 Pont du Gard | ||
| Vers-Pont-du-Gard | ||
| Department | Gard | |
|---|---|---|
| Residents | 1.822 (2018) | |
| height | 52 m | |
| Tourist info web | http://www.ot-pontdugard.com | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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Vers-Pont-du-Gard is a place in the département Gard in the region Languedoc-Roussillon.
background
The Roman aqueduct is located on the territory of the municipality Pont-du-Gard. The aqueduct crosses from the spring on the aqueduct, which was built shortly after the turn of the century Fontaine d'Eure to the Roman Nemausus (Nîmes) the river Gardon.
The well-preserved Roman structure is one of the most visited Roman monuments in France and is often symbolic of the Roman heritage of the Provence used.
The village is a lovable, sleepy, still unspoilt village in Languedoc.
getting there
In the street
To the Pont-du-Gard To get there, one takes off the highway A9 - La Languedocienne the 
23 Remoulins, then about that N100 to Remoulins.
The D19 and then the D981 lead in the direction of Pont-du-Gard and further on Uzes - Alès.
By bus
The Bus routesA15 Avignon - Uzès - Alès and B21 Nîmes - Remoulins - Uzès - Bagnols-s / Cèze the Edgard make the monument accessible by public transport.
Pont du Gard
- 1 Pont du Gard, La Bégude, Route du Pont du Gard. Tel.: 33 4 66 37 50 99, Fax: 33 4 66 37 51 50, Email: [email protected].
Tariff including a visit to the museum and film screening.Price: 18.00 € (vehicle with 5 people), 12.00 € motorcycle, 10.00 € pedestrian / cyclist.
background
The Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard was part of a 50 km long aqueduct that was built in the 1st century AD. was built to take the water from the source Fontaine d'Eure near Uzes to the Roman city Nemausus (Nîmes) to manage. This required several bridges (of which the Pont du Gard, which spans the Gardon river, is the most impressive), but also long canals and tunnels carved into the rock. With a gradient of just 24 cm / km, the water pipe was a masterpiece of the Roman engineers, in order to convey 20,000 - 40,000 cubic meters of water to Nîmes every day.
The bridge consists of three arched arcades, is 48.77 m high and 275 m long at the top, the covered water pipe above the uppermost arcade is approx. 1.8 m high and a good meter wide.
Due to sedimentation and neglected maintenance from the 4th century onwards, the aqueduct became unusable from the 9th century onwards, and some of the structures were subsequently misused as quarries for the extraction of building material. In the period from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the bridge was used as a road connection for the first time and the bridge piers of the second arcade were narrowed. In 1747 the pillars were repaired and a contemporary bridge was built to the north-west of it for the increasing traffic, the Pont Pitot. This bridge was still open to traffic as a side street until the 1980s.
The reason for a considerable controversy was the construction of a 32 million euro visitor center, museum, film projection room and expensive, paid parking spaces in order to turn the ancient site into a tourist magnet and a source of income.
getting there
At the entrance to the 1 Right bank / Rive droite (accessible all year round) and especially on 2 Left bank / Rive gauche (only accessible in the summer season, extensive car parking facilities here), parking facilities were built, the entry ticket of € 18 per vehicle with a maximum of 5 people also allows access to the museum and the rest of the infrastructure. If the vehicle is left on the pitch after 1 a.m., € 43 will be charged.
Once you have turned into the access road to the signposted parking spaces, you will not come back without paying the parking fee of € 18 (as of 2013), so you can watch hectic turning maneuvers. It has been criticized that the chargeable parking spaces on the driveway are not signposted early enough. For a family of five, the amount seems appropriate in view of what is offered; Individuals who only wanted to stop briefly and, for example, take pictures have called the arrangement a "tourist trap".
Snack restaurants and toilet facilities are available in the area, and in summer there are shady roofs near the river that invite you to picnic and swim. Bathing was prohibited under the bridge due to dangerous currents, but paddling under the bridge in a rented canoe upstream is a particular pleasure.
It is worth taking pictures of the Points panoramiques, to which stairs lead up on both sides of the bridge, to visit. Even in the high season, these paths are a little sweaty and rarely used. While it was still possible to walk through the water pipe in the 1980s and even balance and picnic on the uppermost cover plates without barriers, this access and even walking on the lowest bridge arcade is prohibited today; the water pipe canal can be walked through on a paid tour.
Those who are cost-conscious may consider that access is available for Canoeists and walker (without visiting the museum and infrastructure) is still possible at no cost, a hike to the GR6 along is picturesque, and even in the high season the path is hardly used.
Sights in Vers-Pont-du-Gard
- 2 The church of Vers-Pont-du-Gard
- 3 The clock tower Tour de l'Horloge with city gate
- Three wash houses:
- 4 Lavoir du grand font
- 5 Lavoir du Font d'Isières
- 6 Lavoir de Misserand
- 7 The ruins of the Chapelle St. Pierre from the 11th / 12th centuries. Century are on the signposted footpath from the Bégude St. Pierre to the Pont du Gard.
- 8 That is in private hands Château St-Privat was under Louis XIII. Built by the Faret family, visits are obviously possible by appointment (6.00 / 3.00 €)
activities
- hike, for example on the Sentier d'interprétation de La Pierre Vers-Pont-du-Gard ("Path of the Representation of the Stone of Vers-Pont-du-Gard"), which leads from Vers along the historical and still exploited quarries, or on a hiking trail that leads from the center of Vers to the monument. Another hike leads to the forest area north of the village Roc plan to 1 Pierre Plantée. Eighty years ago the menhir that had been visible here for thousands of years was stolen from the construction of the electricity line, and has now been replaced by a copy.
- hike to other relics of the Roman aqueduct, for example 2 southwest of the place or in the direction on which 3 Path from Bégude de St. Pierre to the Pont du Gard or south of the Pont du Gard on its extension to Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard (with a Romanesque castle church) and further to 4 Sernhacwhere the aqueduct runs through two tunnels.
- Tour of the Gorges du Gardon on foot either on the easily accessible long-distance hiking trail GR6 or as a river hike, with the (rental)canoe from Collias or from the campsite of the Gorges du Gardon, in the hot season with numerous bathing opportunities.
shop
In the place there is a 1 Grocery store, sales of fruits and vegetables through direct sellers and a bakery, supermarkets can be found in Remoulins and shortly before Uzes.
The wine cooperative 2 Cooperative Vinicole is located in the west of the village.
Numerous quarries are still being exploited in the north of the village, where the typical limestone used at the Pont comes from.
kitchen
nightlife
accommodation
- 1 Camping of the Gorges du Gardon
- Numerous holiday apartments and guest rooms with bed / breakfast (see the municipality's website)
health
Practical advice
- the Tourist office / Office de Tourisme du Pont du Gard also covers the garrigue villages in the region.
- 5 The Post office is in Vers-Pont-du-Gard itself, those of Remoulins and Uzes (with ATM) are often more on the way (of the traveler).
trips
- to Uzes with its market at the Place aux Herbes and the Fontaine d'Eure
- to Avignon with the famous Rhône bridge and the Papal Palace
