Bridge on Pont du Gard

Post at Pont du Gard

Post at Pont du Gard

There doesn’t seem to be much to see here in Pont du Gard apart from the aqueduct itself. This is good so I can move on to the next spot. However, ancient Roman aqueducts aren’t that easy to come by anymore so I decided to take a bit of time here. The aqueduct is actually three levels high. Sometimes when the gap to be bridged is high, additional levels are built on top of the aqueducts arches. Of course, these are all taken into account when building the aqueduct. It is a marvelous piece of engineering because of the precision that was involved in building the aqueduct.

Arch at Pont du Gard

Arch at Pont du Gard

Pont du Gard is obviously higher in one end so that the water from one end can flow down to the other end. However, one end is only an inch higher than the other end. Achieving something like this involves an incredible amount of precision and it shows how skilled the Roman engineers were. This is but a part of a 50 kilometer aqueduct but it is probably one of the more impressive sections. Considering that this was all done almost two thousand years ago, it truly is mind-blowing. I decided to cross the aqueduct. There is a pedestrian bridge on the lowest level to cross the river. There wasn’t much to see in the bridge but it does give you a closer look at the aqueduct itself.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/PontduGard.kmz} zoom=19]