Heading West: Aqueducts, Cassoulet, and Castles

After a few days in Provence, my parents were ready for a change of scenery, so we set out early in our car to spend the morning at the tallest of all Roman aqueducts, Le Pont du Gard (The Bridge of the Gardon River) and continue on to Carcassonne, one of France's finest preserved medieval cities, in the afternoon.

A drive-by shot of vineyards along the road.

Because a good map can help orient, this mediocre one should give you an idea of Carcassonne's whereabouts in France. The region of Provence is to the slight northeast.

Before cruising to Carcassonne, we made our way to Le Pont du Gard, somewhere between Avignon and Nimes. The aqueduct itself provided water from fountain springs near the town of Uzes to the Roman city of Nimes. I was never before interested in aqueducts until I saw some. Segovia's aqueduct in Spain is smack in the middle of the city and really shows that juxtaposition of old and new. Whereas, France's Pont du Gard lies in the middle of a sprawling forest over a river. The symmetrical wonder of aqueduct arches that act as a leggy support sometimes blind the viewer to what it actually does. It must be slightly tilted toward the place where the water needs to go so to keep the canal of water moving at the very top.

We had to walk quite a way down the path to fully capture it.

My mom, dad, and I couldn't resist hiking up a rocky path that stemmed from the main one. It was so peaceful here in the morning that anticipation of an amazing view guided us easily into the woods.



Voila, the water canal in the sky. I was surprised to find the very top of the Pont du Gard from the trail. I took this picture through a gate that stopped people from walking any further. The park also contains a garden trail where vegetation and farming techniques used centuries ago are still in practice. Separated chunks from the remainder of the aqueduct can also be found along the way.

Even though we were content to stay in the Pont du Gard park for longer, we had to move on in order to reach Carcassonne that afternoon. Driving out of Provence, the temperature dropped as we skirted Montpellier and got a view of the Mediterranean from the road.

The walls of Carcassonne's fortified city.

We had to be quick as not to miss déjeuner. In France, it's possible to completely miss lunch, never to get it back that day. The window of lunchtime exists from between roughly 12:00-2:00 to 2:30. And we were close to missing it. Parking the car, running out of the parking lot and into the medieval city, allowing ourselves a few gasps of wonder at the castle towers, we flew through the streets in an attempt to find a relatively non touristy place that would serve a good cassoulet, a hearty regional specialty made with white beans and duck or goose meat.

Finding anything non touristy in the medieval city proved impossible as the entire place exists for tourists, however we did manage to find what appeared to be a family run restaurant that had a good priced menu. In other words, a starter, main dish, and dessert set at a fixed price. We ordered salads, cassoulet, and slices of cake for dessert. The cassoulet arrived boiling hot and warmed our stomachs. That day was strangely freezing and part of me had wanted to stay in the underbelly of the restaurant where my empty bowl of cassoulet sat instead of braving the cloudy skies and bitter wind outside.

Distant view of Carcassonne's fortified city

We pulled ourselves from our chairs and went to the extremely fortified castle (Château Comtal) that was built inside the fortified city. Carcassonne once protected the French border. Despite the freezing wind, it was nice to simply walk around the city and look up at the lurking towers and spot all the different types of defense systems built into the architecture. The entire fortified city was restored in the 19th century.

After seeing a dog who was tied up to a pole outside the Basilica shivering, and not being able to escape the unprepared for cold inside the gothic building, we decided it was time to return to the more friendly temperatures that we had experienced in Provence.

However, before leaving, I persuaded my dad to drive into the non medieval part of Carcassonne so that we could get a distant view of the fortified city. I especially liked the old bridge with lamps hanging overhead. Below is the bridge from the side.