When Suzie and I travel, we love to just poke around, sometimes going to places that aren’t perhaps on the top of the tourist to-do list, just to see what we might find there. Today was one of those poke-around days; we ended up in a place we’d never heard of when we started the day.
The first stop was, in truth, on the tourist list: the Château de Flaugergues, a 16th century country home surrounded by two gardens. In truth, it wasn’t that great — the gardens were OK but not spectacular. This first picture shows the French Garden and the house.
The “English Garden” was in some ways nicer, bigger and more wild.
We did see something extremely funny, however, which is in the picture below. I don’t know if you can read the sign, but it proudly announces that this 10-foot tree is a … Giant Sequoia from California. Just a baby one, I guess; I have no clue what kind of odds it has of thriving in Montpellier’s climate.
After this, we visited another chateau, this one public, that was also supposed to have a pretty garden space. Suzie had packed a picnic lunch, so once we found the place, we ate in a very pretty spot:
Lunch was apparently a serious business for me!
Afterwards, I noticed that nearby was the headquarters and training camp of the Montpellier Ligue 1 soccer team. So of course I forced Suzie to walk over and take a picture of me by the sign.
At this point, it was back in the car. I’d read about an archaeological site nearby that had been discovered relatively recently, of a roman settlement along the historic Via Domitia that linked Rome to Spain. (Interestingly, at least in this stretch, the big freeway in this area, the A9, largely generally follows this old way.) It was in a very out-of-the way spot, and we were one of only 3 parties there. I love old things, and there were a lot of old things there. The place had first been inhabited before 1200 BC, and was a Roman settlement some 2000 years ago, a way station for travelers on the Via Domita. The Via was still intact:
And we walked on it, of course, with our 20th-century feet!
The site took you in a loop, up a hill to where the main part of the settlement (called L’Oppidum d’Ambrussum) was located. We passed ramparts and then went into a place were houses and a courtyard stood long ago.
But the most beautiful part was at the end. The settlement was built next to a river, the Vidourle, and across it rested the remains of the Roman bridge that carried the Via Domitia. A gorgeous spot with one elegant arch of the old bridge remaining.
Suzie sitting watching the river go by (she’s off to the right, very small!
From the top of the hill where the settlement was, we could see across the river a real modern town, itself sited on a hill, so we decided to take the back roads and check it out. It was called Gallargues-le-Montueux; we parked the car on the flat part and walked into the older part of the town on the hill. Very small and pretty. We managed to find the main square and one restaurant that was open (Suzie walked in to one that seemed to be open, hollered, but no one came, a lost sale, too bad), where we had a double espresso (me) and a glass of wine (Suzie). We sat in the shade (our restaurant is on the left below) and enjoyed the afternoon warmth before regaining our car and driving back to Montpellier. A full day where we did what some might think was not much, but which Suzie and I enjoyed completely.
Categories: France, Photography, Travel -- France