Roman Roads - Narbonne

Yesterday we went to Narbonne, mainly to see the Roman Road and the Cathedral.

This section of the Via Domitia is in Narbonne, where it runs under the newer city streets - you can see the short piece uncovered here in front of the Archbishop's palace

Mom walking on the Roman Road

The route

Archbishop's palace - and now Town Hall

Passage between old and new sections

 We walked up the passage, and turned into the new side (still pretty old :-) )

Then we went back out, and to the end of the passage. We didn't realize until later that this was an entrance to the Cathedral of Saints Just and Pasteur 🙄

More meandering led us to the church

We left from another door, and when we got our bearings, discovered that we were at the doorstep of the restaurant I had scoped out for our lunch!

Taberna le Café des Arcades was simply wonderful! Mom and I shared tapas, Dad had a sandwich, and Rick had a lunch plate. Definitely on my list of places to return to!

As this was intended to be a short day, we decided against more sites, except for the Cathedral. LOL - that was when we finally realized that we had already seen most of it! We relaxed a while in the garden before heading home.

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You can read about the construction of Roman roads here:
http://www.battleoffulford.org.uk/ev_roman_rd_constrct.htm

Boat Tour of Sète

Yesterday's easy day - a boat tour of Sète

Greedy birds

We took the bus to centre-ville and had lunch at Les Halles (have ever seen it so empty?!?)

I asked about it - a variety of reasons conspired: mid-week, non-Summer, and no cruise ships in port...

Nîmes, with Parents

Today Yesterday A couple of days ago, we went to Nîmes ! I could say we went to French Rome, as it is known as "the most Roman city outside of Italy..."

We started at the Jardin de la Fontaine, the first public garden in Europe, and chock full of water and sculptures!

Temple of Diana

We went on to the Maison Carrée

Then hunted up lunch! We were really hoping to introduce my parents to, and taste the lusciousness again, of Nîmes specialities paella or gardienne de taureau, but it was not to be! However! We ended up in the best (so far) Indian restaurant in France! The Taj Mahal was delish!

After lunch, we walked around the Arena, and stopped in at the tourist office for tour and bus info.

Next door was the esplanade,

with a new bull

and an old fountain (practice your French and read more here). Built in 1851, the Fontaine Pradier represents the four sources of water for Nîmes : the fountain of Nîmes, the Gardon, the Eure fountain, and the Rhône. These 4 figures are surmounted by a representation of the town of Nîmes, a woman with a crown of roman monuments.

Which had a church along one side

and the appeals court along another (is it just me, or do the figures look scared?)

Aaaand, we had a pretty good evening!

(I'm painting this one!)

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Details:
-  Due to construction, farmer's market, and various "etceteras," it took us 45 minutes to get out of town!
- Recommendation: stop at an aire before exiting A9; traffic could make you anxious...
- But, we got to Nîmes by noon, and parked near the Jardin de la Fontaine (a last-minute decision). Noon to two was free, and we added time till 5:30 (4.50€), just to be sure.
- We caught a bus back (1.60€ ea), and left a little after 4.
- Paid the A9 tolls via card, so didn't notice the total there (concentrating on the important stuff!)
- The Arena has a 10€ tour that includes an audio-guide, and has an option for wheelchairs. It would take about an hour; we skipped it. One of these days, I'll do it!
- There is a new museum, Musée de la Romanité, which opened this Summer - we decided that would just be too much :-\
- See my post on our 2011 trip here.
- Our route (in reverse, sort of)

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Google photos has really messed me up! Edited, shared, and now not all modifications and photos are there! 😡