Roaming Provence

We drove on towards the city of Orange, a slow journey through agricultural land on toll-free roads. As we entered the city the sky was looking moist and ominous. We parked right outside the city's iconic Roman theatre and hike up onto the hill that the city surrounds. After a lot of playing around we found some tracks that lead through some ruins to a ledge overlooking the theatre.

 The theatre costs fifteen euros or so to get into. I couldn't justify spending that much for what I perceived to be little gain. I think doing it this way we actually gained more, seeing a part of the city tourists usually don't get to see and seeing it from higher up. The steps of the ampitheatre, stretched out below, with the modern city extending behind looked truly spectacular from here.

As we drove towards the Pont du Gard the skies open. Day's worth of built up moisture bucketed down, forcing us to drive slow. We pulled over at one of the many road side pizza places. To our surprise, despite appearing to be fast food, this place had restaurant like service. The table was set for us and we were given bread and a karaff of water. Many western European countries seem to charge the same prices at both mid-level restaurants and fast food places. Fast food seems very expensive but many restaurants seem much cheaper than home. It's definitely unusual.

The broken chute that once guided water onto the aqueduct

The Pont du Gard costs twenty or so Euros to see. If you go to the tourist entrance, park in their carpark and walk down their invalid friendly road to the river. Its obvious to say we didn't. We parked in the forest a kilometre back and hiked through the hills for forty minutes, seeing various locals along the way, finding our way as we went. 

In time we began following the chute that deposits water onto the Pont du Gard itself. We knew we were going in the right direction. Then all of a sudden we saw it. It looks so much bigger and impressive in real life than it does in the tourist photos of it plastered all over southern France. I stopped for a few minutes, just taking in how mystical it looked, the sun burning off the moisture soaking the hills after the storm, creating an eerie yellow mist.

In another ten minutes we were at the top of the aqueduct itself. We wandered through the channel where water once flowed, under the huge stone slabs that form a kind of stone roof as you get closer to the centre. It felt surreal in the light, watching the mist receding from the moody atmosphere in both directions down the river valley.

 

We wandered down to the bottom and simply sat on the grass by the river, admiring this great accomplishment of early irrigation. Despite being far from natural, maybe because of its age, the multi-tiered structure of arches somehow feels like it belongs. 

The next day we headed to Nice to see its Roman temple and theatre. After walking around the city for a while we settled down at a cafe by the temple where I did some writing and replied to a few messages from the outside world.

 We couldn't stay at the cafe, sheltered from the oppressive heat forever and soon enough we were back on the road, destined to push the remaining distance to La Seu D'Urgell in one go.