Another city, another ancient Roman building

Today, we went to Nimes.  It isn't far from here, but we kept putting off a visit.  However, it was quite pleasant.
 
The primary reason for our visit was to see the Maison Carree, the best preserved Roman temple anywhere, built in the first century BC by Agrippa.  It was designed after the temple of Apollo in Rome.  It is quite striking.

Curiously, Nimes has adopted a coat of arms that features a crocodile and a palm tree (related to a coin they minted following the defeat of Anthony and Cleopatra's fleet).  The most famous sculpture of a crocodile is in a fountain in the Place du Marche, but the image is frequently encountered.

The Place du Marche fountain

Found on the sidewalk

Although many businesses were closed on Sunday, we had the great fortune of stumbling upon a wonderful restaurant for lunch.  It was a gorgeous covered outdoor patio setting, with plants everywhere, and wonderful food.  It's name was Restaurant le 9.

Petite squid -- very tasty

A last market day

This morning, we shopped our last market day in Arles.  The food is always interesting, but leave it to the French to come up with the largest mound of garlic that I have ever seen.

There were lots of people everywhere, and the main street is blocked for the Saturday market, so walking is the only reasonable way to get around.

The main street into Arles on market day

After the market, cafe au lait is in order.

The buildings take on a gorgeous yellow hue as the sun sets in the evening.

This is the same building seen in the morning shot, from a different angle

One of the jumping nightspots is this bullfight bar.

Cycling the Camargue again

This morning, after following the wind forecasts, we set off on a low-wind day, to cycle a different trail in the Camargue (marshland in the Rhone River delta).  The Camargue is famous for several things, among these are bulls, white horses, and flamingos.  Today's ride included all of these.

This sculpture honoring both bulls and horses is in Saintes Maries des la Mer

While the wind was indeed pretty low, we were surprised to encounter fog.  It burned off starting about 11.

Flamingos in the fog

Bulls resting in the morning

White horses in the marsh

C'est moi avec mon mari et notres velos

Bulls grazing around mid-day

The fog breaking up

The "trail"

Horseback riders in the marsh

Our gift for being repeat customers in a seafood restaurant

Aigues Mortes

The town of Aigues Mortes was built up as a port by Louis the IX (St. Louis) in the 13th century.  But he never saw the ramparts. They were begun in 1272.  This heavily fortified city has a complicated history, but the great condition of the walls and towers makes it all seem not so long ago.

This year, we drove around Aigues Mortes for a different perspective.  The walled city appears to rise out of the salt pans and marshes when approached from the sea (i.e., the southwest).

Wild poppies along the road

The southwest corner tower, adjacent to the canal (where the masts are)

The wall from SW to SE corner

A gate along this wall

The southeast corner tower, looking back to the SW

The SE corner tower, looking up to the NE

 

Our chariot, near the SE corner

The salt pans to the SW, as viewed from where the car is parked above.

Eat like a local

We try to find restaurants that are popular with the locals, and today we dined in Le Sambuc, a tiny little town in the Camargue with a great restaurant, L'estrambord.

Last year at this restaurant we ate tiny little fishes about the size of a golf pencil.  This year, we ate tiny little bivalves called tellines for our first course (cold, in an aioli sauce).

Followed by small flatfish called solettes for our main course.

So we were really eating like some local seabirds.

To give you an idea of what tellines are, we traveled south a few minutes to the Mediterranean, and found telline shells on the beach.

The beach

Telline shells on the sand

Telline shells in my hand

Everything was tasty!

About town

As I walked around Arles this afternoon, I thought that if we could see Arles from Abbaye de Montmajour, then if I located the right spot, I would be able to see Montmajour from Arles.  The  right place turned out to be next to Eglise Notre Dame de la Major, above the ramparts on the east side of the old city.  The church is just to the east of the Arena.

The church (Eglise Notre Dame de la Major)

The Abbaye de Montmajour as seen from the church

My other thought was to include some of the odd architectural elements that people build around.

And old arch preserved between two buildings

Roman ruins incorporated into a hotel at Place de Forum

Getting out of town

This morning, we got on the toll roads and headed west.  Best way to tell you are going in the right direction is if Barcelone is listed as an option.

Our target was Beziers, where we went cyling along the Canal du Midi.  This canal was designed by a man from Beziers, named Pierre Paul Riquet, and work began in 1667.  It connected Toulouse, a big inland city, to the Mediterranean, and involved some marvels of engineering.  At any rate, the canal facilitated the textile industry of Toulouse, and was very important until trains took over the route.  The canal opened in 1680.

Many of the original plane trees that were planted to stabilize the canal still remain.  Freight is no longer hauled on the canal, but it is popular with recreational boaters, who have to pass through many locks as they travel along it.  A large portion of the old tow-path trail has been converted into a bike path, and there were lots of people out riding today.  Quite a lovely ride.

This is beautiful country to ride through, with lots of agricultural land including extensive vineyards and gardens of produce such artichokes, tomatoes, and strawberries.