Les Baux

Les Baux* de Provence - it's just a little past Arles, but somehow, very different!

Arles was known at one point as "the settlement by the swamp" - Les Baux is atop a high outcropping of rock, surrounded by rich farmland, full of olives and grape vines.
Waaaaay down there!

Even though Les Baux is up high, and seemingly impregnable, they still had to defend against seiges. These are some of the war machines that were used

And this plain of pavers (in the foreground) directed rain water to the cisterns (also helpful when under attack). Note the distant cliffs - there is a deep valley between the plain and the next door neighbor :-)

This is the castle (right) and the windmill (left) from the tip of the rocky spur

An interesting perpective

The remnants of two towers

The multi-storied castle was carved out of the rock...

(That tiny little dot in the corner of the tower is Rick. Yes, I chickened out)

This is what is left of the cathedral

And the château grounds

Here is a church in the town, just below the castle

And this is a *very* protected entrance!

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* I dare you to find a French translation for this that makes sense (our dictionary says "bau" is a beam on a ship - hah!). The placard at the château said it is from "baou," a word that means "rocky outcropping" I guess that makes sense, right? Our later history is a little more obvious - bauxite was mined here, and yes, named for the town :-)

Wikipedia comes through - use google to translate this into English: https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baou

It took us almost 2 hours to get there, and a bit of anxiety when we arrived - from guide books, we expected some obvious parking lots. Well, it turns out these are metered parking spots along either side of the access road.

Our cost:
Gas: 45€ (but that was a fill-up from our Carcassonne trip)
Tolls: zero! We took the back roads :-)
Parking: 5€
Sandwich lunch / water: 15€
Château entrance: 8€ each

Autumn Festival Camarguais

We're at home in Palavas-les-Flots for this weekend's Autumn Festival. We didn't really know what to expect, except it clearly involved bulls!

Well, think of a combination of a western roundup and a county fair. At the beach :-)

Friday, the French cowboys drove the bulls into town - barriers were up, and droppings fell in the streets. The rest of the evening was full of free street concerts.

Saturday, the bulls were branded and judged, followed by more music, then fireworks.

Today, the bulls were driven along the beach (more barriers, but these seemed more for form) to waiting trucks. There were more horses (and cowboys) than bulls! The quai was blocked off on both sides, and the crowds were everywhere! Cars were parked even in the centers of the roundpoints; people were still coming in even when we left.

We enjoyed our walk around town, listening to about half a dozen musical groups, and had a nice long lunch out - neither of us could resist another Gardianne de Taureau (bull stew, which we first had in Nîmes).

Later in the afternoon, we watched Les Joutes, or water jousting. This is when two teams compete to see who can make the most players fall into the water. Each team gets in a boat which has a platform sticking out in front. The jouster has a shield and a spear, and as the boats approach each other, each jouster stikes at his opponent. Of course their situation is somewhat precarious, and one (or both) falls off. Into the water. Fully clothed. Oh yes, and the whole time, they are goaded on by a band playing on the quai :-)

I didn't have a camera with me, but here is a shot from the tourism office:

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Although it is officially and culturally Autumn, the weather is still very much of the Summer variety. They took down the private beach barriers this morning, but the beach is still *very* crowded! The water is what I would call bracing :-/ - not nearly as cold as Englebright on Memorial Day.

Carcassonne

We finally made it to Carcassonne! Last time, we waved :-)

Here is the view of the ramparts, entering at the Narbonnaise Gate

We walked along the jousting area between the two curtain walls,

And entered the city near the Basilica of Saint Nazaire (11 - 14 century), where we heard the last bit of a choir singing (the acoustics - and voices - were amazing!

Note the gargoyles (see the close-up later)

I liked the vines on this tower

 And the carved arches here


My hair always seemed to photo-bomb... everything!

We headed to the castle (12th century) - this is the bridge across what was a moat. It's solid now, but once was part drawbridge

The castle entrance

Interesting architecture, with the occasional random tourist

The lower city, as seen from the lower ramparts (beautiful day, huh?!)

And the upper ramparts (see the lower rampart at the bottom of the picture? I was up high!)

Inside the castle, there was a museum with many sculptures found during the restoration

(Friendly gargoyles)

Smiling Madonna

We ended our day there with lunch - we both had duck; mine was with fois gras, and way too rich to finish :-(
Then a walk around the shops.
We halfheartedly aimed for some extra strolling around the lower town, but traffic and the map-gods conspired against us. We headed home for a pleasant early evening.
Rick (my navigator) actually dozed off a bit in the car, and I did not freak out :-)

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According to the tourism office, Carcassonne's history begins in 1000 BC, in Carsac (just South of the current city). In the 6th century BC, La Cité became a hill camp, and in the first century BC, it was part of the Roman empire's Narbonnaise province. It was part of the Francs kingdom in the 8th century. In the 13th century, it was a Cathar center, and the pope declared a crusade against these Albigensians. It fell in 1209, and became a Senechal's seat under King Louis IX in 1226. It became a fortress on the French / Spanish border, which moved South in 1659. In 1590, La Cité refused to recognize Henry IV as King of France.

It was about 1 1/2 hrs drive from Palavas-les-Flots to La Cité (plenty of Aires to choose from for breaks)

Our cost:
Gas - ~30€
Tolls - 13.90€ each way
Parking - 8.50€
Lunch - 47€
Castle Tour - 8.50€ each

Pont du Gard!

The Pont du Gard - it's the bridge across the Gardon (Gard) river for the Roman aquaduct that supplied water to Nîmes from the first to the 6th century.

This was on our must-visit list for last time, and we finally made it! I'm so glad we did - the engineering is amazing, and the views are spectacular!

We went to the museum first, then walked to the rive gauche (left bank) panorama,

then across the bridge (on the pitot* road) to the rive droite (right bank), up to *that* panorama,

(Where we saw a tunnel** carved in 1865),

and back!

After our "stroll," we rested our tootsies while we saw the 15 minute movie, then walked through the art exhibit (Josep Koudelka - amazing black-and-white photography), and headed home :-)

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Read more here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard

Details: we drove from Palavas-le-Flots for just over an hour - we took A9, then simply followed the signs for Pont du Gard (Rive Gauche) - the return was just as simple!

Cost: 18€ parking and entrance (for up to 5 people) to the museum, movie, and temporary exhibit; 5.10€ tolls each way, minimal gas.

* I will admit to a certain piqued (and confused) interest in this term when I heard it in the movie about the history of the Pont. I had only ever heard of the "pitot" as an airspeed sensor for aircraft: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitot_tube. I'm not sure how it relates (if at all) to a bridge added to an existing structure)

** we heard a guide telling her group that the original aquaduct curved around the limetone outcropping, but the tunnel (that went in a straight line from the bridge) was dug later. I don't know why, as the aquaduct was not being used that late.