Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard (begun in about 19 BC), is 900 feet long and 160 feet high. Its sole purpose was to act as a bridge so the aqueduct which supplied 44,000,000 gallons of water each day to the city of Nimes, could slope downhill high above the Gard River. Just imagine the engineering skill required to determine the continuous angle of decent, and the work effort needed to build the aqueduct so water could flow 30 miles over hill and dell, and over the chasm of the Gard River. There were no pumps, only gravity. The beginning of the aqueduct was just 55 feet higher than the end, 30 miles away, a slope of less than 2 feet per mile, or about one inch in 250 feet. Amazing!

The roadway portion (one lane, one-way from right to left, in this photo) of the bridge (note the tour bus) was built about 200 years ago, but it is well matched with the 2,000 year old original construction.

Two times (1980, 1988) we were here, we were able to drive across the bridge, no problem. In 1983 the drive portion was closed for maintenance. On our fourth visit (1995) there were crowds of people, police had blocked traffic access to the bridge. In the afternoon and in the evening, we climbed to the top of the aqueduct and enjoyed the glow of sunshine, then sunset, on the old stone structure. We paid $3 to spend the night in the nearby parking lot with many RVs. Next morning, with few people around, the road blocks were gone, and we again drove across the Pont du Gard. Who else do you know who has crossed the fabulous Pont du Gard three times, and spent a night within view of that marvel?