The Pont du Gard is a notable ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River in southern France. It is part of a 50 km long aqueduct that runs between Uzes and Nimes in the South of France. It is located in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins, in the Gard department. The aqueduct was constructed by the Romans in the 1st century AD and was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985. It is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved after the Aqueduct of Segovia.
The bridge has three rows of arches, standing 48.8 m (160 ft) high, and formerly carried an estimated 200 million litres of water a day to the fountains, baths and homes of the citizens of Nîmes. It was possibly used until as late as the 9th century, well after the fall of Rome. However, lack of maintenance after the 4th century meant that it became increasingly clogged by mineral deposits and debris that eventually choked off the flow of water.
The Pont du Gard's subsidiary function as a toll bridge ensured its survival in the Middle Ages. Although some of its stones were looted, the local lords and bishops were for centuries responsible for its upkeep in exchange for the right to levy tolls on travellers using it to cross the river. It attracted increasing fame from the 18th century onwards and became an important tourist destination. It underwent a series of renovations that culminated in 2000 with the opening of a new visitor centre and the removal of traffic and buildings from the bridge and the area immediately around it. Today it is one of France's most popular tourist attractions.
We went down to the river where we had our picnic and the kids waded in the water finding frogs and tadpoles. There were many people canoeing down the river and thankfully the school groups dispersed and we had relative peacefulness by the river with the glorious view of the bridge behind us. We stayed at the bridge for a couple of hours and then headed back home. We decided to stop in St Maxime De La Baume for dinner at McDonald’s but more importantly because they had free WiFi and we could catch up on our emails and posting my blog.
SATURDAY 28 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
We had a morning at home and after lunch we went back to the town of St Maxime De La Baume which is quite a large town about 30 minutes from us. In the center of the town is a large church (Basilica) which Joelle told us has the skull of Saint Mary Magdalena. We just had to see it for ourselves. It is believed that Mary Magdalena was the first person who saw Jesus when he was resurrected. She saw him crucified on the cross, buried and then resurrected. It is also believed that she became his wife and they had a daughter called Sarah. The church is incredibly old and in a very rustic style on the outside. Inside, like majority of churches we have seen, it was very dark and cold. We found the stairs down to the crypt which housed her skull and descended very wearily, we were feeling a little spooked. Down in the crypt (which wasn’t very big at all) at the end we could see a gold statue behind a glass wall and also another caged door. In the statue we could see the skull encased in the shape of a head. The skull was quite frightening to look at really, it was black with hollows for the eyes and it just seemed to stare out to you. You could see it was encased in liquid to preserve it. Below the skull was a vial also with liquid in it and a fragment which was from the skull that apparently Jesus had touched but this bit of skull had come off so it was now in a vial. We went back up into the church and had a look around. There were many paintings of Jesus on the cross and of Mary at his feet mourning him. Jack, despite being quite frightened by the skull, wanted to have another look so we went down into the crypt again to see it. She had moved …. Ahh, just kidding!
SUNDAY 29 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Today is the Monaco Grand Prix and of course we had to go. We headed off at 8am and went to Nice because we knew we had no hope of getting into Monaco with a car. Once again the Car Parking Gods were on our side and we got a great park near the train station. It seemed quite a few people thought catching the train from Nice was a good idea because there was a queue to board the train that wound out of the station and along the footpath out the front. It didn’t take too long however and before we knew it we were on the train crammed with people all heading to Monte Carlo. The train trip was only about 15 minutes long and the train wound around the coast giving us beautiful views of the beaches, coast and large boats docked in the bays. I remember doing this same train trip last time Corky and I were here. Once in Monte Carlo, we moved along with the throngs of people and down into the streets.
The festivities were in full force and the racing cars were practicing their laps and the noise from them was incredible. Sophie and Harry weren’t too impressed so we decided to try and move further away where the noise wasn’t so deafening. Since we didn’t have tickets, we couldn’t get in to anywhere to get a good view so we decided to head up the hill to overlook the harbor and some of the race course. Unfortunately pretty much everywhere there were barriers up to prevent people viewing without a ticket but we did manage to squeeze in somewhere up on the hill and get a slight view. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t see too much because the noise was outstanding and the crowd atmosphere was impressive. Half way through the race we had had enough standing around and caught the bus back down the hill and found a little street restaurant that had only been set up for the day and we sat in there and watched the remainder of the race on their TV whilst we ate lunch. Of course the sound of the racecars was still very loud but we enjoyed the atmosphere.
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| Busy Monte Carlo harbour |
The festivities were in full force and the racing cars were practicing their laps and the noise from them was incredible. Sophie and Harry weren’t too impressed so we decided to try and move further away where the noise wasn’t so deafening. Since we didn’t have tickets, we couldn’t get in to anywhere to get a good view so we decided to head up the hill to overlook the harbor and some of the race course. Unfortunately pretty much everywhere there were barriers up to prevent people viewing without a ticket but we did manage to squeeze in somewhere up on the hill and get a slight view. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t see too much because the noise was outstanding and the crowd atmosphere was impressive. Half way through the race we had had enough standing around and caught the bus back down the hill and found a little street restaurant that had only been set up for the day and we sat in there and watched the remainder of the race on their TV whilst we ate lunch. Of course the sound of the racecars was still very loud but we enjoyed the atmosphere.
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| Monaco Palace |
Once the race had finished we wandered around for a while and realised that there was a crowd gathering on a street corner. We knew that soon enough Prince Albert and the other Monaco royals would soon be coming out so we hung around to watch as well. We didn’t have to wait long before the police escort started up and out came Andrea, Princess Caroline’s eldest son and another car with his younger siblings Charlotte and Pierre and then finally Prince Albert and his fiancee Charlene came out, hopped in their car and drove off right in front of us. I got some great photos of all the Royals.
Time to head home, we got the train back to Nice and then drove the 2 hours back to Provence. We can now tick the Monaco Grand Prix off Corky’s Bucket List.
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| Andrea |
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| Prince Albert and Charlene |
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| Crowds after race |
MONDAY 30 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Today Sandra, Joerg, Sidney & Nick arrived from Germany to stay with us for a few nights. Before they arrived we quickly went to the Intermarche to get some groceries and then went back to wait for them. At lunchtime we got a call saying they were a little lost, but they had done exactly what we had done – they went up to ‘Fox Heights’ because it is not signposted very well that Fox Amphoux is not just the town at the top of the hill, so naturally that would be where you went first. Corky, Jack and Madi hopped in the car and went to find them. It was great to see them again after almost 2 months since we were at their house in Ingleheim and I think they were glad to be finally here after an 11 hour drive and a quick sleep in an overnight B&B.
We all jumped in the pool and had some lunch and then around 4pm we headed to Cotignac for an ice cream and wander around. Sandra & Joerg fell in love with Cotignac too, but I guess how could you not. We went to the Intermarche and got some food for dinner and went back and had a BBQ for dinner.
The room that Sandra and Joerg were staying in was actually the room that Corky and I had first decided on however about a week and a half ago, each night when I went to bed, without fail, there was a tap, tap, tap, tap on the glass French door to the garden. Always 4 taps, random amount of time apart but we couldn’t find out the cause. There were shutters we closed each night but they were nowhere near the windows and there wasn’t anything that could bang or tap the window. It spooked me and Corky had heard it several times too. Finally one night I was just dozing off and there was a tap again which startled me and made me jump, that was enough, that was my last night in that room … sorry Sandra and Joerg, it is all yours. I told them about the tapping but they heard nothing the 4 nights they were in there. Spooky!
TUESDAY 31 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
We packed up a picnic this morning and headed up to Lac De Saint Croix. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and a little cold but we enjoyed our picnic on the rocky beach by the lake, watching people in canoes and boats.
From the lake we drove up to Moustiers to show our German friends the beautiful hillside town. We had a lovely long wander through the lanes and shops and stopped for an ice cream and coffee. It was quite busy with tourists but that is normal. We headed back to Aups for dinner and found a nice warm Italian restaurant that had beautiful food.
From the lake we drove up to Moustiers to show our German friends the beautiful hillside town. We had a lovely long wander through the lanes and shops and stopped for an ice cream and coffee. It was quite busy with tourists but that is normal. We headed back to Aups for dinner and found a nice warm Italian restaurant that had beautiful food.
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| Ice cream time in Moustiers |
WEDNESDAY 1 JUNE – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Oh dear …. What happened to the beautiful Provencal sunshine? What a gloomy day and unfortunately just when Sandra and Joerg were here to enjoy the area too. We could see in the distance that very black clouds had formed and was threatening a storm, so instead of exploring some neighboring towns we decided it would be better to head to the coast mainly to chase the sunshine. We drove to St Tropez and on the way we headed through the thunderstorm with thunder and lightning crashing around us however we could occasionally see in the distance the sun shining over the coast.
Thankfully when we arrived at St Maxim on the coast, it was glorious and sunny and around the bay we went to St Tropez where the sun was shining brilliantly. We could see back in the distance towards the hills of Provence all the storm clouds still raging and we were glad we made the right decision to come to the coast.
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| St Tropez shopping street |
We decided to split up with the Ender family for a little while because we were keen to have lunch and they were keen to have a look around first. We headed to a lovely restaurant on the port and the first thing we ordered were escargots. Corky was not impressed but after Jack had had 2, I had had 3 and Sophie had had 3, he couldn’t resist our demands that he had to try one too. He kept chanting “it’s just a prawn, it’s just a prawn” in the hope that it would ease the ‘trauma’ of eating a snail. He clamped his snail shell in the tongs, put his little fork in and quickly put it in his mouth. He then grabbed his coke and tried to wash it down. We were all hysterical because he made such a fuss of it but we were also proud that at least he gave it a go. Madi tied her jumper around her mouth because there was no way a snail was going near her and Harry sent out a little cry because he didn’t want to eat one either. Never mind, Jack and Sophie had valiantly given it a go and Sophie was quite excited about eating them. Jack thought they tasted like meat (with garlic).
After our lunch, we went for a shop. We had seen a few shops we were keen on revisiting and we made the most of our shopping time. Soon enough, we met up again with Sandra and Joerg at a coffee shop, had a coffee and then wandered through the shopping laneways on our way back to our cars. We headed around the other side of the bay to St Maxim to visit the beach for a while but unfortunately the traffic jam around the bay was so long that it took us an hour to get around instead of 10 minutes. We didn’t spend long on the beach because it was getting late, cold and windy but enough time for the kids to have a play. We packed up again and headed nearby to McDonald’s for dinner because it was the easiest with the kids and would be too late by the time we got home to cook anything, it also allowed Corky and I some free internet time.
THURSDAY 2 JUNE – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Another gloomy and rainy day today with no signs it was clearing, so once again we decided to head to the coast. This time we went to Cannes which was 1.5 hours drive and once again we were glad we made the decision to because the coast was lovely and sunny. Once we arrived in Cannes, we headed off for lunch and then split up again for a while because we wanted to head to Zara for a bit of a shop. And shop we did. We were in there for 1.5 hours and we got the kids several outfits and I got a few things too. We had a very successful shopping expedition! Only in Europe would you be in a clothing shop and suddenly a fight would break out between two dogs.
Once we were happy we had satisfied our shopping urge temporarily, we went down to the beach to meet Sandra and Joerg. They were enjoying a swim in the water with the kids, Nick’s first time in the ocean. From here we headed back to our little house in Provence and cooked up a BBQ for dinner.
FRIDAY 3 JUNE – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
The Enders last day today, they have to head back to Germany this afternoon. Their trip is 11 hours and they are hoping to make it in one day rather than having to stay overnight somewhere. Unfortunately Sandra has hurt her back and each day seems to be getting worse so they were keen to get on the road and get home hopefully avoiding staying overnight somewhere. We had planned to take them to Tourtour for lunch and then they were going to head through the Grand Canyon, but instead they headed off at around 12pm which was wise. We were sad to see them go and we hope that it won’t be another 8 years before we see them again.
Shortly after they left, we decided to go to Draginuan in the hope of finding a shoe shop for the kids. When we got there we found a ‘coiffure’ where Corky could finally get his hair shaved and beard cut off. The wait time was about 45 minutes so I went for a walk with the kids and managed to find somewhere to get my legs waxed. Once Corky and I were both hairless again, we were all quite hungry so we headed over to Cotignac for dinner but also because there were some shoes there I had seen in the shop window that I wanted to get before we left Provence. We had given up on finding shoes for the kids here but I am sure there will be more opportunity later on. In the shoe shop I managed to find 3 pairs that I loved, then also headed to a homeware shop to pick up a couple of things and finally for a lovely dinner in the square. Despite the day starting off a bit gloomy and overcast, the evening was just lovely. Our last night in Provence is a bittersweet one, we have enjoyed our time here and loved the area and the people we have met but we are also excited about the next adventure ahead of us.
Till next time in Monte Carlo .... x
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