Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2015
image
Pont du GardFriday 17 July Avignon
Avignon is still under the influence of the festival and the heat so we head out of town to the national park where the roman aqueduct Pont du Gard is maintained in a reserve along the river near Nimes. The aqueduct has survived for all these years and is a fairly imposing structure as I hope you can see from the photos. It is a significant gorge that it spans and it apparently carried water and foot traffic in those days. It is also situated in a lovely national park where people are escaping the heat by swimming and playing in and near the water. There is a group just arrived after kayaking from upstream and a group of American teenagers on bikes arrive as we are having coffee. They tell us they are riding the back roads from Amsterdam to Barcelona. We are amazed as it was hard enough driving that far. Nimes is the next destination and despite some traffic and navigation hassles we find a car park near the roman ruins in the township and take a walk around. They are well preserved and maintained in this medium sized French provincial city as
they form part of a green space in the middle of town. Nimes Cathedral is also famous, but we couldn't find it! Next stop the hilltop towns in the upper Provence area to look for some lavender fields. First stop is the amazing hilltop village of Gordes. It is literally built on the cliff tops and the preservation of the original medieval town is impressive but not as much as the view of the town from the winding road leading to it. Lots of tour buses here trying to squeeze through the narrow lanes etc. We went for a short walk to check it all out, but the view of the village was really the best part. There were a number of luxury hotels and villas on the terraced down slopes of the cliffs and they had beautiful views over the Provence countryside. No lavender to be seen anywhere which had us perplexed but apparently it had already been harvested. Then we took the back roads in returning to Avignon so that we soaked up a bit more of the Provence ambience. It was still very hot so cool drinks were needed and an early dinner followed amongst the continued
mayhem of the Avignon festival.
Saturday 18 July Avignon to Lyon
An early breakfast was an interesting experience as a man who had clearly slept in the street that night wandered in and helped himself to the excellent buffet breakfast. No one had asked us for a room number or any ID so he had obviously done this before and after gorging himself he unselfconsciously walked out. Oh the French lassez faire! A long drive ahead today but we decided to follow the river Rhone northwards which is where the riverboats travel The Rhine from Avignon to Chalon sur Saone and reverse. First stop was the magnificent vineyards, chateaux and cellar doors of the region famous for red wine, Chateau Neuf de Pape. It is beautiful countryside and we discovered a chateau hotel and winery where we checked out the cellar door and would have loved to stay for the degustation lunch and wine tasting that they were jist setting up. Alas a bit early for a wine tasting and more roads to travel so we pushed on. I did note however that the vines were growing in rocks and pebbles on top of the obviously rich soil.
image
Roman ruins in Nimes Quite interesting for a region renowned as the premier full bodied red wine area of the world. it was obviously the first day of French school holidays as the main highways heading south were almost at a standstill. I have never seen so many cars and trucks stopped on a road unless there had been an accident. There was just a massive volume of traffic and it was hardly moving. And not just for a few kilometers but for 10 kms at a time it was just stopped. Must be like Boxing Day on the M1. Mr Vinci (the toll road operator) was making hay. Another stop at Viviers which was another medieval town but looked pretty much like all the others. Coffee and a pit stop and on our way to Lyon. Stopped at Tournon sur Rhone and saw a market and had some lunch. There were riverboats berthed there with the occupants obviously doing some day trips. Not a lot happening. Arrived in Lyon late afternoon and we quickly realised we had made our first accommodation mistake. The hotel was about 20 kms out of town and nothing else around. Never mind, we had intentionally not wanted to
image
Nimes stay int he city but this turned out to be too far away from anything. However we did discover a lovely little French restaurant open in the adjacent township and had a very pleasant meal and enjoyed the conversation with the owner of the restaurant who tried very hard to please.
Sunday 19 July Lyon (bourgoin actually)
Well it turns out Lyon is closed on Sunday's. We did the tourist bus drive around the city and whilst it was moderately interesting there really isn't much going on tourist wise in Lyon. It has created a vital new cultural and business area known as the Confluence, which is where they have reclaimed land where the Rhone and Saoun rivers meet. A couple of really old churches and buildings were to be seen but like many of the cities we have visited in France they were undergoing renovations and there was scaffolding covering them up. Tried to find somewhere for lunch in the centre of the city but believe it or not just about everything was closed. Maccas turned out to be one of the only options! Back to Borgouin and if it was quier in Lyon then it was
image
Nimes dead around the hotel. Very quiet afternoon and evening, only livened by watching the British open on TV.
Monday 20 July Lyon to Reims
This was going to be a long day as we not only had over 500 kms to drive but we wanted to see the Champagne district along the way. Reims is the world centre for champagne and we visited the old town of Chalon sur Saone. It is a lovely river town and there were two riverboats just starting the north to South run. We met an Australian couple who had just arrived and we're heading off on the Viking cruise. Had a coffee in the old town square under the gaze of the old church steeple and wandered around this lovely town for an hour or so. Netxt stop Dijon which had a lovely cathedral, (don't they all) and looked around for a bit but felt the need to push on so didn't find any mustard. Popped into Troyes which is famous for its very old and unique houses. They are built with timber beams embedded into the stone structures and not all are geometrically perfect, indeed some are very lopsided. These are
image
Nimes the interesting facts one discovers when travelling. Not that I really needed to complete my life by visiting Troyes but it was different. Pushed on to Riems and arrived about 6 pm, where a quick change and drink was followed by the worst meal of the trip, roast chicken which was made of rubber and cooked beyond eating. I sent it back and starved until Tuesday breakfast.
Tuesday 21 July Reims to Lille
Possibly one of the highlights of the trip today. We went on iur own battlefield tour in the valley of the Somme. Villers-Brettoneux was the first stop where we found the school that has the sign NEVER FORGET AUSTRALIA in large letters above the rooms. It was in this school yard that the Anzac Day service was held. It also houses an Australian/French war museum but it is undergoing renovations and was closed. it is a stirring sight for an Aussie. All through the town there are Australian flags, pictures of kangaroos and murals depicting Australia and France as friends. Not far out of town is the Adelaide war grave where a few hundred graves are beautifully maintained. Further out of town is the main
image
Gordes Australian WW1 cemetery and memorial. It is a very moving place and made more so by the fact that we were there pretty much by ourselves. It is again beautifully maintained and capped by a magnificent monument at the top of a hill looking out over the battlefields. Too much to write about in detail, but we spent an hour or so there and experienced a real feeling of the great loss (and waste) that epitomised WW1. Lots of Aussie flags in the graves and small crosses with messages left by school groups and visitors. Poppies and other flowers adorned the graves. There are over 2,500 graves here, mostly Australian, but also Canadian and British. Hardly anyone over 30. Many not named, just "a soldier of the Great War" on the headstone. Inscribed on the monument are the names of thousands of other Australians whose bodies were never recovered but were known to be killed. Very, very sad. Every cemetery gas a granite block with the inscription "
their name liveth for evermore". It would bring a tear to a glass eye! It wasn't until we went to the next war grave sight at Pozieres that we appreciated how vital Villers-brettoneux
image
Gordes was in the winning of that phase of the war. The allies fought for over two years against the Germans in the Somme, one gaining round and then the other taking it back. But in 1916 the Germans made a massive offensive which took back years of hard won ground from the allies. The last of these towns was Villers-Brettoneux. But the Germans had only held it for a day or so when the British and Australians made a last ditch effort to recover the town. Mostly Australian troops recaptured the town and this turned out to be the pivotal moment of the battle of the Somme. The Germans then knew they were defeated and retreated back to a newly established front line which was hundreds of kms back from where they had advanced over the last two years. They never recovered this territory and the western front was held. But what a cost. 120,000 Australians killed. Almost 500,000 british and other Empire troops killed. Over 1,000,000 French killed or wounded and about the same for the Germans. Why didn't we learn this lesson? Next stop Pozieres where there are numerous British cemeteries and one memorial obelisk for the First
image
Gordes AIF. At this site we met some Aussies who were with an Australian army member and who were there planning for the 100th anniversary of the battle of the Somme which will be next year. This ceremony will be held at at Thiepval where there is a magnificent British monument and museum and the queen will be there next year for these commemorations. It was at the top of a hill with the surrounding area cleared so that it faced the battlefields in both directions. We could have spent another few days here so interesting and profound was it. However we needed to get to Lille so we reluctantly drove on.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.102s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0483s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
