Uzès - provencal delight

Uzès first Duchy of France, City of Art and History, is a medieval town in the Gard, France, 15kms from Nimes and Avignon. This is a town worth making a special effort for. It's provençal-quaint, clean and with lots of things to explore. Good cafes and places to buy special souvenirs abound. I knew I had to go and it didn't disappoint.

Uzès as a present-day town retains traces of its walls as a series of boulevards. A chapel, built in 1635, to house the remains of the Duchy's dukes, occupies the site of a 1st-century AD temple dedicated to the first Roman Emperor, Augustus.  There are reminders of the prestige of the former bishopri, the status of which was extinguished at dawn of the Revolution, and private houses that saw the wealth that the textile trade brought in the 16th century. Under the leadership of André Malraux, it was completely renovated and boasts a heritage of rare beauty.

Built in 1090, Uzès Cathedral was destroyed during a crusade, rebuilt and again destroyed in the Wars of Religion during the 16th century. It was rebuilt yet again in the 17th century, only to be stripped out during the French Revolution. The 11th century 42m-high tower Romanesque Tour Fenestrelle or "Window Tower", with its paired windows, is probably the most famous icon of the city. It's the only round bell tower in France, which resembles an upright Leaning Tower of Pisa.It was listed as a French Historical Monument  in 1862.

Although the cathedral is a little bit drab and unkempt you can still see vestiges of its former beauty in the painted ceilings and walls, the statuary and funerary elements. The organ actually has shutters. The funerary elements made me smile. I'm not sure if the 'relics' are real or not though they are no doubt there to encourage penitents. There's some nice statuary.
 
Uzès is famous in the area for its Saturday market. Not only does the market offer local produce, but it also boasts textiles made in the region, lavender goods and other tourist delights.

The history of this town is evident in every corner, around every alley, which gives it a special charm and nobility.  Uzès is a town-museum. The beautifully cobbled streets are artistically presented and so clean. The engineering of them allows those fierce downpours, which can occur in this part of France, to wash and run off.

I enjoyed pottering around the narrow streets, looking for suitable souvenirs of this part of France. I was not disappointed. I found two lovely fans: one printed with French writers' names (such as Moliere, Dumas, Hugo, Camus etc) and a Marie-Antoinette-style one. I chose a deliciously scented soap portraying Louis XIV and then had to remind myself I had only the space in one suitcase back to NZ.

Unfortunately, the  manager of the shop had trouble getting mobile internet reception so we had to step outside and wait for him to find it. Though we eventually secured my purchases, JC later discovered he had left his camera on the counter. Inside it were holiday snaps. At the time I seemed to regret the loss more than he did but he has since realised that in the camera were most of the very few photos he had taken of me during my 3 month stay and he's disappointed. I had contacted the shop immediately after we discovered our loss later that day, via its Facebook site, but the manager has never replied.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFGjzyBlQw