French Riveria
Monday, October 10 - Thursday October 13, 2011
It was only 200km today from Carcassonne to Nimes. We got to the hotel too early, they were not ready for us. We had to find something else to do, so we drove out to Pont Du Gard, a 2000 year old Aqueduct built by the Romans to carry water to Nimes. We parked on the opposite side to where all the tour buses were. As a result, we had to walk across the aqueduct to get to the cafeteria for lunch.
We toured the museum and learnt about the Roman history of the region. Apparently, Nimes was a vibrant town 2000 years ago, and the Romans wanted water for their beautiful gardens, hence they built the aqueduct. We drove tpo Nimes after lunch, and walked around in search of Les Arenes, the best preserved Roman arena in the world. It is still used today for concerts and bullfighting.
It was close to 300km today, so we broke it up with a couple of stops. First, we went to Cannes, where they have the famous film festival every year. We caught our first look at the Mediterranean, and also found all the famous handprints of the Hollywood superstars surrounding the Cannes Theatre.
We had lunch, changed some money, and bought some Gelati… we must be getting close to Italy now. We drove to Grasse, which is the birthplace of modern day perfume. We did q factory tour of Fragonard, and bought some perfume. We couldn’t believe that their were dogs wandering thru the shop. Dogs are everywhere in France. There was even one in our restaurant last night!
We got do Nice around 5pm, and left the kids to rest in the hitel room, while Gwen and I went out to explore. We walked to the beach, took photos, and then got lost cutting thru the narrow alleyways on the way back to the hotel. We bought a pizza for dinner and ate in the hotel.
It was only 200km today from Carcassonne to Nimes. We got to the hotel too early, they were not ready for us. We had to find something else to do, so we drove out to Pont Du Gard, a 2000 year old Aqueduct built by the Romans to carry water to Nimes. We parked on the opposite side to where all the tour buses were. As a result, we had to walk across the aqueduct to get to the cafeteria for lunch.
We toured the museum and learnt about the Roman history of the region. Apparently, Nimes was a vibrant town 2000 years ago, and the Romans wanted water for their beautiful gardens, hence they built the aqueduct. We drove tpo Nimes after lunch, and walked around in search of Les Arenes, the best preserved Roman arena in the world. It is still used today for concerts and bullfighting.
It was close to 300km today, so we broke it up with a couple of stops. First, we went to Cannes, where they have the famous film festival every year. We caught our first look at the Mediterranean, and also found all the famous handprints of the Hollywood superstars surrounding the Cannes Theatre.
We had lunch, changed some money, and bought some Gelati… we must be getting close to Italy now. We drove to Grasse, which is the birthplace of modern day perfume. We did q factory tour of Fragonard, and bought some perfume. We couldn’t believe that their were dogs wandering thru the shop. Dogs are everywhere in France. There was even one in our restaurant last night!
We got do Nice around 5pm, and left the kids to rest in the hitel room, while Gwen and I went out to explore. We walked to the beach, took photos, and then got lost cutting thru the narrow alleyways on the way back to the hotel. We bought a pizza for dinner and ate in the hotel.