Métro and Trams in Southern France (with pics)

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kcp

New Member
Bonjour,

in 2015 I have spent a week in Marseille to visit the city and do some trips to other cities in southern France. Aside from a lot of sightseeing, I managed to catch some tram and railway pictures. I will start my report in Marseille. After arriving in Marseille I bought a 72h tram-bus-metro pass, dropped my bags in the hotel and started the (metro) sightseeing trip.

Rubber-Métro

The Métro network consists of two lines (m1 and m2). It went into service in 1977. The trains run on rubber tyres.

A train in "my" station "Joliette", which was located a 5min walk from my hotel.
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The interieur design is more functional and vandalism-resistent than actually beautiful
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The overpass at "Castellane" station of line m2 offers a nice view down unto the tracks
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A picture takes from the steps down to the platform.
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This train will terminate here and return outbound, because servicse through downtown were suspended due to a suicide attempt. The annoucements put the information in some nicer words: "Suite d'un incident independent de notre volonté ..." / "Due to an incident beyond our control...."). Very tourist-friendly (and pretty uncommon in France): The announcements were in Frensh and English. Simliar to announcements at SNCF rail stations, they began with a jingle.

On the outskirts of Marseille, the Métro runs overground section. After leaving "Bougainville" this train of line m1 runs down the ramp and heads towards downtown.
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Impressions from my favourite overground section in the vicinity of "Malpassé" station
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From an architectural point of view, most (old) stations were pretty unimpressive and relatively dark. But decide for yourself: Joliette station.
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In contrast station "Blancarde": newer, brighter and a lot more spacious
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Some stations were decorated with artwork. As "Joliette" is located in the old port quarter, now revitalized as the "Euromediteranée" quarter, the artwork pays reference to its ship heritage
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Stone mosaics and light art in "Vieux Port" station
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A reflection on the "real" trains running above: Artwork of a TGV in "St Charles" station
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A peak into the Métro tunnel at "Vieux Port"
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The stairs at "La Fourragère" reminded me, that some stations are pretty deep below the surface
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Enough about the métro. The tram is next.

Tram

The tram network has two lines. A third one was in testing when I was there. It is supposed to enter revenue service end of May. The trams have a unique design. In the beginning I was a bit skeptical, but in retrospect I liked it. Looks much better in reality than in pictures ;-).
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"Noailles" (T1) station is the only one below the surface. A single track tunnel connects it to the next station "Eugène Pierre" (The tunnel is a remainder of Marseilles old tram network).
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The tram has left "Eugène Pierre" and runs into the tunnel heading to "Noailles"
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The tram returns ;-)
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Sharp contrast to the special design of the trams: The station have a no frills look and feel.
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A look inside the tram. The seats are hard as hell and the back forces you to sit straight. Tinted windows in combination with blinds protect from direct sun light.
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T2 approaching its terminus "Arenc Le Silo"
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Just ouside my hotel: The T2 in the "Euromediteranée" quarter
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Looked really nice after dark
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T2 makes a turn in front of "Palais Longchamps" and heads to "La Blancarde"
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The "Palais Longchamps". Children were bathing in the basin of the fountain. I cannot blame them, because the temperature rose to 26°C that day.
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Tram running along the Boulevard Longchamp
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Nice paint job ;-)
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"real" Rail

A mixed bouquet of pictures taken in St Charles, Marseilles main station.

I really, really, really like the design of the class BB 22200 locomotives
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It shows its beauty next to a TGV
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Train quartett: TGV, BB 22200, AVE and diesel power
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Lowcost meets International: Ouigo to Marne la Vallée and the AVE to Madrid side by side
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Since May 2015 a regular guest in Marseille: The Eurostar. It offers a direct connection from London to the South of France.
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The facade of St. Charles
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Trees in the station hall
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The stairs down to Boulevard Nédelec
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Testing, 123, Testing ;-)
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Sighseeing

I want to wrap this up, with some sightseeing pictures. It presides over the city: The church "Notre Dame de la garde"
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The inside is worth a visit too.
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The square in front of the church offers a great view over the city of Marseille. The old port
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A landmark: The stadium
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The sea
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The bus ride to the church is an adventure: A little bus runs along small, winding roads. As it is crowed as a box of sardines, no need to hold on ;-).

An eyecatcher by day and by night: The Mucem.
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Right next door: The "Villa Méditerranée"
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The cathedral "La Major" and the triangle-shaped "Musée Regards de Provence"
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The "Major" at night
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Art in the "Euromediterranée"-Viertel. Title: "It takes two to tango".
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Mirror art at the exit of Métro "Vieux Port"
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Whenever I see these, I cannot believe that these things still exist in France
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Nice to look at: The court building ("Palais de Justice")
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A three-master for the rich
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A have to quote Monty Python on this: "This is an Ex-Parrot". The zoo of Marseille closed in the 80s. A few years ago, the cages were "revitalized" with models of animals in flashy colours
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My favourite: The Crocodile
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This concludes my little report about Marseille. I really liked the city and can highly recommend to go there to visit. More to come.
 
For part two I have compiled mixed pictures from trips to Aubagne and Avignon.

Tram d'Aubagne

Depending on which train you take, Aubagne is 15-25min train ride away from Marseille. Since September 2014 a tram running there again. The network consists of one line. A ride end to end takes about 10min, trams are running with 10min headways. Like riding the busses in Aubagne, riding the tram is free of charge.
I stumpled upon the Tram d'Aubagne by accident, when I was browsing http://carto.metro.free.fr/. This page is really helpful, if you want to plan tram or métro sightseeing in France (and some other countries in Europe and abroad).

The trains are pretty colourful. Tram at terminus Aubagne station
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On the inside, red is the dominating colour
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Tram approaching Aubagne station
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The terminus on the other end of the line is "Le Charrel"
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Station design
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More trams taking a sun bath in the maintenance yard next to "Piscine" station
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One half of the line is running on rails in a concrete bed. The other half, runs over red gravel
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Trams passing each other in front of the church
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My take on the Augabne tram: small, but quite exquist. I am curious how it will turn out in the future. Further expansions of the network were planned, but have been shelved after the local elections.

Avignon TGV

I used the TGV to make the half-hour trip to Avignon TGV station. From there, you can hop on a TER train, which takes you to Avignon Centre in less than 10min.

The two sides of the station have different designs
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A northbound TGV is approaching
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Impressions from station hall
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The platform for northbound trains
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View from the southbound platform to the station hall building.
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Nice gimick: Were is my train at the moment
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A different type of intermediate stop ;-).
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Train 9725 is mine: An AVE. A look into a 2nd class coach
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A few days before, I used the AVEs 1st class. The leather seats were a lot classier than the ones in 2nd class.
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Sunset over the high speed rail line
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Since I was in Avignon works on a tram network have started. The first line will be put into service in 2020.

Avignon Sightseeing

Avignon offers a lot of sights to see. First among them: The papal palace.
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And of course: "the bridge" (You may start singing now ;-)).
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Great peace of architecture: The opera house.
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Massive and impossible to overlook: the surrounding wall.
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Really worth the 20min walk: The gardens of "Abbaye Saint André" in neighbouring "Villeneuve-lès-Avignon". They offer a great view of Avignons "Rocher des Doms" with the papal palace and the cathedral (and around the town square there were several nice bistros with reasonable prices, where I enjoyed my lunch).
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I would like such a little house on the hill (but I guess its a bit above my paygrade)
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These barrels made me smile.
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Thats it for part 2.
 
for part three some mixed pictures from Nice and Aix-en-Provence

Gare Nice-Ville
A trip from Marseille to Nice takes about 2,5 hours. If you take a TGV or a TER train makes a difference of only a few minutes. I prefered the comfort of the 1st class in a TGV to a TER. The journey was nice, because the line runs close to the shore line most of the time. So there was a lot to see.

Impressions from Nice-Ville station
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The facade
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Tram Nice

Tram stop "Gare Thiers" is a 5min walk away from the station. The tram network consists of one line (further expansions are planned). A tram approaching terminus "Henri Sappia"
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The station is located under a parking garage. The maintenance yard is close by. This tram will head to "Hotel Pasteur" in a few minutes
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In the city centre, there are sections without catenary. I have seen two catenary-free sections (Masséna to Opéra and Cathedrale to Garibaldi), but there might be more. As I only had about 6 hours in Nice and wanted to do some sight seeing, I did not ride along the full length of the line. The trams run on battery power in these sections. This made for some nice, catenary-free pictures.

Some pictures taken between Masséma and Opéra stops. In combination with the great architecture around, this was a perfect setting (apart from the "pole-sitting" artwork, which I did not like that much).
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A welcome place to cool down (it was 27° hot that day): A dust of water
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Always great to look at: Tram on gras
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Chemin de Fer de Provence

A quick jump to the "Chemin de Fer de Provence" that links Nice to Digne-les-Bains. The station was unmipressive...
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...but the rolling stock inside, was worth seeing. Choose your favourite: old
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or modern
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The old CFP-station "Gare de Sud" is a fantastic piece of architecture
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Sight seeing
A reminder of Nices past as part of Italy: The buildings surrounding the square in front of the cathedral
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A must do in my book: Climbing up the hill near old town. The reward for the hike is a great view
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Two zoom tests for my camera, that turned out better than expected: An airplan that just has taken of from the airport...
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...and a tram near "Masséna"
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I will wrap up, Nice here. Apart from a sunburn that I got, this was a succesful trip to a charming city. Next stop: Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

For a city that has 150K inhabitants, the station of Aix-en-Provence is very calm (Note: The TER on the right with the Pays-de-la-Loire paint job is a long way from home).
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The station may be small, but it has a piano.
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In contrast, the TGV station "Aix-en-Provence TGV" is very busy and an architectural highlight (especially the roof)
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The other side
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Let's take a peak inside
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A look from the overpass between the platforms. On the right, the AVE I took from Marseille to get here
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A look from the southbound platform on the overpass and an Ouigo TGV
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A TGV passes the station on the through tracks without stopping
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A TGV, the roof, the blue sky and some postcard clouds: The motive cannot get any better.
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Aix is a very green city. Platanus wherever you look.
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The tower of the cathedral tops the surrounding buildings
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The cathedral had some great windows. Like this one
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As it was Ascension day, I went to mass. The collection was for renewing the audio system. The priest encouraged people to give generously, with an anecdote, that took place a few weeks ago: The bishop had started the mass with the traditional "In the name of father....". When he recognized that the audio was not working and said something like "We seem to have problem with the audio" and the parish responded "And with your spirit.", because they had expected him to say "The Lord be with you". This is how we Catholics are: No need to listen, because we know the drill ;-).
I am always surprised how catholic the Frensh are: In 10 days in France I used more Latin in mass, than in a whole year in Germany.

Want to take a stroll through the past of Aixes most famous son? Feel free...
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From a distance, I thought this to be the tourist information. But it turned out to be a shop for fruit that someone had taken a bite of ;-).
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Honestly, considering the praise it got in my guide book, I found Aix a bit disappointing. I liked the TGV station better than the city. But thats just my point of view.

Here ends part three of my trip to southern France. One more coming up.
 
the final installment of my trip report features Montpellier, Nîmes und Arles.

Gare St Roch

The platforms of Gare St Roch were dark and not vrey welcoming. The station building above proved to be a bright and ice to look at.
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Tram de Montpellier

The tram network consists of 4 lines, with very colourful rolling stock. As all lines pass by the station, there is quite an amount of tracks and switches in the area to connect the tram line coming from four different directions
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Line 3 and 4 (gold) meet at the station
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A tam of line 4 has just left "Corum" station
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Same spot, a few minutes later: Line 1 passes by.
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My favourite spot: The approach of line 2 to "Corum". A curve of almost 180° and a colourful tram - Could it get any better?
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The signs at the stop pay witness to the paint jobs of the rolling stock. Signs for all three lines that call at "Corum"
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Short break for a tram of line 4 in the tail tracks near "Place Albert 1er" station
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Tram 1 heading to "Albert 1er"
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A pity, that I could catch "Blackbeauty" only once
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Between "Corum" and "Comédie" there is a shot tunnel section. A tram of linie 2 emerging from the tunnel
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Line 2 between "St Roch" station and "Comédie"
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Nice mix of dark tones and color: Trams of linie 3
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A network expansion is underway. Works are being done near the botanical garden
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Even in a set of colourful trams, there is one thats sticks out: A tram with advertising for the "Métropole French Tech" project
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Between the station and "Antigone" the tracks embedded in neither concrete nor gras, but in wood. Biker liked to spped down this ramp
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Some kids on their BMX bikes just jumped over the "car stop" at the end of the ramp
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I liked the mix of tram and catenary
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T3 meets TER
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Sightseeing

The architecture in the Antigone quarter took some time getting used to
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In front of the administration-building of the Region a festival of extreme-sports took place. It included water-skiing
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Just one word: Wow. Rose in St. Pierre cathedral
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Monty Python once again: And what have the Romans ever given us? The aqueduct. "Aqueduc Saint Clement" (it was not build by the Romans, it dates back to the 18th century) and "Chateau d'eau"
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Nîmes und Arles

If you like following Roman history and architecture, I can recommend a trip to Nîmes and Arles. I went there by Intercité train
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Below the tracks of Nîmes station
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In both towns, there are hugh Roman arenas that are well preserved. Until this day they are used for events. In contrast to the colloseum in Rome, you can wander around freely and climb up and down the tiers. Arena in Nîmes
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Modern architecture just outside the arena
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The "Maison Carré" is an old temple. Nowadays, a film about the history of Nîmes is shown there
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View from "Tour Magne" unto Nîmes. The arena is not that prominent. It is located at the end of the green band that starts at the white building (this is a museum designed by Norman Foster)
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In Arles station, you cannot get unto the center platform. If need be, the door will be opened 10min prior to departure
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While I wait for my delayed Intercité back to Marseille: A snapshot of a TER train in the eveninng dusk.
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Here ends the last report of my trip to southern France. Great place for a vacation: There is a lot to see and the weather is nice too :).

Looking forward to your feedback.

Adieu
Charly
 




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