Travel Diary 9
I’m sitting on the bank of the Rhone River in Avignon having
watched the sun rise over the hills and light up the river with splashes of
reds and golds. I’m thinking I should have had my camera with me when I first
arrived as it is too late now and the light has changed for some really good
pictures. Never mind, there is always tomorrow morning!
Over the river, about 100 m back from its banks, are the
walls of the old city built by Romans some 2000 years ago and to my left is part
of the Avignon bridge reaching out across half of the river. This bridge was made
famous due to the song “Sous la pont
d’Avignon …. “ but had to have its first word changed to “Sur la pont d’Avignon
…” due to a massive flood in the middle 1600’s when part of the bridge was
washed away and the area where people used to go dancing under the bridge
disappeared as well. Afterwards, they began dancing “on” the bridge instead of
“under” it. Hence the word change! I’ve sometimes wondered which version was
correct. Sous or Sur. And now realise that both were!
Straight ahead of me and behind some tall trees growing
along the riverbank, the tops of the spires and turrets from the Palace du
Papes stick their heads up. This is another massive building with a
historically interesting past. Built to house a guy whose claim to being the
Pope didn’t really last that long. Another part of French Catholic history!
Mostly parts that modern Catholicism tries hard to forget ….
Further downstream there are at least six river cruise
ships. All in white and looking new and trim tied up together. So I guess the cruising
scene is safe in this part of the world. I watched one last evening glide
slowly past with people crowding the upper deck, campers flashing and drinks on
the tables for a brief while as they stared and pointed out to fellow
travellers the sights. It was gone in about 2 minutes and for them, that was
Avignon! I thought, what a waste! Thousands of dollars for a 10-day cruise and
they really saw nothing. Well, here anyway!
Today we will go for a walk over the modern bridge to the
old town and do a wander. It is Sunday and so not much will be happening and
it’s a good time perhaps to get some photos without milling crowds of tourists!
Maybe a small bar will be open around lunchtime and we can sit in a square and
enjoy the surroundings over a red … of course.
Speaking of reds, I’m looking forward to trying the local
brew. Different Appellation, so different grapes and wine varieties. Here,
there is a fair bit of Grenache used. In Australia, this produces a big, heavy,
chewy wine. Can age to almost black in colour and is delightful! I’ll be very
interested to see what the French do with it.
Over the last week or so, we have travelled up from
Barcelona, having a look at a few towns and places along the way. Narbonne,
Nimes, Carcassonne and so on. The Languedoc-Roussillon area is full of ancient
Roman history. Some preserved fortunately but most of it has either disappeared
or has been pulled down so the stone could be used for building something else.
Even the middle ages churches and villages and fortresses are mostly in ruins
and there are lots of them. This area was used as a form of escape from the marauding
French Catholic armies who were determined to make decent Catholics out of
everyone! So fortresses were built on difficult to access ridges and mountain
spines but that made no difference. The French were very determined and wrecked
the lot! The weather over the years since then has done the rest.
If you are into history or just curious about seeing in real
life things that you’ve only seen in pictures, then this is the area of France
to come. There is so much history here, great stories to hear and amazing
things to see.
For example, I knew that Nimes had an old Roman built amphitheatre
in the centre of town. Much like the colosseum in Rome. So we went there.
Easier said than done! Getting to Nimes is not a problem, finding a park for
the campervan was. Found one eventually with the help of a local about 5kms out
in the suburbs beneath a railway line and then walked up a couple of streets to
catch the bus into the centre ville or city centre.
We got off the bus, turned left and wandered up an amazing
boulevard about 45 meters in width and about ½ a km long. Large old trees with
spreading limbs give shade over it and some of the five story, 100-year-old
buildings on either side. Each made from sandstone. Each having some carving on
it. Most having tiny balconies built in the French style with old wrought iron
railing around them. There are two lanes for vehicle on either side. One going
one way and the other in the opposite direction.
The middle section is paved with smooth tiles or rocks of
some sort and as we walked up, we noticed a shallow stream of water bubbling its
way down on the side of the walkway. This was man made as it was completely
lined with sandstone coloured tiles and amazingly clean. The sunlight reflected
off it and gave a wonderful ambience to the experience.
At the top, is a fountain lots of water bubbling out of the
usual mouths of creatures around the fountain and splashing into the bottom.
The centre portion was raised into a dais and has a tall statue in the shape of
a roman goddess clothed in drapes. She is holding a water fountain and on her
head is a carving of a Roman temple. The story behind it is that this was
created in the early 1900’s by a local sculpture and artist. He wanted to make
water a feature to reflect the local rivers and streams and the fact the Romans
had built a viaduct for carrying water to the city a few years before AD1 and
had it fed by a sweet tasting stream. 50ms of viaduct carried this water to the
city of Nimes!
Across the top of the large paved area at the top of the
street one can see the amphitheatre. Dark, three stories high and in a way,
quite foreboding. The stonework is not as clean as some stone I have seen in
ancient monuments, but apparently they are working on it. The cost of entry was
fairly high and a lot of it was closed due to it not being the “High” season,
so we skipped that.
Instead we had beer at a café over the road and then walked
up another boulevard and around a corner and there in a square all by itself
was a perfectly preserved Roman temple! Greek columns and all! After a couple
of pictures, we paid and went inside and watched an interesting film on the
history of the town and how the temple fitted in.
An hour later and it was time to go again. Around a few more
corners and side streets, we came across what is left of the stone pond that
the viaduct ended at spilling its water for the ancient Romans. It is now very
damaged, dirty and filled with dirt, but one could see the basics of how things
worked.
A couple of more photos and back to the car. Everywhere we
walked, we came across little streets and squares with cafes and people in the
middle of the road among the cars and so on. No one worried and the nibbling
and drinking just continued. This is a University town these days. And
apparently was in its heyday. I could see modern buildings that were Uni
buildings and some cranes building some additions. Obviously it is popular as I
doubt they be adding more room for faculties if they did not attract students.
Negotiated the bus stop and got on the correct bus and got
off at the correct stop as well! Down to the van to look up a resting place for
the night and see if there was anything else we could see before we arrived.
As it turned out, we found the camp site in Avignon and
another interesting Roman ruin I have always wanted to see. This is the Pont de
Gare – the viaduct over a gorge along which water was transported.
When we arrived, I could not believe the number of cars,
buses, people etc. We added to the milling by parking the van long ways instead
of straight in causing a couple of looks and then went to the entry where we
were told that entry was free.
Couldn’t quite work that out as there was sign to our left saying
“Validate tickets here”. Eventually we got things sorted. When one drives into
the car park, one takes a ticket for parking. Now, while the entry and 1-2 km
walk to the viaduct is all free, getting out of the car park is not! Cos us E18
or about $A27 for an hour and a half!! No signs at the front before one drives
in of course!! Well none that I saw!
However, it was well worth it. One walks along a concrete
pathway for about half a km and after rounding Another corner, there it is
right in front of one. And it is HUGE! I could not get over the sheer scale and
size of it. It is massive! At one point we climbed up some rocks to get as
close as possible to being level with the top and one could scarcely make pout
the people at the bottom. That is how big it is. Three levels and built from
massive hewn sandstone. It would be a feat to build something like that today
let alone 2000 odd years ago.
I hate to think how many men were involved in fulfilling the
dream of a Roman ruler but I bet it numbered in the thousands and they worked
over many years. Truly a stupendous sight! I tried to get Kerrie to stand
beside the base so I could get some idea of size of the sandstone blocks used,
but unfortunately, one is not allowed over the parapet to do that. If one looks
closely you can see initials and dates carved into the blocks and I guess the
authorities frown on that.
At the very bottom of the gorge is a small river, what we
would call a “creek” in New Zealand, with clear sparkling water and dozens of
children playing in it. Swimming, canoeing, splashing and generally having a
good time. I wonder if the slaves and Romans had such relief at the end of
solid days’ work!
Close to the pathway, is a small building – a shop and
restaurant selling snacks, drinks, ice cream and meals. I watched a lot of
people there and then to my surprise realised a wedding was going on! The bride
looked lovely but I could see no bridesmaids. The groom appeared to one of the
men wearing in French military dress looking very smart and neat. From the
milling around and wandering and pointing and gabbing away in copious French I
figured the reception was about to start in the open air with hundreds of
tourists walking past a few feet away! Not my idea of privacy, but hey, hope
they were happy!
We left after “Validating our ticket” and asked Simon to
lead us to Avignon. He did rather well this time and we ended up in a very full
camp site where we plan to spend a couple of days. It is right beside the Rhone
river and the view to the town across it is just lovely.
