Uzès, Musée 1900 and Pont du Gard (1/11/2019)

It's technically speaking not part of the Provence, but it's a must do day-trip from Avignon. Ok, it was not well planned, we were just looking at the rain radar and decided to drive where it was less wet.
The great advantage of off-season travel beside the good prices is that everything is significantly less crowded. As we arrived in Uzès Chateau we were the only tourists and we were privileged to get a private guided tour from the guy who was the guard, the maintainer and the guide all at the same time.

The history of the Duchy is a bit like a roller-coaster with lots of ups and downs. They have beed around from the 9th century until today. They fled the revolution, then in the mid 19th century they returned, re-bought the castle but were missing the financial background to properly maintain it. It turned into a school. In 1834 the school moved out, then in the 20th century the family sold the furniture and rented it to the Board of Education, which turned it to a school again, making even more damage than before. Finally they learned the lesson taught by the Board of Education, moved the school out and with some help of the Fine Arts Ministry and General de Gaulle they fully restored the old buildings and peu à peu re-furnished it. Today the Duke shows up sometimes, but most of the time it's open to the public.

Our small group (of Shimon and myself) went first up to the highest tower of the chateau to get these views of the town:

The chateau of the Duke of Uzès, just need to knock:

 
 Where thy dine:

Shimon with the guide-guard-maintenance person

Main square:

From Uzès we drove to a small museum a couple of kilometers away, Musée 1900. This is a private collection of objects related to transportation, photography and telecommunication and everything else. Amazing cars, horse-drawn carriages, motorcycles, trucks and firefighting equipment, bicycles, agricultural machinery, steam engines in operation, tractors, photo, cinema, television, music, old trades, household arts, toys, games, merry-go-round subjects and many more… Seriously breathtaking place located in an old 18th century oil mill with a captivating mechanism and cog that is still in operation.

On the way back home to Avignon we stopped at Pont du Gard. It was already dark, but the old Roman bridge is impressive nevertheless.

As leaving we found ourselves with the car behind the closed barrier of the parking lot which didn't want to open. Shimon's ancient spells and his fingers arbitrary pushing buttons opened the barrier at last. A small adventure at the end of a stunning day.