Roman Remains

This time I'll introduce you two nearby masterpieces of Roman architecture and engineering. I am still stunned by how far advanced the Romans were perhaps 1600 years ago. Both structures are world class. They are the Pont du Gard (the aqueduct across the Gard river near Nimes) and the theatre at Orange near Avignon in the Rhone Valley. Again, go to Google to find out more about these MASSIVE structures! Here is the Pont du Gard. Do you recall seeing images of it in history books? By the way, I'm not the massive structure I was referring to!

Can you think of any modern aqueduct that rivals this for size?

And now to Orange. The theatre below, which is still in use today, can seat 10,000 people!!!! It is the most perfectly intact such theatre in the world! Enjoy it as we did.

Fabulous! You'll have to wait a while for postings on Lyon (where Emily once stayed for a few weeks), Nancy (home of the Dukes of Burgundy), Metz (after which a local Gorge in my home region of New England was named), the Roman city of Trier (now in Germany of course), the Moselle valley, and Cologne. I've made a record number of postings for one day already.

AS

Beautiful Village

One free afternoon from our paper sessions, Lucette took us to what must be one of the most delightful villages in France: Saint-Guillem-le-Desert, which is on the edges of the Massif Central. The village is one of the most easterly points on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella in NW Spain. At is core is a medieval monastery founded by a local nobleman (Guillem in the language of Oc, = Guillaume, = William) after his return from the Crusades. Come for a walk with with me through the narrow streets:

To find out more about the place, key its name into a Google search.

AS

Warm Waters

Lucette Laurens, our host in Montpellier, arranged some spectacular gastronomic experiences at the end of each day, and two were on the shores of the Mediterranean. Indeed, one was right on the beach. After several of us ... well, three Australians, a Japanese, a Korean and an Israeli ... had a long swim in beautifully warm, but suitably choppy, water, we towelled down and s headed for a feast. The swimmers included me, and I've now swum in the Mediterranean (or Adriatic) three times in 4 years!

The pictures of this event mercifully exclude me! But here is my friend Kim Doo-Chul who hosted me in Okayama for 8 days last year, plus a general view of the beach.

On the other occasion we went to Palavas-les-Flots between Montpellier and Sete. This meal was taken in a revolving restaurant called le Phare (note I did not lose my glaces this time!) after a stroll around the beach front. First I'll give you a general impression of the harbour area. To start with, we saw some familiar faces. Can you identify them?

Here are the harbour entrance with the marina beyond on the right and the beach volley-ball court, followed by le Phare looming like a flying saucer out of the dunes.

From the top of that you can see the Mediterranean coast and the setting sun as we downed bottles of expensive wine! Nice isn't it.

AS

Montpellier

I've been to Montpellier in Languedoc once before, with Dot a decade or so ago. It was nice to return there for a conference and, this time, to have a much better look around the city. It is home to one of France's oldest universities and today is a modern city with a high-tech base and a lot of history behind it. For some time, it was part of Spain - tied in with Aragon - or quasi independent, and the citizens spoke a cross between French and other dialects ... the Language of (D)'Oc. Hence the name Languedoc. If you recall, there is a retail chain called Occitane en Provence. We have it in Australia. Provence is in the same part of the world and Occitane is where the language of Oc was spoken. Montpellier itself is in the Department of Herault.

During our conference, we took a guided tour around the city centre and this is some of what we saw, starting with the Opera House and square in front of it with its pavement cafes.

Some famous people lived here, including Rabelais, author of Gargantua and Pantagruel ... I presume you've read it - my copy is in French!!

The blocks of apartments concentrated in the city centre are frequently built around interior courtyards and this one was home to a restaurant. Some also had little scenes etched into the wall.

Downtown was, like Paris, home to boulevards of varying width. This one shown here has a view to the arch discussed later on.

And close by there were the remains of a Jewish Mikve (or bathing area) reminding us if the city's considerable Jewish heritage.

Then there are the little parks which seem to appear out of nowhere.

The arch noted earlier seems to resemble the Arc de Triomphe, but is much smaller and I think earlier. It lies close to the impressive Palais de Justice.

We had a key to the arch's stairs which took us up to some great views over the city. These show Louis 14th on his horse and a more general view over inner suburbs.

And finally we listened to something of the city's musical life.

AS

Riding the Bosphorus

For our final act, we caught a cruise up the Bosphorus. And, wow, there's some fancy real estate in Istanbul. In fact, it may have more high class waterfront than Sydney. Have a look at these photos and judge for yourselves ... insofar as you are able to do so. The shores are lined with palaces, and lovely homes with superb views:

There's even a rather a nice castle in the middle of all this, though I gather that many events in there were rather gruesome.

However, the Bosphorus is also a working stretch of water connecting Russia with the Mediterranean:

And it is crossed by two huge bridges:

Altogether, it was a great day out on the water:

Give it a go some time!

AS