Provence

Continuing the series, it makes me wonder how much foot traffic is required to wear down hard stones like these?

While scoping out the area near Béziers in the south of France on Google Maps, my eyes spotted this interesting thing:

Was this a special French signal to extraterrestrials? Was this perhaps a secret French nuclear installation?  I had to check it out!

Well, as you can see from the snippet in Google Maps, not only can you check it out but in fact there is a small, one-lane farm road that lets you drive right through it!  Here’s what I saw, rows and rows of drainage ditches:

Indeed, there were a series of drainage ditches – all filled with water – that were feeding radially into a center point. I spotted a nearby hill – at the top of which, coincidentally, is a Roman archeological site called L’Oppidum d’Énsérune, and from that place you can really see how huge this place is:

I discovered a bit more on Wikipedia. Turns out that this site dates back to the thirteenth century! Originally this land was a swamp, and they created this pattern in order to drain the swamp.  I would have loved to walk into the center of the installation, but there were a number of “private property” signs – and, to be honest, I was a bit worried I might accidentally fall into some type of a sink hole, or perhaps into one of the “sixteen vertical shafts” that Wikipedia talks about – so I’ll leave that on my bucket list for a later date.

Well, if I stopped my car and got out I could have probably taken a better snap. It was pretty impressive:

Continuing the series,

Continuing the series, one of the best ways to view the city is not from within the city itself, but from a distance:

Continuing the series, I am quite glad I decided to publish these snaps one at a time. Each of them are so intensely amazing, if you were see more than one, there is a very real danger that your brain would explode!

Within the futuristic city I don’t know if I would go so far as to say there are thousands of buildings like this, but it is no exaggeration to say there are zillions of them at least, if not many more!

Continuing the series, when you walk around the city, all the amazing futuristic sights almost make your brain explode!

Continuing the series, here is yet another snap that shows the magnificence of the city:

Continuing the series, here is a another view of the harbor in Camargue filled with fishing boats:

One of the truly most impressive things about Provence is the clear air and especially the intense sunlight on the horizon during the winter. Maybe one reason so many famous artists like Van Gogh relocated here?

Continuing the series, this snap gives a bit of the flavor of what it looks like in the city itself where – according to law – each structure with more than 1 story must look like an ancient Mesopotamian Zigurrat:

Continuing the series, there are people who’s passion is wildlife photography. I am not one of those people, but nevertheless I can never resist the chance to take a snap of a pink flamingo when I see one:

Continuing the series, here is a stunning, artistic snap of what has to number among the world’s most futuristic cities:

A few years ago I stumbled quite accidentally across the medieval walled city of Aigues-Mortes, located in the Camargue region of southern France.  I posted a few snaps of what it looks like inside the walls.

I recently returned, and now I’d like to share a few snaps of what it looks like outside of the walls.

One of the most impressive things about the city is that it is located directly on canals that lead to the Mediterranean Sea, and in fact some of these canals divert the water into moats, as this snap shows:

Will the amazing wonders of Camargue, France, never cease?!

This is an artists view of an ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat in ancient Bablyon:

And, viewed at a distance, this is the very futuristic city of La Grand-Motte located in the Camargue of France:

First introduced to La Grand-Motte by the architect Jean Balladur, and as I will show in other snaps, there is a city ordinance that all buildings be Ziggurat in shape, which gives rise to the very futuristic look.

Oh, the wonders of the Camargue that I have shown you!  The amazing Flamingos of the Camargue! The amazing salt of the Camargue! And the amazing horses of the Camargue!

And today, the tradition continues, because here is a wonderful snap of the commercial fishing boats of the Camargue, highlighted in a stunning white thanks to the intense clear air and bright sun of the winter in south France:

If you’ve got great peepers you’ll see a tiny Lidl supermarket in the center of the snap. It was filled with Camargue fisherman.

In addition to being famous for flamingos and salt, the Camargue is also something of the “Texas of France,” populated by ranchers that wear unique hats and who raise and ride a special breed of white horse that is indigenous to this area,

Interestingly and as discussed in the link above, many people consider Camargue horses to be one of the oldest breeds of horses in the world!

I’ve shown you Amazing Flamingos in the Camargue.

And I’ve shown you Amazing Salt in the Camargue.

Now, at the very real risk of blowing your mind and causing your eyeballs to explode, here is an amazing, amazing shot of flamingos and salt in the Camargue:

The Camargue delta in the south of France is particularly famous for its salt which, just like the pink flamingos, can also have a pink color:

The Rhone River that runs into the Mediterranean Sea forms a delta called the Camargue. In Winter it is filled with stunning pink flamingos:

Interestingly, pink flamingos are not really pink because of genetic reasons but rather because of diet: they eat shrimp and algae that turns them pink!

Continuing the series, I took this snap at a construction site in the southern French town of Antibes:

Considering it was built by the Romans in the year 2 AD, this building in the southern France city of Nimes is in surprisingly good shape:

I seem to keep coming back to Provence, year after year, because I just haven’t yet had my fill. You can take leisurely drives anywhere and encounter stunning sights like this village, whose name I never even stopped to record:

I took this magnificent snap around Christmas time. It was a nice 20C in Provence while Switzerland was dark and covered with snow.