du Gard. Short hikes from either side offer you a great view of the bridge and the river. On the left side of the river, you can continue to hike the remain aqueducts on land. Though most of it is not as well preserved as Pont Du Gard, they are still worth checking out.
Tracing the land aqueducts will lead you back to the visitor center and the Pont Du Gard museum. I could not recommend this museum enough. As there are no actual explanation or illustration on the Pont Du Gard, the museum is essential to understanding its construction, history, and importance.
Because of the existence of water projects like Pont Du Gard, Roman cities are supplied with 67% to 100% more water than modern-day Europe. Enabled the expansion of the city of Nimes by lowering the cost of water supply. In Nimes, you can visit the endpoint of the aqueduct; a distribution pool.
The pool cleverly distributes water first the public and private water sources first. When the water level is high enough, the distribution pool will allocate water to fountains, spill over to clean the streets, and surplus available to purchase for workshops.
The aqueduct wasn’t the only water source here in the city. In Les Jardins de la Fontaine, you can find the original water sources which prompt the Gauls to build the first city of Nemausus. Along with this fountain, a defense structure to protect the sources and the town. The La Tour Magne was originally built by the Celtic Gauls. Thanks to an obsessed farmer, most of the tower is stripped of its Celtic roots. Well, at least it was a good place for the views.
By the original fountain sources, you can also find a ruined temple that inspired painters and poets. They gave it a name that characterizes their admiration of the place: the temple of Diana.
The actual use of the temple was far less romantic. This ruined temple was built for the worship of the Roman emperor Augustus and his family, constructed alongside the structures around the original fountains. His grandsons were also been venerated. Maison Carree in the Nimes city center was built in honor of the grandsons.
Out of all the Roman structures in the city of Nimes, the most famous one is, without a doubt, the arena.
While it is similar to the one in Arles, Nimes Arena is the best-preserved Roman amphitheater in the world with most of its seating still intact. The audio guide leads you around the arena whiling stepping on the original rocks; something that you cannot do in the colosseum in Rome.
Additional explanations are provided for gladiator and the bullfighting that happened in the Nimes arena.
We were lucky enough to get some additional views of the arena as our hotel room was directly facing the arena.
As Christmas was approaching, we settled down in the city of Avignon for the two days of holidays. As everyone was heading home to their families, the city was especially quiet. Luckily the major sites are still open.
It was an especially chilly day as the “mistral” was approaching. We shortened our agenda to the Palais des Papes and the Pont d’Avignon. Being the largest medieval gothic palace, Palais des Papes is a testament to a period of rift, separation, and restoration of order in Catholicism history. From the beginning of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century, Avignon was the, sometimes one of them, the seat of the Holy See. The newer part of the palace was built during the time of Pope Clement the 6th, transforming it to a mega religious center in less than 40 years.
Most of the interior furnishings don’t exist anymore as most of them were moved back to Rome. However, with the help of the Histopad guide, you can get a very good idea of the palace during the time of the Avignon popes. Particular interesting was the hunting wallpapers in one of the rooms, and a kitchen with a gigantic 18m long chimney.
Though pilgrimage to the Avignon Palais des papes would have been much harder without the famous bridge, Pont d’Avignon or Saint Benezet bridge. The audio guide will help you understand the origin and the history of the bridge. Though, due to the changing conditions of the river Rhone, the bridge was never completely rebuilt again after the time of Louis the 14th. Though the precise reason for the continued instability of the bridge is still up for debate.
As the sun sets even further, it was time for us to retreat and enjoy our family Christmas dinner. A bit of seafood according to the French traditions, and a bit of wine for the celebration. I guess its time to plan our next time back to the lavender fields, and to the vinobles up in the Rhone valley.
