Sete Again

After Orange we made for the Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aquaduct, which we had seen before. We got there without more than the usual navigational incident. But upon entering we found that the parking lot charge, just for sedans, was 18 euros. Who knows what it would have been for a medium-sized RV. Then the charge for looking at the thing was more. So we decided, not reluctantly, to pass. We've visited scores, perhaps hundreds, of World Heritage Sites, and, until Pont du Gard, never, ever, felt gouged. This place is a disgrace. Shame on Pont du Gard! Remove it from the List!

Later, I'll post a photo of Vicki at the Pont du Gard in 1986.

There she is; way back in the days when you could walkall over it, and free, too

We headed on, in some frustration, both with P du G and with the traffic, to a stretch of beach we have enjoyed before, west of Sete. We wanted some quiet, and I wanted to stick my foot in the Mediterranean one more time.

We first visited Sete and the great beach west of it in 1989; then again in 2010. In 1989, the beach was miles long, completely undeveloped. In 2010, there was evidence of development, some road improvement, some concrete borders, etc. In 2012, it is developed: an extension of the city's beaches, parking lots every mile or so, restaurants, bars, lifeguards, the works. But still uncrowded and still miles-long beautiful sand beach. Just before the very end, where Beach Resort World resumes, there is a parking lot open to campers and RVs, with the usual aire-minimal amenities. It was packed, but we found a spot, perhaps the last one that night. I should mention that Sete is a very interesting-looking town, a port/fishing town, founded originally by Louis14, who needed a Mediterranean port. It is now a tourist town, but still maintaining its gritty old city feel, with great-looking seafood spots. We must spend more time there, sometime.

Parked on the Mediterranean, again

But not alone this time

The beach, now developed

Ditto

Trois Digues

Water sports

Ditto

Disappointingly, the water was cold

We proceeded on, following mostly the Canal du Midi, which joins the Gironde at
Toulouse to link the Atlantic and the Mediterranean

It was a great economic and engineering project in 18th century France; now mostly
recreation and tourism

Orange: The Arch

Orange's triumphal arch is 3rd largest in the Roman world, and that would mean largest outside of Rome itself. It sits in the center of the town's northern round-about portal, framed by large plane trees. The arch celebrates the victories and conquests of the 2nd Legion, in transalpine Gaul, Egypt, and other places. Veterans were given land here.

Orange: Roman Theatre

We thought we had seen most of the Roman towns of Provence, but then found Orange, a beautiful little city that boasts the largest and most intact Roman theatre as well as the 3rd largest triumphal arch in the Roman world. We had to visit and easily found a free aire, one of two very close to the town center. Orange, FWIW, was home of the house of Orange, who became the royalty of the Netherlands, and beyond, for that matter.

Here Vicki demonstrates proper form in ordering the local
specialty, Orange Jus

The stage building of Orange's ancient theatre; 110m long;
turn a football field on its side and you have roughly the
dimensions of this building; Aspendos in Turkey bills itself
as the largest extant Roman theatre; I believe its stage
building may be a bit smaller than Orange's

Rather than buy the interior tour--we have seen dozens
of Roman theatres--we elected to do the free hike up the
beautiful city park to view the theatre from the top down;
en route, here is a view, the distant shadow, of Mt.
Ventoux, apparently a volcano of France's central massif

View from the top; although the stage building may be
larger, Aspendos' proscenium and particularly its extant
seating area, are far larger; not to mention the adjoining
complex...

But the statue of Augustus is remarkably original

In the park, the tree planted by Queen
Juliana of the Netherlands, in 1952

Back in town, the best figurine shop ever, so
far; this the nativity scene, comparable to
anything we saw in Spain

Detail: harvesting lavender

Just one wall of the selection

Driving The Rhone

Our day in Lyon ended happily. We wifi'd at the aforementioned McDonald's, then subway'd and bus'd our way back to the camper, which was where we had left it. Then, even more happily, we found our way out of Lyon and headed south generally along the blue roads (here red), following the great river, stopping for the night at a Rhone vineyard and winery complex.

Thus; Hermitage was only a few miles away, but there's
really nothing to see there; this place actually opens it
parking lot to campers; we were not the only ones there

In their specimen plot

Great stuff; alas, the place was closed when we got there
and we left before it opened; just as well, since tasting the
vins and driving don't mix

Next morning, crossing back over; the Rhone can be quite
beautiful, in between the chemical plants, etc.

One of 4 monster traffic jams encountered that Saturday; we
thought we had timed our departure from Chamonix so as
to avoid the annual August 1st evacuation of Paris; alas,
so did everyone else

In every one of these cases, taking an hour or more to pass
through a single village, there was no road construction,
no break-down, no accident: just the typical difficulty of
having two lines of traffic merge into one; I thought Sicily
was bad; Sicily was nothing! Apparently this is how the
French spend much of their August-long vacances

Nuclear energy is good for children and other living things,
it says here; so are quarries, I guess; and wind-energy; is
there a moral here?

Still More Of Lyon

A traditional bouchon, what Lyon eating was
about before eating was its main business

Wine cellar

One of Lyons' architectural curiosities is its
traboules--in the very olden days, owners
of adjoining buildings on separate streets
might get together and provide a private
alley through their buildings; here is the
entrance to one

Inside, looking up

Emerging on the other side

Our next stop was the "Mary" church--sometime friend and
fellow guide Rickie Stevie says this is the most Marian
church in all Europe--I won't dispute this--it was built in
the latter 19th century--oh, its real name is the Fouviere
Basilica

It is also Europe's most scaffolded church

Scaffolding notwithstanding, here's Mary saving the
Christians from the Turks at the naval battle of Lepanto
("the Naval" as Cervantes would say)(he was wounded
there, losing the use of an arm)

One of the windows; Vicki, who has a seriously keen eye
for these things, spotted its almost Stil Mucha/art nouveau
nature; seriously

The Fouviere Basilica has upper and lower naves/chancels--
sort of like the church of St. Francis at Assisi--however,
here the lower church is dedicated to Mary's long-suffering
"earthly" "husband," Joseph; it is rather plain; Christians
have never really paid a lot of attention to Joseph, have they?

The Tour Metallique; a rather sorry
comparison with the Tour Eiffel

View of some of this large city, from the Fouviere perch;
residents of Lyon refer to the tall building as "the pencil':
it is actually a Radisson or somesuch

Next we funicula'd up to the Roman theatre ruins; under
reconstruction, so we got no closer than this

Outdoor sculpture at one of the Rhone bridges; reminded
us of Rebecca's bridal bouquet

Parthian shot (from the bus): Sushi delivery bikes,
something new to me; in Lyon we also saw our first doner
kabob/pizza/crepes shop; a world cuisine is
emerging...