Pont du Gard

was built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of Nîmes (which is almost 50 km long) to cross the Gard river. The Roman architects and hydraulic engineers who designed this bridge, which stands almost 50 m high and is on three levels – the longest measuring 275m – created a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece.

Arles

is a good example of the adaptation of an ancient city to medieval European civilization. It has some impressive Roman monuments, of which the earliest – the arena, the Roman theatre and the cryptoporticus (subterranean galleries) – date back to the 1st century B.C. During the 4th century Arles experienced a second golden age, as attested by the baths of Constantine and the necropolis of Alyscamps. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Arles once again became one of the most attractive cities in the Mediterranean. Within the city walls, Saint-Trophime, with its cloister, is one of Provence's major Romanesque monuments.

Barcelona

is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean sea, in a plateau of about 5 km width limited by the mountain range of Collserola, the Llobregat river on the south and the Besòs river on the north. It is 160 km (100 miles) south of the Pyrenees mountain range.

A trip to Barcelona makes a fabulous day out or a great weekend adventure filled with culture and tapas bars!

Collioure

became a center of artistic activity in the early 1900s with several Fauve artists making it their meeting place. André Derain, Georges Braque, Othon Friesz, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Tsuguharu Fujita have all been inspired by Collioure's Royal Castle, medieval streets, lighthouse-converted-into-church Notre-Dame-des-Anges and typical Mediterranean bay in their paintings.

©minervois photography & design, 2007