Mountain Drive

Today we took a little drive into the mountains! It was a *hot* day (36°C / 97°F), and we took full advantage of the car's air conditioner 😎...

This was definitely a seat-of-the-pants day - at 11 something, we decided that we were going, so we took off. My only real goal was to get to the panoramic view point of Fontfroide - everything else was up for grabs. I looked up just as we passed this bridge at Lamalou-Les Bains, and immediately pulled off for a photo or two

We went on to another town, and tried to park - first to one side of the main road, then the other - we ate our picnic lunch in the shade, but didn't really see anything too inspiring - then we had a rather round about drive to get back to the main road. But, we're exploring, so...

On to Olargues! I followed the centre-ville sign instead of looping around the town - it's designated as a "Plus Beau Village" (Most Beautiful Village), and has a Devil's Bridge!

The town

Devil's Bridge (from the 12th century) 

View from the bridge 

I had parked the car at the Town Hall (shady, free, short walk to anywhere), so returned and then went on.

To the Panoramic! Wow, that road was winding! But worth it!

Heather, I think 

See all those mountains? And that road?

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped for another view...

Look at that isolated town!

Mountains!

Here's another view of the winding road...

We came back home along a slightly different route - all along our drive, no matter the route, we passed a *ton* of vineyards and tasting rooms! We did not stop, but it's filed away for later 😁

Sis in France - Pont du Gard

This morning was all about the Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard - it is the highest aqueduct-bridge in the Roman world, at 48.77 meters.

The Pont du Gard* is particularly renowned for the opening of arches that measure 24.50 and 19.20 meters.

The opening of the arches of the other aqueduct bridges generally measure between 4.50 and 5.50 meters.

Level I (bottom level) - 6 arches with 4 rows of juxtaposed arch bands the largest of which, on the Gardon, has an opening of 24.50 meters.

Level II - 11 arches each with 3 arch bands.

Level III - 47 arches with one arch band each, 12 of which are destroyed. Length: 490 m (Including the upstream pier destroyed, for an approximate length of 130 meters). 

From the plaque about the olive tree:

I WAS BORN IN THE YEAR 908. I MEASURE 5 METERS OF TRUNK CIRCUMFERENCE, 15 METERS OF ROOT CIRCUMFERENCE

I LIVED MY CHILDHOOD IN AN ARID AND COLD VALLEY OF SPAIN 

THE CONSULATE GENERAL DU GARD ** 

MY AGE AND MY HISTORY ADOPTED WITH TWO OTHERS 

I WAS PLANTED ON SEPTEMBER 23, 1988. I AM PROUD TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PRESTIGIOUS AND NATURAL DECOR OF THE PONT DU GARD 

~~~

* Information from the museum, which we did go to at the end of our visit

** This part of the text was no longer readable 

For more photos, see the album Sisters in France 2023

Sis in France - Nîmes

Today was all for Nîmes! 

Our first stop, immediately after the tourist office, was the Arena, a well-preserved Roman Amphitheater, still in use.

There we a number of placards showing the various types of gladiators along with explanations of their weapons and fighting style - all those photos are in the Sisters in France 2023 album, and make interesting reading.

After lunch, we wandered through the Old Town to the Maison Carrée. It's an ancient Roman temple, smack in the middle of Nîmes! 

We went back through town to the Musée de la Romanité (Roman museum) - it's full of artifacts excavated from the area, including mosaics, glass jars, statues, and architectural elements. I took a ton of pictures, but... Now I can't find them 😔.

On the way back to the car, we went past the bullfighter and the fountain of Nîmes.

Sis in France - Carcassonne

We took a drive out to Carcassonne - inhabited since 3500 BC, its biggest claim to fame is the fortress begun in 100 BC by the Romans. It was modified over the centuries to become what we now know as the Cité.

The Fortress 

At the Gates

On the ramparts 

Having some fun!

From the surrounding placards:

The former Saint-Nazaire Cathedral combines a Roman nave with a Gothic apse. It was built between 1096 and 1321. It is flanked by a cloister and buildings reserved for the canons. The Gothic section, with its stained glass dating from the late 13th to the early 16th century, is the most spectacular part. Listed as a historic monument in 1840, the building was restored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1846, who recreated the exterior carved decorations (balustrades, gargoyles, etc.).

The Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Celse basilica - The oldest church in the Cité is first mentioned from 925. Its name originates from two 1st century martyrs, probably dating back to the Visigoths period. The Roman cathedral, distinguishable by its nave, was built from 1096. This monument, which was reworked in the gothic style after the unification of the Cité with the French crown, was embellished by the successive bishops until the Revolution and then reworked by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. The building lost its cathedral status in 1803 in favour of Saint-Michel and received the title of basilica in 1898.

~~~

See more photos in the Sisters in France 2023 album

Montpellier Airport

I have to admit it; Montpellier doesn't act like it wants visitors! I spent hours (I don't know how many!) trying to work out a good way to get to and from Sète and the Montpellier airport 🙄.

Plan A... I started with what I knew:

• There are lots of trains from Sète to Montpellier center (and a city bus can get us there)
• There's a shuttle from Place de l'Europe in Montpellier to the airport 
• There's a tram system to get you from the train station to the shuttle 

It sounds doable, and I once traveled the route with a friend. But when I started to plot it all out, things got worse and worse! First, there are the usual issues with making all those connections: bus-train-tram-shuttle-airport. You have to plan on taking an earlier bus (etc) than you expect, just so you don't miss the next leg. And remember, approximately half of the trains in France run late! OK, still doable. But! The big stumbling block is that Montpellier is reworking the tram lines, and that means a big detour (and a lot of extra uncertainty). I was able to work out the route and timetable going, but coming back... was simply impossible!

Plan B... It's not advertised, and not obvious, but there are a  few TGV* trains that go between Sète and the new train station outside of Montpellier (called Montpellier Sud, as opposed to the station in town called Montpellier St Roch).** And, the airport shuttle makes a stop there! This is sounding promising - we have a shorter trip, and skip the town and its tram mess! Well, that would have been great, if only the schedules had lined up, and if only the shuttle had had more runs... I found trains, but going to the airport meant leaving 7 hours before our flight (it's a 3-hour flight, by the way), and coming home had no leeway at all for a flight delay!

Plan C... The airport website has a taxi calculator - I entered our data, and it told me that we would spend about $200 (our flight totals $400, by the way). I also found out that we would have to pre-arrange the taxi coming home, since it will be quite late!

Plan D... I scrolled around the airport website and saw parking options! Really, why wasn't this Plan A!?!? I do know why; it's because we simply aren't used to thinking about driving much anymore! Our car, purchased in mid-2019, finally has over 4000 kilometers on it! Well, lickety-split, we bought a long-term parking spot! It's about a 10 minute walk to the departure hall (P6, no shuttle, small airport). The rate table online is apparently old - we paid a bit more than it promised, but it was still reasonable at $60. Add in a drive of less than an hour, and it's looking good!

I did top off the gas tank though...

~~~

*TGV - High speed trains

** The high-speed train network is being expanded, and part of that means stations are being built way outside of towns. Some towns (Nîmes, for example) have connected the two systems nicely - a TER (regional train) track gets you from the city-center station to the TGV station. But Montpellier couldn't seem to do that 😳. 

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

We spent the afternoon in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (that's a mouthful, right?!?) - it's one of the designated "Plus Beaux Villages", one of the prettiest villages in France, and the most visited place in our department of Hérault.

It was a beautiful day, a fairly easy 1 hour drive, and we got there in time for a late lunch - we parked near the gorge at the base of the town, and snagged a nice table on the terrasse of L'Oustal Fonzes. 

This was our view from my chair...

We were both tempted by the bluefin tuna (thon rouge) - and it was fantastic!

From lunch, we meandered through town

Then we headed further up the gorge for a peek at the peaks 🙂

This is the Giant's Castle

We turned around and walked back to the upper parking lot, where Rick could wait while I got the car. It turns out that only those who live in town can drive the (narrow!) streets. So you only have a choice of parking at one end or the other.

We drove back towards home, and stopped off at the Devil's Bridge parking lot - we decided to skip this though, as it would have added a good half hour of walking to our trip.

This was a good test trip for us - we're just poking our heads out of the coronavirus cocoon. We're keeping all this in mind for when we plan our upcoming trips 🙂.

~~~

For more info on St-Guilhem, see:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Guilhem-le-D%C3%A9sert

For more photos (including a couple just for Dad), see the album.

Loupian Hike

We went back to Loupian for today's hike - our route was a bit shorter than last time (see it here), but it was still very pleasant! We had a nice sunny day, with very little wind - not warm enough to tempt shorts though...

We parked at the church, and headed out of town

Saw some interesting plants

And vineyards

Had another look at the old mine

Last Summer, there was a fire here - we saw a lot of blackened trees and shrubs

We stopped for an early lunch, and enjoyed the view

The arugula is in fine form

As are the vines

I liked the way this plant looked, growing out of a stone wall

More arugula and vines

Back to the church

Then on to drinks, sitting in the sun in Mèze.