Le sud

The last post on my recent trips...while my parents were here we also went to the south of France.  We spent 4 days in the south.  On the first day we took the TGV to Nimes where we spent the day visiting the city and we stayed the night.  We spent most of our time visiting the incredible Roman ruins in Nimes such as the Roman arena, La Maison Carée and the Tour Magne.

Roman arena in Nimes

La Maison Carée, a well preserved Roman temple

Jardins de la Fontaine in Nimes

The next morning we woke up and hopped the train to Avignon.  We spent the day visiting the city and then stayed over night.  I had always heard that Avignon was an amazing city, and I really enjoyed it.  While we were there we made sure to see the Palais des Papes and the very famous Pont d'Avignon.  We spent the rest of the time just walking around and exploring.

Palais des Papes

Pont d'Avignon

view of Avignon from the Rocher des Doms

The next morning we got up, went to the train station and picked up our rental car.  We rented a car for the day so we could drive out and visit the Pont du Gard, Glanum and Les Baux de Provence, all of which are in the Avignon area.  The Pont du Gard is a very well preserved ancient Roman aqueduct, Glanum is the ruins of an ancient Roman city in the Alpilles and Les Baux de Provence is a famous village and chateau on top of a rocky outcrop in the Alpilles.  Les Baux was absolutely beautiful, but there was a lot of very strong winds when we were there and we were afraid to get blown of the top of the chateau!  We dropped the car off at the train station that night and then hopped on a train to Marseille. 

Pont du Gard

Glanum, in the Alpilles

view over the village of les Baux de Provence and the Alpilles from the chateau

We spent the last day in Marseille and we stayed mainly near the port and went out to visit the Chateau d'If because I've already been to Marseille and I'm not a big fan of the city.  Plus, the coast is really nice and there is a lot to do in the Marseille area.  This time we only went out to the Chateau d'If because we were catching a train back to Paris that night, but last time I spent more time in Marseille and I also visited the Ile de Frioul by boat and did a boat trip to the Calanques and Cassis, which was really nice.  I had also already been to Nimes and the Pont du Gard, but my brother was with us and he absolutely loves all things ancient Roman so I thought he would really enjoy it.

Vieux Port of Marseille

Chateau d'If on the Ile d'If, made famous in the book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

view of Marseille from the Chateau d'If

the Chateau d'If and Marseille from the boat