Avignon, Pont du Gard, April 3

 Today was another wonderful day....and a bit warmer!

 Jerry drove us to Avignon where we spent several hours walking around, having parked outside the walls.  The ancient town center is surrounded by medieval ramparts and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

   Avignon was the site of the Avignon Papacy (1309-1377) where 7 popes lived during a political/religious schism. We saw the cathedral and the Papal palace, but did not go in either. (The cathedral was actually closed.) We had sandwiches in a park. At the overlook, we could see the famous Pont d'Avignon, famous from the song. Only 4 of the original 21 piers are left.

   From Avignon we drove to the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct and one of the most visited sites in France.  It is the highest elevated Roman aqueduct and one of the best preserved, along with that in Segovia, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

   We parked on the free parking side and walked about 2 kilometers to the aqueduct through olive tree groves. The impressive aqueduct was built around 50 C.E. and used into the sixth century, although used less after the 4th century.

It is an engineering marvel with three tiers of arches. It descends a mere 1 inch over its length and only 41 feet over its entire original length of 31 miles. At its best it  carried over almost 9,000,000 gallons of water a day to the city of Nimes. The water took about 27 hours to flow from start to finish.
   Then - back home by around 6 p.m.