Back to Paris via Lyon

We had a long trip back to Paris, but a friend had suggested we stop in Lyon, which was on our way, to visit the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière, a church that was built in the late 1800s on top of the Fourvière hill overlooking the city and is absolutely stunning.

After that, unfortunately, we only had time to drive by the Roman theater and through parts of colorful Old Lyon, before hurrying back to Paris, where we needed to arrive before the rent-a-car office closed at 9 PM.

There was heavy traffic as we neared Paris and it was getting close to 9 PM, but we still had a few minutes to spare as we made our way toward the Hertz office — and then we hit the Etoile traffic circle. Etoile is not your typical traffic circle: it's the junction of twelve important avenues, it's about 10 lanes wide, and the very large and distracting Arc de Triomphe sits in the middle. In addition, you don't have the right-of-way when you're inside the traffic circle, like you do everywhere else; you have the right-of-way when you drive into the traffic circle. This was my first time driving around the Arc de Triomphe, and of course it had to be at night, so while it's a piece of cake getting into the traffic circle, once you're in it it's not so easy getting back out. We had to keep yielding to the traffic coming in from all the avenues and were not able to get out on the street we needed to and ended up having to make a crazy detour to reach our destination. We got to Hertz at exactly 8:59 PM as they were turning off the lights, and although the agent did not seem happy about it, he did his best not to show it.

Les Baux de Provence

On our second (and last) day in Provence we visited Les Baux de Provence, a tiny medieval village built on the top of a hill, on a very rocky plateau. It's located near Arles and was recommended by Amy, one of our new friends here.

Les Baux was placed under the protection of the Ministry of Culture. This lead to its revival and eventually got them on the 'Most Beautiful Villages of France' list.

You drive up a hill until you find a parking spot on the side of the road. You then walk up the rest of the way to the town itself; and if you're like me and forget your sunglasses all the time, you get to do it twice. It was Sunday, and it was a long weekend, and the weather was superb, so there were a lot people moving through the narrow cobblestone streets. Lots of small eateries and souvenir shops line the streets. And all the time you're going uphill.

At the summit is the Château des Baux, or rather what's left of the immense stone fortress, but you get a good idea of what the Citadelle used to look like. On the site still are the church, the windmill used to grind grain, and a few huge catapults, including the biggest Trebuchet in Europe, some of which are demonstrated during the summer months.

You have to be part mountain goat to reach the highest part of the fortress because many of steps are quite uneven and some are very tall. But the spectacular view of the plains to the south are worth the climb. Vineyards and olive groves as far as they eye can see.

Culturespaces, a French company that manages this and other historic sites and museums, provided wonderful activity books for the kids that kept them entertained for hours looking for clues all over the place to solve a puzzle.

After visiting the fortress we did a little more walking on the other side of the village, and then enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

This was our last day in the south. We definitely need to come back and see Avignon, Arles, Orange, and other towns farther into Provence.

And a bit of trivia: Les Baux is also where the French geologist Pierre Berthier discovered a red rock rich in aluminium and called it "bauxite". But it's all gone now.

Pont du Gard

From Nîmes we drove to the imposing Pont du Gard, an aqueduct bridge at the crossroads between Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence that was part of the 31 mile long aqueduct also built by the Romans in the 1st century AD to bring water to Nîmes. It is definitely one of the most famous (it's also on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites) and supposedly the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and the best preserved after the Aqueduct of Segovia in Spain. We climbed up the hill on the right bank, where we were able to enjoy spectacular views.

Nîmes

Our first stop in this area was Nîmes, the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. In Roman times the city was located on the Via Domitia, a Roman road which connected Italy to Spain, and became a Roman colony sometime in the 1st century BC.

We drove directly to one of the most important remains of the Roman Empire, the Arena of Nîmes, a Roman amphitheater, built in the 1st century AD and still used today (after being remodeled) for bull fighting and other events. In front is a statue of Nimeño II, a famous French torero.

Near the Arena is the Palais de Justice (Courthouse) an imposing monument built in the early 1800s that has a powerful colonnade overlooking the esplanade, largely inspired by the Maison Carree (lower), and La Fontaine de Pradier, a beautiful fountain made out of white marble. The standing woman represents the city of Nîmes. In her crown are the main Roman monuments of the city: the Arena and the Maison Carree. No idea why the water was red.

Another important Roman remain is the Maison Carrée, one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere. The design of the Madeleine church in Paris and the Virginia State Capitol in the United States were both inspired by the Maison Carrée.

Between the Arena and the Maison Carrée is the old part of town, which has been conveniently pedestrianized.

Nearby is the Tour Magne, a ruined Roman tower on Mont Cavalier, which we did not visit. I took this picture from the top of the Arena.

Cabrières

After a long drive from Souillac, we arrived in Cabrières, a tiny town in the south of France about 10 miles northeast of Nîmes. If it hadn't been for the GPS we would not have found our hotel in the dark, narrow, winding streets.

Cabrières was colonized by the Romans in the first century BC. It appears in official documents as "Villa Cabria" in 978 and became Cabrières in 1435 (from the Latin "capra," which means "goat," as in the place where you raise goats). It was occupied during World War II by German troops, who set up a surveillance camp. Nowadays it is part of metropolitan Nîmes. 

Tucked away in a hard-to-reach corner is a Logis hotel-restaurant that we did not expect to be so nice. On the first morning we caught the end of sunrise from the hotel, from where you can see the church bell tower.

The warm temperatures we had made it possible for the kids to use the pools, which we didn't think would still be open this late in the year. 

We took the demi-pension, so besides a very generous breakfast buffet, every night we looked forward to their gourmet dinner. Dianny and I had never been into the French custom of having cheese after dinner, but now we're both fans of the Cabécou and Buche de Chevre, both great goat cheeses from the region.