After lunch at Uzes, we drove down to Pont du Gard, which is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge. This was built in the 1st century AD  as part of a 50km aqueduct system to transport water from the spring at Uzes, along the side of a mountain range, to the ancient Roman city of Nimes. Gard is one of the places that a bridge had to be built to traverse the river. On other parts of the route, the aquaduct is underground.

Apparently, the bridge drops only 2.5cm along its entire length! Overall  for the entire length of 50km aquaduct, the drop in height was only 17 metres.

We were blessed with a lovely sunny day, when the Mistral wind did not put in an appearance. This is truely a site of interest in France, not to be missed, if visiting the area. Not only is the bridge well maintained and impressive in its own right, but the natural surroundings are beautiful with great views up and down the river.

There is a visitors centre and well presented museum, which details the history of the bridge, including life size models of the works, and audio visual material to show how it was built and maintained.

In the 4th century, serious siltng hampered the efficiency of the aquaduct, which could transport 200,000m3 per day at its peak, but it continued to be used for several centuries thereafter. Later it became a toll bridge and then by the clergy, who found a much better use for the stones to make their churches. In the 18th and 20th centuries major restoration work was done to bring the bridge back to its originally glory, if not its original function.