City of Popes and Ponts (Bridges)

---

Geo: 43.9483, 4.80892

Visited the city of Avignon today. Went to Church in the morning. Although spoken in French, there were two singers from America visiting who sung in Spanish who were amazing. The people were very friendly and tried hard to communicate in English plus our little bit of french language.

In the afternoon we visited the walled city of Avignon, which lies in the heart of Avignon. Avignon was a key Gall-Roman town, which fell into disrepair in the Middle Ages. It regained it's status as an important city when the Papacy was removed from Italy in 1309. Avignon thus became the city of the Popes from 1309 to 1377. It was fascinating to explore the "Palace of the Popes" and it's adjoining Abbey. The power that the Church wielded through the middle ages was evident. Before taking the town of Bezieres, the Crusader Commander asked the Pope how should they distinguish between the good and bad citizens, and the Pope replied, "let God decide", and they slaughtered the lot, and acquired the lands and spoils for the Church.

In the afternoon we visited the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct which was one of the wonders of the Ancient World. It is part of a Roman built system that brought spring water from Uzes to the city of Nimes. It was built in the first century and in spite of being over two thousand years old, is in remarkable condition. The aqueduct was some 50 kms long and had a 1:300 fall. It's daily flow was around 20,000 gallons of water to Nimes. We walked across the bridge and tried to get as many photos as possible. Hope the photos do the bridge justice.

Jim and Kim

---

Photos

Palace of the Popes
As seen from across the river.

Bridge Over Troubled Water
The ancient bridge over the river leading to the Palace of the Popes, minus one span. Once you were brought before the Council held in the Great Hall, there was no right of appeal for an unfavourable judgement.

Pont du Gard
One of the Wonders of the Ancient World. An amazing Roman engineering feat.

Walking across the Pont
This is the first level of the bridge. You can see the height of the arches and the size of the stones that make up the bridge.

Aqueduct that sits atop Pont du Gard
This is a view looking down the aqueduct that sits atop the Pont du Gard. Pont meaning bridge, Gard being the river it spans. Carried 20,000 gallons of water per day.

Comments

[Shaz]

Hi finally back from Melbourne and just catching up on your travels. The camera is really working well photos look great. Are you getting home sick yet???? or life on hols is too great. Enjoy before you fly back to reality.