Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Colleen & Tom's Explorations
Following the advice from the weather app, we headed east toward the Med early in the morning straight after breakfast, for it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Pont-du-Gard.
And the weather advice got it wrong! It had already been raining when we arrived, and simply got heavier, so we decided to have an early lunch and see if the rain diminished. Ham and cheese crepes at the Pont-du-Gard!
The area was simply crawling with primary school aged children, there must've been at least 3 groups of school excursions.
So, as we thought, the rain eased and we headed off to check out this bridge that is over 2000 years old (built in the first century A.D.). It took five years to build this structure to carry water to the town of Nimes (which incidentally is where denim got its name being exported to Levi Strauss in the U.S. - the cloth was "de Nimes"). The aqueduct was just incredibly awe inspiring. Massive blocks, lifted and positioned on top of each other.. The top layer was made of bricks. Incredible. This is the highest of all Roman Aqueducts, and the second best preserved. The water took about 27 hours to travel from its source (a spring in Uzes) to its destination. The road bridge we were walking on was added in 1743!!!
Unfortunately we were halfway across the bridge to get to the side from where it is easier to view, when the rain returned with a vengeance and we were forced to return to the administrative buildings where we had time for a perusal of the museum before heading back home to Caunes in the rain!
And the weather advice got it wrong! It had already been raining when we arrived, and simply got heavier, so we decided to have an early lunch and see if the rain diminished. Ham and cheese crepes at the Pont-du-Gard!
The area was simply crawling with primary school aged children, there must've been at least 3 groups of school excursions.
So, as we thought, the rain eased and we headed off to check out this bridge that is over 2000 years old (built in the first century A.D.). It took five years to build this structure to carry water to the town of Nimes (which incidentally is where denim got its name being exported to Levi Strauss in the U.S. - the cloth was "de Nimes"). The aqueduct was just incredibly awe inspiring. Massive blocks, lifted and positioned on top of each other.. The top layer was made of bricks. Incredible. This is the highest of all Roman Aqueducts, and the second best preserved. The water took about 27 hours to travel from its source (a spring in Uzes) to its destination. The road bridge we were walking on was added in 1743!!!
Unfortunately we were halfway across the bridge to get to the side from where it is easier to view, when the rain returned with a vengeance and we were forced to return to the administrative buildings where we had time for a perusal of the museum before heading back home to Caunes in the rain!
- comments