Exploring Pont du Gard, France

After some further adventures in and around Carcassonne & Rustiques, we repacked the Renault, and headed off to Annecy. This was easily the longest drive so far, at 560 kilometers, we knew we had to get out on the autoroute early.

Our drive from Rustiques to the Pont du Gard was 227 kilometers via the A9 auto route. We had researched this destination and knew that stopping to see the Pont du Gard was well worth the time, so we made a very early departure from Rustiques.

This is a huge structure, 160 feet in height, 20 feet in width and was constructed by Roman Engineers nearly 2,000 years ago to carry water from Fontaine d'Eure to the Roman colony at Nimes, France.

The Pont du Gard is an extraordinarily well-preserved Roman aqueduct located near the town of Remoulins, France, in the Occitanie region. Towering above the Gardon River, this iconic structure stands as a testament to the brilliance of Roman engineering and construction techniques. Built in the 1st century AD, the aqueduct once formed part of a 50-kilometer system that delivered water from the Eure spring near Uzès to the Roman city of Nîmes. Though it no longer carries water, the bridge still supports pedestrian traffic, making it a living piece of history.

Construction of the entire aqueduct system spanned roughly 10 to 15 years, under the reigns of Emperors Claudius and Nero, with the Pont du Gard itself completed in under five years. The full aqueduct includes tunnels, basins, and more than twenty bridges, but the Pont du Gard is by far the most spectacular and well-preserved segment. Stretching over 275 meters long and standing nearly 50 meters high, it remains the tallest Roman aqueduct bridge ever built.

Having explored Roman ruins across Italy and other parts of Europe, we found the Pont du Gard to be particularly awe-inspiring. The craftsmanship is exceptional: each massive limestone block appears to have been cut and placed with incredible precision, leaving almost no gaps between stones—even though no mortar was used. Walking across the pedestrian bridge just below the aqueduct, you can closely observe the flawless alignment of the arches and the sheer scale of the construction.

The numbers behind it are equally impressive: the structure used over 21,000 cubic meters of stone, weighing an estimated 50,400 tons. One of its most remarkable features is the 25-meter span between its arches, which was among the widest in the Roman world at the time. It’s no wonder that this site continues to captivate engineers, architects, and history enthusiasts from around the globe.