First up today, the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct. According to Wikipedia--so it must be true!--the Pont du Gard once carried 44 million gallons of water a day. The multi-level structure is still in great shape today and is a tribute to great engineering, quality building and probably a lot of slave labor.
Seriously, do you think anything we build these days will look this good in 2,000 years?
And I think this is about the only time we got in front of the camera ourselves during the trip...
Not to be missed, the scenery near the Pont du Gard...
Isn't that gorgeous?
Next up, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. While it's a lovely area, what we really were looking for was the Glanum Arch, another leftover from the Roman Empire.
Our first view of the arch
And from the other side
And if you're wondering what the underside of the arch looks like... well, so was I. So here it is...
Alongside the arch is the mausoleum...
There's plenty online about Glanum. An interesting article discussing Van Gogh's time in this area is here.
The Glanum arch and mausoleum are just a small part of the entire Glanum site. We drove around to look at more of the area. This sign can give you some idea...
If you click on this, you'll see the circular area in the bottom left of the map/diagram. That's the arch and mausoleum.
Lots more France to come! (Bored yet?) :)
5 comments:
I'm continually amazed by ancient engineering. Great pics!
When I visited Spain, I took a side trip to Segovia in the North and walked along one of the Roman aqueducts there. Impressive!!
Yes, the pics and light commentary make me feel like I'm there.
I can't believe that beautiful architecture. Nice pics.
Thanks, guys. It really is amazing stuff, isn't it? Actually, I'm just amazed that it's all still standing!
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