Day 27 - L’isle sur la Sourge to Uzès with Pont du Gard on the way

 

Saturday 3 October 

This morning we left L’isle sur la Sourge and headed around Avignon, across the Rhône and towards the famous Roman bridge and aquaduct over the Gardon river at Pont du Gard, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It's a truly spectacular sight.

I came here in 2022, actually on 6th October so almost four years to the day.

This time I thought I might fly the drone over to get some amazing video. 

No such luck, the airspace is controlled by French CAA and no drone flights allowed without jumping over French bureaucrat hurdles, and I wasn't about to do that.

So it was more static photos.

1830's grafitti

Just look at that joint, hand worked with just a hammer and chisel 2000 years ago and you can still barely get a cigarette paper in the joint - amazing What's more is there are thousands of them !

Here's a link to my previous visit.

Pont du Gard. 

Link to Oct 6 2022 visit

https://chrismackietraveladventures.blogspot.com/2022/10/pont-du-gard-roman-aquaduct-engineering.html?m=1

It's always special to see such archeological wonders and I never tire of seeing these Roman masterpieces of engineering.

I've been lucky enough to see a few on my motorhome travels, the Pont du Gard, the Aquaduct at Segovia in Spain and the Amphitheatre at Pula Croatia spring to mind.

As well as lots of random Roman bridges I've pulled over to photograph like Pont Julien the other day.

Next it was onto Uzès

A small french city pronounced y-zez

It's in the Gard department of the Occitanie region.

The town lies at the source of the Alzon river, at Fontaine d'Eure, from where the Roman aqueduct was built in the first century AD, to supply water to the city of Nîmes, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. The most famous stretch of the aqueduct is the Pont du Gard, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which carried fresh water over splendid arches across the Gardon river.

I nearly didn't come to Uzès as my Garmin sat nav couldn't find a way to the vineyard where they allow motorhome parking.

It kept trying to send me up one way and barriered streets, those things that pop up out of the ground 🤬

So I ended up about 2 miles outside town before I could pull over to give her a good talking to.

I was about to give up and look for somewhwere else until I decided to see if Google maps could get me there.

Low and behold, it took me straight there, without any dramas.

It's a lovely old historical town with lots of interesting buildings so it was definitely worth the effort to get here.

The vineyard I'm parked on is free, they just ask you to visit the shop selling lots of local produce and their own wine, so I'm happy to do that.

Fenestrelle Tower adjoins the cathedral of St Théodorit, and is a round tower with windows. The campanile, in the Lombardy style, is 42 meters high and is outstanding for its harmonious proportions and the finesse of its decor.

The cathedral itself was rebuilt in the 17th century after several periods of damage.

The neo-Romanesque façade was added in 1873. Inside, a classic French organ with painted shutters from the 17th century is one of the most beautiful organs in the region.

A lot of the streets and squares have large Plane trees giving welcome shade and giving a cool environment

I'm very glad I made the effort to get here, it really is a

great little town for exploring all the alleys and courtyards

Day 26 - L’isle Sur la Sorgue

 

Friday 2 October

What an amazing little town this is, built on a small island in the river Sorgue which in itself is remarkable.

It's only about two feet deep but has the most amazing, perfectly clear water with bright green river vegetation growing which dances as the water flows over it.

All around the town are water wheels which used to give power to the village for cottage industries.

Not much is said about the towns origins, but I suspect it's always been a playground for wealthy French families to vacation from Marseille, Nimes and Toulouse.

Today it is famous for antique and craft shops and many shops selling a wide variety of quirky goods.

It's very picturesque and photogenic so we spent a few hours wandering around taking photos.

There are numerous little squares and green park areas with benches where you can sit in the shade, enjoy the sound of the river and lose yourself in thoughts.

Doggies made from wellies, never seen that before

Some of the quirky shops and antique shops

This is how the areas location is described . . .

L’isle Sur Sorgue is in

the commune of arrondissement of Avignon within the department of Vaucluse, in the région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

So now we know 😀

We thoroughly enjoyed our day here and we're staying on the towns free motorhome aire, next to the cemetery 😮

The cemetry by the way is amazing, hundreds of these huge tombs

So we might even wander back into town this evening for some photos of the town lit up which I expect will be spectacular 

I didn't go back into town, Louis let me know he wasn't interested lol

Oh yes, summers back, it's been hot today after the grey skies of yesterday, but I expect it'll stay rather unsettled.