Summer holiday 2006
le Cap D´Agde − France


Tuesday, 25th July

We get up late, around 8:30 and have breakfast with fresh roles and croissants. The morning has started somewhat cloudy and a lot cooler then yesterday. My daughter Simone suggests that this might just be a good day to go and visit the Pont du Gard. I expressed the whish to pay a visit to this monument a day ore two ago and she also seems interested in going there. So, around 10:00 AM the both of us get into the car and head for Nimes.

We take the turnpike road because it will save us some time as we leave kind of late. The Pont du Gard is still about a 100 km drive from Cap D’Agde. Arrived at Montpellier the turnpike road ends and we pay the toll off € 4,20. It is 10:50 AM now and we are about half way. Having passed Montpellier the turnpike road starts again and I pull a new admission ticket for the next stretch. Having past Nimes, at last I see some signs that direct us to the Pont du Gard. That pleases me because it took a long time for them to appear, and I was beginning to wonder whether or not I might have taken a wrong turn somewhere. It is about 11:35 AM as we take the exit at Remoulins. I pay a toll off € 4,60 and start to follow directions to the Roman aqueduct.

According to the road signs the aqueduct is about 6 km further down the road. The sun is gaining in strength and the temperature is rising rapidly; it is really getting warm now. I follow directions to the site and drive amongst vineyards and through lanes with plane trees. As we get closer, in the distance against the hillside, I can see the impressive arches of the aqueduct. After a while we reach the large parking area of this famous historic attraction. It is 11:48 now, and the temperature is really high, the sun is burning in my neck and I wished that I brought along a towel to protect the aforementioned body part.

We walk to the reception area where there are a few exhibitions about the aqueduct and some memorabilia shops. From the website I got the impression that an admission fee had to be paid for visiting the aqueduct, but after making some inquiries I learn that this is not the case. Admission fees are just charges for the exhibitions; the rest is completely free of charge!

From the reception area we walk to the aqueduct in only a few minutes. Then, around the bend of the road it appears; finally, the Pont du Gard. After having read about it I am finally able to see it, touch it and photograph it. Out here it is even more impressive then on the pictures that I have seen. Two thousand years of history standing out here! Wars have been fought around it, governments have changed hands but the aqueduct is still standing tall and proudly.

We walk to the base of this impressive monument where in the 19th century a pedestrian bridge was constructed that runs parallel to the aqueduct from one riverbank to the other. It allows one to view and experience the beauty of the ancient Roman design and the tall massive stone pillars from really close by. Underneath this stone bridge the cool transparent emerald water of the river Gardone slowly flows by. A number of people have a lunchbreak on top of the sandbanks in the river and are taking a swim in the water. Others have rented a canoe and row by. Young daredevils climb the rocky banks that at some points rise high over the river and dive or jump down into its refreshing water.

At the other side of the riverbank we begin our climb to the top of the hill where one has a fabulous birds-eye panoramic view across the aqueduct and the Gardone river valley that stretches for miles. Half way up the track we come to the base of one of the pillars that support the aqueduct‘s arches. Here I pose while assisting in supporting the massive pillar. What can I say, I couldn’t resist! I am so weak! By now my shirt is totally soaked and my feet are killing me, but it was all worth wile! Talking about feet, the last bit of the climb was across an unpaved path with bare rock sticking out of the soil. You really need to be careful and keep looking down at where you are going to place your feet next. It is a true test for your ankles I have to say. And yes, I did make the pictures that I set out for.

After this climbing adventure we head back to the visitors centre, because I really want to see the exhibition regarding the making of the aqueduct. In hindsight I can really recommend visiting this exhibition. It gives an inside view on how the monument was constructed, and what has happened with it over the previous nineteen hundred years. The Pont du Gard was the most impressive part of a water transport system that was over two hundred kilometers long, and functioned for three hundred years, supplying Nimes with water. After having enjoyed the exhibition that gives so much credit to the ancient building masters (deserved), I leave with in the back of my mind the knowledge that the people who actually did the construction work, did not all do it on a voluntary basis. Most of them were probably inspired to work here by means of whiplashes and a death threads.

We have a small lunch, after which we head back for the car. It is 14:39 PM as we leave the parking area and follow directions to the A9. Arrived at the turnpike road I pull an admission ticket and follow directions to Montpellier. A few mile before reaching Montpellier the turnpike road ends and I pay € 6,00 toll. We then follow directions to Lunel. I like the country roads that we followed last Saturday morning, you see so much more of France then following the A9. So again we follow directions to Lansargues, Mauguio and Lattes, and later to Frontignan and Sète where we follow the road that runs parallel to the 12km beach that separates Sète from Cap D’Agde. We arrive at the apartment at around 16:30 PM.