The Roman Way

After our visit to Montpellier, we want to see more Roman history. Initially we decide to try to find an aire near Nîmes to visit the amphitheatre and viaduct there. We learn about a nice aire at Remoulins with a direct bus to Nîmes, although when we get there it turns out there are no buses going that day… So… We quickly change our plans and travel on to Arlès.

The aire in Arlès is on the bank of the Rhône river, just outside the town. It’s a simple parking strip, but it offers nice river views and it’s just outside the town centre. Arlès has an Amphitheatre as well as an Arena, and a beautiful old town centre with narrow, windy lanes.

The next day, we return to Remoulins with the plan to try Nîmes again, but when we get there we decide to walk to the Pont du Gard from the Aire instead. The Aire is a free carpark on the edge of the village near a pizzeria (very nice!) and on the bank of a river. There is also a Côte du Rhône vigneron nearby (also Very nice!).

We walk out to Pont du Gard and quite possibly it’s the most impressive thing we’ve seen so far!

Pont du Gard

It’s a beautiful day and we spend hours walking around and exploring this ancient viaduct, wondering about the people that went before us some 2000 years earlier.

After two days of Roman history, we decide to continue our travels along the south of France, but we know we will have to come back to this area to visit Nîmes (third time lucky) and Avignon for more roman history and perhaps some chateau-neuf du pape…