Jan 7th - Avignon (DT to Pont du Gard)

 A day-trip today to the ‘Pont du Gard’, a 2000 year-old Roman bridge over the River Gardon.  This UNESCO listed bridge, nearly 50 metres high, is part of a 50 km aqueduct system that originally delivered over 8 million gallons of water a day to the city of Nimes, and is just magnificent!  This engineering masterpiece is absolutely stunning and to think that the structure's precise construction only allowed an average gradient of just 25 cms per kilometre is amazing.  Apparently we still don’t know how the Romans calculated that the altitude was 72 m in Uzes (the water source) and 59 m in Nimes, so that it would carry water ‘downhill’ for 50 km to its destination!

Back in Avignon we visited the Musée Calvert, an impressive art museum located within a spacious 18th-century mansion.  Showing an eclectic collection of Roman statues, Medieval and Religious artwork, tapestries, Egyptian artefacts, and others, it’s also also home to one of my favourites, a number of paintings by Jan Brueghel.  This is a great museum and a definite recommendation, especially as it’s free to enter!👍😊


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