Pont du Gard - aqueduct, Provence, France
The world-famous aqueduct Pont du Gard is located in Provence, about 25 km west of Avignon. This is an arched structure with three levels. It is 360m long and 50m high. It was constructed between years 40-60 A.D. and was the greatest bridge ever built in classical times. This is just an epic example of ancient Roman technology. Pont du Gard was a part of a water supply system that stretched over many kilometers to supply water from Alps to town of Nîmes.
Parking and high prices of the tickets
Since the aqueduct is a worldwide attraction, it is available all year round and it has two huge parking lots (P1; GPS: 43.948975, 4.543625 and P2; GPS: 43.952348, 4.536109) on both banks of the river Gardon, which are connected by the aqueduct itself. We stopped at the first one ("Parking rive droite" - the right bank parking lot). As regards the ticket prices, we paid just one amount for a parking place (if we remember correctly, it was outrageously high price of about 18€ - but well, you have to pay for a world-famous attraction...), but since 2017 big changes came in force and now we have normal tickets for the price of 8.50€ per person and reduced tickets for the price of 6.50€, which also apply to children aged between 6 and 17 years. For children under the age of 6 years the admission is free.
So if there are more of you then a new pricing policy could be even worse. You can also buy advanced tickets, for example, to visit the highest level of the aqueduct, normally closed to tourists. The price of such tickets is appropriately higher. More details are available on the website. One can only wonder why for example we can admire for free the bridge of Avignon or Arles arena from outside, and here you have to pay heavy charges for only an approach to the aqueduct...
Pont du Gard
After leaving the parking lot we go about 200 meters down the alley towards the aqueduct (A; GPS: 43.947473, 4.535132). We reach the vantage point (B; GPS: 43.948289, 4.537874), from which we have beautiful views of Pont du Gard. We then go downstairs from the platform and get to the bank of the river Gardon, then we move under large columns of the aqueduct. You should have good shoes, because the area around the bridge is quite rocky. After admiring the aqueduct from this perspective we return to the main alley and walk to another stairs to get to higher levels of the aqueduct. As mentioned above, despite reaching the highest level we couldn't visit it because it is locked and only available for groups with a guide (for a higher price). But this object makes anyway very big impression on the visitors, especially at a moment when you walk it to the other bank of the river. Of course, it's good to choose a beautiful day to enjoy this place in a sunny weather.
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