A renaissance man for the twenty-first century!
Just as the villages and towns of central and northern Europe are filled with ancient buildings dating back to the Renaissance, the villages and towns of southern Europe are filled with ancient buildings dating back much further, to the Roman empire.
Here is a Roman building, still in wonderful condition today, at the heart of the town of Nimes in Southern France:
It’s here in this town (Nimes) that the fabric used for blue jeans (denim) was first made famous.
If you’ve ever visited the very end of the Mississippi River, then you know how it is: a truly exciting environment, unbelievably remote, and visited by very, very few people.
The medieval town of Aigues-Mortes is the French equivalent. It’s a beautifully preserved medieval town, in the French region known simply as The Camargue, where the Rhone River forms a delta emptying into the Mediterranean Sea:
Interestingly, this is the spot where famous 7th Crusades were launched in 1248. But today the locals are more interested in shopping for bread
or bowling
rather than marching on Jerusalem!
This is Pont Du Gard,
It is located just outside the city of Nimes, in Southern France.
It is pretty impressive, to be sure, and if you are in the area, it is probably worth a visit. However, it is very, very developed for tourists. There are still some wonderful Roman aqueducts in Spain that are still in their natural state.
Continuing the series, arguably the world’s oldest and best-known pillar of moss and slime, located in Aix en Provence, shows that my own name for these objects, pillars of moss and slime, is not half bad: this one is officially known as Fontaine Mossue. Interestingly, it is a natural hot water spring that dates back to the Roman times.