Roman Sites in Provence

Heading out of the Luberon towards Saint-Remy-de-Provence, it was time to see some Roman ruins. There is a high concentration of ruins throughout Provence, but unfortunately, not enough time to see them all in one afternoon, so I had to pick the two I wanted to see most. First stop, Glanum.

Glanum was along an ancient Roman road and was a bustling city around 2 BC. There were some fabulous intact columns and ruined structures.

A note on parking: parking in this area was limited and confusing. There was a small dirt lot at Glanum that we were turned away from. We ended up parking at the Monastery of St. Paul, but that was also limited and filled up quickly after lunch time, I also got the feeling it might not be the most secure, although we didn’t have any issues. And back in St. Remy there is a larger paid parking lot, but that was also full and would be a bit of a walk to the site.

From Glanum, we drove to the Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard was a huge complex, which is somehow not what I had imagined. There are huge parking lots with ample parking on both sides of the river. We decided to enter from the Rive Gauche. There is also a fairly large museum that explores the bridge’s construction in the welcome complex. Once you get to the bridge, there are a number of ways to view it. You can walk across it, walk down to the river and look up at it, or hike to viewpoints above the bridge.