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Published: October 9th 2011
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Hi Everyone
Well we have had a busy week since arriving in Uzès, and that doesn’t include the town itself, which we have hardly seen. On Sunday, we went to see the Pont de Gard. I was expecting just to rock up and see this bridge over the river, but they have done up the whole site. First you pay 15 euro to park the car, but this includes access to a few things. You walk down a way to the usual tourist shops and eateries, with a museum, then a 5 minute walk down to the river - just before you get there, the Pont de Gard suddenly appears, and it is quite a spectacular site. Built by the Romans in the 1st century, it was part of a 50km long aqueduct to carry water from Uzès to Nîmes. The museum wasn’t too bad, with some interesting artifacts from and about Nîmes and the opulent lifestyles lead by the citizens due to the abundance of water.
The next day we drove to the Ardeche Gorges north of Uzès, to see the Pont d’Arc, France’s largest natural bridge, and hoping to do some kayaking. Even though the weather has
been unseasonally warm and clear, a lot of tourist places shut down at the end of September. So we didn’t get to canoe, just drove around the picturesque gorge. Just at the end we stopped for lunch at a little place - I don’t know how the lady did it. She was the only one there (probably her own place) and with only a slight wait, she fed a constant stream of people (photo below).
On the way to the gorges, we saw a ruined chateau so walked up to look. The only information I can find out about the Chateau d’Allegre is it originates from the 11th century and is (very slowly) being restored. See the photos below - if only these walls could talk!
The next day we went to a walled city called Aigues-Mortes which looks very impressive driving up to it. It was pleasant walking through the ‘city’ due to the only cars belonging to the residents. The city was founded by Louis IX in 1241 and apparently hasn’t changed too much. There is a unique structure called the Constance Tower which has walls 6 metres thick! This town was originally on the coast,
but due to the constant silting up of the Rhone river, is now 5 km’s inland. We had a nice lunch in the square, see photo. Good choice of town to visit by Sean.
We then went on an overnight visit to Gordes and Moustiers-St-Marie, to see the ‘Grand Canyon’ of Europe, the Verdon Gorge - I will talk about that next time.
Some general comments about France - Sean calls it the land of Boulangeries, dog turds and cigarette butts (not necessarily in that order). Crazy drivers - the French will line up patiently at the boulangerie, supermarket etc but in a car, they will pass you on a blind corner in the hope of arriving 5 seconds earlier than planned. We have seen numerous near misses where, if Sean hadn’t left a gap in front, a massive head on would have happened. The annual road toll in France is around 5,300 which is a huge drop from 1972 when it was 17,000! A huge decrease when you think there is a lot more drivers on the road now. We love the choice of products in the supermarkets and have probably spent too much time just wandering
around them. The French must be exhausted after their 3 hours work in the morning (sometimes only 2 hours if they opened at 10am) because everything shuts up at noon for 2 hours (except the restaurants). We quite like the relaxed pace, but we are on holidays. A lot of the shops stay open until 7pm, so most restaurants don’t fill up until around 8 - 8.30pm. Our evening meals are getting later and later. A word on food - I haven’t had a decent steak yet but the duck that I have had has been extremely tasty!
We are having a great time, with fantastic weather up to 29C (it usually is around 20 this time of the year). I need to go shopping as my jeans are getting a bit tight - there goes the weight loss that happened before Sean arrived and I had to walk everywhere!) Sean is definitely getting man boobs and love handles!
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Julie
non-member comment
Food
Haven't had a steak yet !!!! Come on you're in France shouldn't you be eating frog legs and snails - might help with the little weight problem it sounds like you both have - aren't they suppose to be healthy eating. But then again you are on holidays - pig out I say and deal with the consequences when you get home. Have fun, catchya later. Au revoir.