Flew to Nice and took a Nissan Micra to get to Valbonne, to the hotel Ken arranged for us, not too far ... but longer than it should have taken. You see, it is only a short drive from Nice - but not if you give the wrong instructions to your Navigator! Margaret & I got there, via the prettiest village in France ... we think it was called Eze - see photos.
We made it to Bastide de Valbonne where we enjoyed two nights stay. The breakfasts here were lovely - out around the pool on the terrace - very enjoyable.
The first night we dined at L'Auberge Fleurie ... see http://www.guidegantie.com/en/restaurants/detail.php?ville=Valbonne&tri=2&all=1&type=R&id=172&vr=1 - literally down the road.
It was a great meal and good service. The second night was the celebration of Ken and Marguerite's birthdays.We were picked up by taxi and taken to the Chateau De La Begude (see photo). It was good to see Peter and Mario and just as good to celebrate the success of not just Ken & Marguerite's birthdays but their life together. They have a lovely family of children and grandchildren and lots of great relatives and friends. Finished the evening with a beautiful display of fireworks ... or rather Feu d'Artifice!
The next day we were off to find
Provence and specifically the hotel at
St Laurent des Arbres.
A quiet village and quirky but lovely hotel; an ideal location as a base for visiting Avignon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Pont du Gard, Uzès and Nîmes etc... We ate dinner twice at the hotel - there was no menu - you say that you want dinner and they choose a menu based on what is fresh, good & available at the local markets. We had lamb the last night and the second night duck (which wasn't very good). The other two nights we ate at La Louisia restaurant, on the outskirts of the small village. This was great, - pricey but lovely - and specialised in sea food. We had sea bass, lobster on the first night) and on the penultimate night, Margaret had parma ham & melon, whilst I had one of the best dishes I have had for a while ... grilled monkfish with mussels - brilliant.
Our trips included a day looking at
Pont du Gard and a town called
Uzès, a visit to
Nîmes and a day in
Avignon.
On the first day we went to Uzès and then down to the Pont du Gard. The town of Uzès is charming and well preserved ... but, like all places like this, has severe traffic problems! We parked and then walked into the
centre to the arcade-lined Place aux Herbes, where we had a coffee, (and would have had water had the waiter cared enough!). The town had a wonderful church and we enjoyed the ambiance. Encircled by the Boulevard Gambetta, the Medieval town is a maze of small streets and shaded squares lined with 17th and 18th century private residences.Under the arcades of the Place aux Herbes and along the neighboring streets there's a market that takes places every Saturday (there's reputedly a profusion of regional products in the warm and colourful atmosphere of a Provencal market. We spent a morning here and then left for Pont du Gard around midday.
Pont du Gard
Originally Ucetia, Uzès lies at the source of the river Eure – where the roman aqueduct commenced – in order to supply water to the city of Nimes 15 miles away. The most famous stretch of the aqueduct is the Pont du Gard. The water carried over this originates from the Fontaine d'Eure, near Uzès to a storage tank or castellum divisorum in Nîmes (Roman name Nemausus). From here it was distributed to fountains, baths and private homes around the city. Although the straight-line distance between the two is only about 12 miles, the aqueduct takes a winding route measuring around 30 miles to avoid the Garrigue hills - the southernmost foothills of the Massif Central.
The Fontaine d'Eure, at 76 m (249 ft) above sea level, is only 17 m (56 ft) higher than the storage tank in Nîmes, but this provided a sufficient gradient to sustain a steady flow of water to the then 50,000 inhabitants of the city. The aqueduct's average gradient is only 1 in 3,000 – 0.03%. The Pont du Gard itself descends almost an inch in about a third of a mile - a gradient of less than 0.001%! The aqueduct supplied the city with around 200 million litres or 44 million gallons of water a day – which took over a full day to flow from the source to the city!
The next day's tour was Nîmes (called
Nemausus in Roman times). The approach was, frankly, awful - shoddy and run-down. It was not a pleasant place to go through in search of the centre. But once there the amphitheatre was wonderful ... we have visited the Colosseum, Verona's Arena and this one was superb - and well explained.
Once inside, there was seating capacity for nearly 24,000 spectators thanks to the 34 rows of “cavea” (terraces), which were supported by semi-circular vaults.
Under these vaults, five circular galleries and 162 stairwells and “vomitoires” (corridors leading to the terraces) enabled spectators to rapidly access their seats. The games, gladiator fights and Venatio (animal hunts) were open to everyone. They were laid on for the people of the town and its surrounding area by the high dignitaries and magistrates of the “civitas”. Thanks to numerous inscriptions that are now preserved at the archaeological museum, we know, for example, that the boatmen of the Rhone and the Saone had seats reserved for their corporation.
The lowest terraces (the “imma cavea”) were reserved for the honestiores, i.e. the town’s dignitaries and important people.The town’s citizens were seated in the intermediary terraces (the ‘media cavea’) and the ordinary people and slaves watched the combats from the upper terraces (the ‘summa cavea’).
The amphitheatre was designed so that everyone had an unrestricted view of the whole arena.Several galleries were located beneath the arena, and were accessed by trap doors and a hoist-lift system. As a result, the decorative effects, animals and gladiators could access the arena during the games. We also got a look at the gladiators quarters, and what their equipment might have been. Galea -a helmet, made of bronze; manica - the arm-guard, could be made of quilted linen, leather, or metal; subligaculum or loincloth. Ocrea - greaves, made of bronze. Plus of course the weapons - scutum - the shield and gladius - a short sword. Pugio - dagger and hasta - a spear as well as the fuscina - trident wielded with the inretire - the net. We saw the types of gladiator - through history and fashion
... for example Mirmillones, who wore helmets with stylized fish on their crest and carried oblong shields, wore visored helmets and were armed with short swords. Another type was called Equates as they fought on horseback with a spear and sword, dressed in a full tunic. Then there were Retiarii, who were lightly clad, fought with a net, trident and a dagger, as well as Thraces, who wore a helmet with a griffin on the crest, woollen leg wrappings and shin guards. They carried a sword, a round shield and a curved dagger. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_gladiator_types for more information. Then we finished with a historical reconstruction of a series of fights, between a Retiarius and a Secutor and between a Thrace" and a Mirmillo, as well as a Provocator in training.
The “
Tour Magne”, otherwise known as the “Grande Tour”, is the only tower from the original town built by Augustus to be still standing. There is a magnificent panoramic view over Nîmes from the top of this Tower,located on the Mont Cavalier, the town’s highest point. It overlooks the whole plain and is a focal point for all means of communication.
The tower was originally a dry-stone oval tower but by doubling its height and incorporating it into the town walls, Augustus marked the new power of the colony of Nîmes over the “City” (in the territorial sense) of the Volques. When the town’s population abandoned the higher ground, the “Tour Magne” nevertheless continued to play a military role. It was used in the defence against the English during the Hundred Years’ War. The Magne Tower was part of the ancient ramparts and served as a look-out point over the Via Domitia (the Roman road that linked Italy with Spain). Indeed, the tower played an essential role in the life of the Roman City. Obviously I had to climb inside, up the steep steps, to get the view. I took a panoramic series of shots (one attached above) and then, when descending, took one when I could make Margaret out, waiting at the bottom.
Now on to Avignon on our last full day on this trip. First stop the famous bridge
Pont Saint-Bénézet.
We spent a day in Avignon, looking forward to seeing the bridge, which no longer completely spans the Rhône, (I was quite pleased with the photo of the reflection of the end of the bridge - see left ... and of course, doing a bit of dancing
sur le pont ... see song below), as well lo Palais dei Papas as it is known Occitan (almost Catalan) ... or Palais des Papes as the French call it. Plus we were looking forward to seeing something of Avignon, which turned out to be a lot like York, in that there are walls around the City centre and inside traffic is hard work in the perforce, narrow streets.
Chorus: Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond
1: Les beaux messieurs font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.
2: Les belles dames font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.
3: Les militaires font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça
4: Les musiciens font comme ça
Et puis encore comme ça.
So to the
Palais des Papes ... one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309, when the Bertrand de Goth – or Pope Clement V as some may know him (!) was unable to face the violent chaos of Rome after his election (1305), so moved the Curia to Avignon, starting the period known as the Avignon Papacy. The reconstruction of the old bishops' palace was begun in 1334–42 on a natural rocky outcrop at the northern edge of Avignon, overlooking the Rhône – and built in two principal phases with two distinct segments, known as the Palais Vieux (Old) and Palais Neuf.
The popes departed Avignon in 1377, returning to Rome, prompting a Papal Schism settled by 1433. Although the Palais remained under papal control for over 350 years afterwards, it gradually deteriorated despite a restoration in 1516. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789 it was already in a bad state, nevertheless it was seized and sacked by revolutionary forces. In 1791 it became the scene of a massacre of counter-revolutionaries, whose bodies were thrown into the Tour des Latrines in the Palais Vieux. The Palais was subsequently taken over for use as a military barracks and prison, and although it was further damaged by the military occupation, it became a national museum in 1906 and has been under virtually constant restoration ever since.
We spent a good couple of hours walking around, up and down staircases, wondering at the extent and the cost.
A brief stop for a sandwich and drink atop of one of the towers gave us some grand views and some welcome rest ... then back to the hotel and ready for our return to Nice and home ... easy!
Bob Kirkham and I flew out to Amman, Jordan, via Paris, on Monday 11th October 2010, in preparation for hooking up with an organised trek to Petra. We met most of our fellow hikers at breakfast and soon boarded a small coach to travel with Yamaan Safady, our leader/guide, heading for Mount Nebo, as we did a gentle introduction to Jordan and some of its history. 
The summit allowed a panoramic view of part of the Holy Land. To the north, the valley of the River Jordan. To the west we could see the West Bank and ancient city of Jericho, as well as Jerusalem; it was a very clear day! (see photo left), which was about 25 miles away. On the highest point of the mountain, is Syagha,, where a Byzantine basilica church now stands on the spot that some believe covers Moses' grave, and commands stunning views over the Jordan Valley. There is a friary too, built in 1932 by the Custody of the Holy Land, (the Franciscans), to house members of the archaeological expedition of the Studium Bibliographic Franciscanum of Jerusalem while they undertook excavations at the Siyagha ruins, a project which got under way in the summer of 1933. They had traced the Exodus path of the Jews led by Moses - using the Bible - and therefore concluded that this was the site from which Moses saw the Promised Land. (Not promised - according to Yamaan!).
And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." - from Deuteronomy 34 King James Version, Cambridge Edition
Atop of the mountain there is a serpentine cross sculpture, (the Brazen Serpent Monument), created by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. It is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (John 3:14). 
