Arrived In Time : Roman Ruins and Pont du Gard

We are behind in our blog for several reasons. First of all, we didn’t have internet for a day. Secondly, dinner in France is 7:30 at the earliest and takes at least two hours. By the time we get back, we are tired and I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine so the blog gets postponed. And one more reason, it’s been rainy and cold off and on for the last three days prior to today and our sightseeing hasn’t been what we had hoped.

Short recap of last three days:

We stayed an extra day in Narbonne so we could go to Carcassone, a walled city dating back to Roman times. The view from outside the walls is spectacular and amazing, but the inside is all commercialized. My opinion is that it is very touristy and not worth the time, however, lots of people find it really interesting. We did have a good lunch there, though. There's a great photo of the exterior on wikipedia.

After Carcassone, we drove to Fontfroide Abbey, a former Cistercian monastary situated 15 kilometers southwest of Narbonne. We found that to be interesting, particularly because they have vineyards and make several different wines that are highly acclaimed. We bought two bottles.

If you want to see the inside of the Abbey, you have to take a tour. The guide spoke in French, but we had an English audioguide that gave a brief explanation of the abbey.

We woke up early on our last day in Narbonne, and were on the road by 8:30 headed to Nimes.

Nîmes became a Roman colony sometime before 28 BC.

We took a tour of the amphitheater, which dates from the first century.

Having a cappucino outside the amphitheater

Nearby Nimes, we visited the most famous Roman aquaduct, the Pont du Gard.

The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aquaduct bridge that crosses the Gardon River. It is part of the Nîmes aqueduct, a 50 km-long (31 mi) structure built by the Romans to carry water from a spring at Uzes to Nimes.

Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved after the Aquaduct of Segovia. It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 because of its historical importance.

The bridge has three tiers of arches, standing 160 feet high.

It continued to be used possibly until the 6th century, with some parts used for significantly longer, but lack of maintenance after the 4th century meant that it became increasingly clogged by mineral deposits and debris that eventually choked off the flow of water.

The bridge underwent a series of renovations between the 18th and 21st centuries, commissioned by the local authorities and the French state, that culminated in 2000 with the opening of a new visitor centre and the removal of traffic and buildings from the bridge and the area immediately around it.

We found it to be magnificent. And France has done a great job of making it a huge attraction with it's restaurants, shops, movie theater (for showing the film about the bridge), and even a hotel at the base of the bridge. There was a huge parking lot and lots of tourists. This is one tourist attraction that we really loved.