Underestimating Pont du Gard

While in Avignon, we had to take a look at The Bridge, meaning the Pont du Gard, not the Pont of Avignon.  How long could that take?!  We were feeling rather smart that we figured out same bus line could take us out to Uzes.  If we go on Wednesday morning, we could even check off the Uzes market (though bigger one on Saturday).

Now that I have adjusted to the minute size of Provencal towns,  Uzes is a rather likable medieval town.  Since we had plenty of time before the bus left for Pont du Gard, we went down to the river to look at a part of the Nimes aqueduct which channeled water from Uzes to Nimes (of which Pont du Gard is a part).  It was enchanting.  Too bad we had a bus catch....

Pont du Gard is the second (to Rome Colosseum)  highest Roman monument that is still standing.  It looked exactly as I expected.  We crossed it back and forth, went down to the river, went up to various viewpoints.  We still had more time to kill, so we decided to follow a trail that one of the GPS maps indicated archaeological ruins.  Of course, we ended up following the still clearly discernible aqueduct, but had to quit in order to catch our bus.  The total volume of stone and brick we saw in the few kilometers we followed rivals any Roman site outside Rome/Naples areas.  There was just enough time to follow more of the aqueduct.  Why didn't any of the guidebooks tell us?!  Now we have to come back and walk more.

[Last year we visited Segovia, Spain and its famous aqueduct.]

The Uzès Wednesday Market was small and intimate, and we enjoyed walking around the town.




Old town intersection with blue shutters.


There were more than several cool medieval and renaissance towers.




The Cathedral's tower.


I liked the Uzès cathedral, Cathédrale Saint-Théodorit d'Uzès, interior.


We walked down to the river that is the source for the Nimes Aqueduct.




This structure is at the start of the water course. Some hikers were taking a lunch break


We had to end the beautiful walk and head back to the bus stop.


On the way we startled this snake who released the rat it was swallowing and headed into a hole in the wall.


Just about the nicest lavoir (clothes washing fountain) we have ever seen.


We hop on the bus to Pont du Gard. The famous aqueduct is just minutes from the bus stop.


On the way up to the right bank Point de Vue, you can see the water course on the top row of arches.


The bridge is a very impression engineering achievement. View from right bank.


We walked over it and viewed it top and bottom and from left and right banks. Another right bank view.






From one of the left bank viewpoints a bit upriver.


Once we had enough of viewing the Pont du Gard, we followed the trail of the aqueduct ruins for about 3 kms in the direction towards Uzes. Here, the aqueduct was either at ground level, or just above, and equally impressive. The total length of the aqueduct was 50 kilometers.