Some Historical and Natural
Sights in one Corner of Provence
Part 5: Nimes Aqueduct's Pont du Gard
The last time I was here was a quick stop on a bus trip about 22 years ago, now I get to go up the path into the hills that I had regretted not being to follow before.
So my first act is to go up a trail near the conference center building. Let's look at a map: where it says, on the left, 'Vous etes ici' (you are here, we will go straight up until we pass the broken aqueduct [I am using the word here to mean a manmade feature that conducts water, not just its spectacular manifestations where it crosses canyons and rivers]. After passing that broken piece of the aqueduct from below, we come back to follow the pieces of unmaintained aqueduct back to the main aqueduct, then down, and then "home."
There was still an occasional raindrop falling when I went to climb up this gentle trail, and the clouds made it quite dark:
Within minutes, however, the rain stopped and a weak sun peeked out of a hole in the clouds, giving some more light:
It was fun to watch the world brighten as I walked up:
Can you tell I love forest paths? But soon we meet the aqueduct and it is almost a hazy sunlight shining now, with real shadows!
The trail goes up, still, and we follow it as a new cloud comes over and darkens us temporarily:
I almost forgot why I was where, but remembered, and turned back to go up by the aqueduct itself:
Soon (well, about 12 minutes of huffing and puffing to be more precise) we are looking down on what before we looked up to (no, not an analogue for growing up):
Note the squared off bushes to mark the path of the aqueduct in former times, we will see it again as we follow the trail to the main part of the aqueduct (first glimpse below!):
But we are getting ahead of ourselves, the valley in which the trail we were on before is located is this one:
Let's now follow the path to the main Pont du Gard portion of the aqueduct:
At one point, the Pont du Gard comes into view:
But we turn left and meet another broken turn along the way:
The remnants of the aqueduct here show a very fine cement was used by the Romans for the water path itself to prevent losses (and weathering and erosion of the courser stonework beside and below it):
Now we turn to go to the main tourist attraction, the Pont du Gard. But to get there I chose not to use the tunnel shortcut (it was full of water), but to follow the delightful trail:
This trail takes us right to the top of the Pont du Gard (repairs are evident and ongoing), but from here the views are great:
So this is the Pont du Gard from here:
Trees block the view, so we take the trail down and take a look as we descend alongside the structure:
As soon as we cross under, we have a better view, first of the river Gard:
Then of the walkway (bridge) beside the aqueduct):
Next a view of the aqueduct itself:
Naturally, the trail takes us below the walkway and then we have to go back up to get on it, but from that walkway we can look upriver:
And we can look downriver:
Leaving the Pont du Gard by the main walkway allows a few looks back to better see the enormity of this structure:
And walking even further down offers these panoramas, with trees, and with flowers:
OK, so now I am completely captivated by these morning glories in full bloom:
These were not the only flowers, but they were the brightest. I also like these, and this brings us back out of our nectar-induced trance to take a last look at this large piece of Roman history:
Climbing a mountain near Glanum
Springs at Fontaine de Vaucluse
Go back to Nimes and its Arena
Go back to Nimes and its Roman tower
Go back to Nimes and its Fountain Gardens park
Go back to Nimes and its Temple of Diana
Go back to LifePicks in 2006 home page