Day 59 - Monday 1 July - Avignon's neighbours

Monday 1 July

Today was our 2nd  trip out of Avignon, and we were at the tourist office on time for the same car but a different driver = Guillaume.  We travelled with a Japanese couple who live in USA and left their kids at home, and a single girl from India, Canada, Belgium and Cayman Is.

First stop was Nimes.  This is a fairly large city with some well preserved Roman ruins.  We first stopped at the gardens, which has some nice ponds with columns and statues.  Next to it is a Roman temple ruin.

Then we went to the Roman forum, which has a big restored temple in the middle.  There are a couple of the forum's  pillars still there.  The building is now used for exhibitions.
 

Final stop was the amphitheatre, built abound 100AD, which is the best preserved Roman arena in the world.  It was being set up for a concert, but there was not time for going in anyway.

Then we went to Uzes.  This is a much smaller town, whose medieval heart has not been modernised.  It has tiny lanes and ancient buildings, and lovely treed plazzas.  We went to the old church first, which has a bell tower similar to Pisa's.

Then we walked past the Duke's castle, which is still lived in by the family of the guy who was made the highest duke in France in 1125.

We kept walking through the plazzas and lanes, eating icecreams, until we got back to the car.

Last stop was the Pont du Gard.  This bridge is part of an aqueduct built in C1AD, which took water from a spring at Uzes the 50km to Nimes.  It went overland for all its length until the Gardon River, which was crossed by this super 3 storey bridge, the highest Roman aqueduct in the world.  It is in excellent condition, and it is in a lovely place, with people boating and swimming underneath.

 From there we came back to Avignon, where we had some late lunch, the went to catch up on places we missed yesterday - the cathedral, the gardens and the Petit Palais, which housed the overflow from the Palais des Papes and is now an art gallery.

 Inside the cathedral

 From the gardens overlooking the river

The courtyard in the Petit Palais

We had a swim when we got home but didn't do much packing.