July 5, 2009 – Pont du Gard

Today, Wendy has a surprise for us. It’s warm in Provence. When Wendy and Katherine were planning this trip, Katherine asked if there was a place where we could go swimming, a lake, a pool, or a river. We knew we were going swimming somewhere but not exactly. We packed up our stuff including a picnic of wine and paella which we had bought at the Uzès market the day before.

The drive to Pont du Gard was short; maybe 30 minutes or so. The walk from the parking lot to Wendy’s favorite spot was equally as long or at least it felt that long, carrying all our picnic stuff but I took courage [bon courage?] knowing that it would be lighter on our walk back to the car.

We got to the entrance of the park where Wendy demanded that we close our eyes or at least keep them aimed on the ground. We obediently followed her orders until instructed otherwise….which happened after 300 meters. And looking, we saw nothing to raise our eyebrows. But as we turned a corner, there it was…….

The Pont du Gard…built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of Nîmes (which is almost 50 km long) to cross the Gard river. The Romans designed and built this bridge/aqueduct, which stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels – the longest measuring 275 m. It’s an impressive piece of work. Even better, having worked up a sweat getting here, it was now time to indulge ourselves.

We found a place on the riverbank to spread ourselves. Opened our paella, olives, and a bottle of white wine that we bought yesterday at the market and had a tasty picnic. Then it was time to take a dip. The water was cool but not cold. But swimming under one of the largest and oldest aqueducts in the world just put shivers up my spine. Gliding in between all the swimmers were kayaks and dinghies of all shapes and sizes – kayaks for 1 person, kayaks for two people and a picnic, kayaks for four people and a picnic plus a dog, all of them meandering downriver, the younger kayakers playfully splashing water with their paddles on other kayakers, or playing “ram the kayak” games…we have some wonderful pictures. We all went swimming (including Marie Antoinette) and enjoyed the wonderful cool water on a perfectly beautiful Provence day.

Now, wherever there is a river there are rocks to jump off. And this place is no different. But you also have the aqueduct. And while dozens of people were jumping and diving safely off the rocks, one young man was evidently goaded by some idiot friends to jump from the aqueduct….about 100 feet high. Not unexpectedly, the boy hit the water hard. The cops, emergency services, and firemen were on the scene within 15 minutes. (Wendy found out the following day at the Carrefour supermarche that the local boy suffered some very serious spinal injuries, which is so very sad). He was just out having some fun with a group of his friends on a beautiful day in Provence...

As we watched the emergency services attend to the boy underneath the historic arches of the Pont, some large back clouds and distant lightning were gathering. We hastily packed up our picnic baskets, grabbed our towels and Marie Antoinette and headed back to the car - we barely made it to the car, already soaking wet, before the heavy storm came roaring through. As we drove back through the rain to Masmolene (with a quick stop at the bakery and market at Uzes for bread, milk and chocolate - all of life’s essentials) we got some odd looks from the locals in our dampened state, especially Mark who walked into the shop wearing his swimming gear and carrying his shorts.. By the time we parked the car in the town square at Masmolene, the sun was shining again and we all trooped upstairs to shower and get into some dry clothes. Another very memorable day in Provence – The Pont du Gard should definitely be on your must-see list if you travel to this neck of the Provence woods…and think about taking a kayak downriver, you’ll marvel at the Pont hundreds of feet above you as you glide down the river.