Exploring Uzes, France

Exploring Uzes

April 23, Wednesday

Today we decided to explore Uzes, which is the medieval town we are staying in this week.  We awakened to a beautiful day – blue skies and sunny – temps going to be in the low 70’s by afternoon.  We decided to ride the bikes to the Office of Tourism (about a 10 minute ride from the house – if that).  The office of tourism wasn’t open when we got there, but they had put out a map of the old town with a walking tour on it.  We locked up the bikes and started on the tour.  Below are some of the highlights of our morning:

Our 'steeds' for the trip to town

The Place de Herbes Wednesday Market (they have the market twice a week - Weds and Saturday.

Some of the doors to apartments are really short!

I took so many of these photos of little alleys off the main paths.  I am only including a few here.

There are doors to people's apartments all along the path.  These are extremely old building with 2-3 foot thick stone walls!

One more...

We stopped for lunch about noon at the Place de Herbes where the twice-weekly market was in full swing.  We both had burgers and frites.  Then Arne ordered dessert – a coffee ice cream, coffee syrup, and whipped cream sundae!  I had a bit of it too, along with a cappuccino.

Local musicians - they were actually really good!

At Place de Herbes - the view from our table

From our table looking out at the square

Dessert - it looks a little bigger than it was!

After lunch we decided to try to see 3 of the main attractions that were closed for lunch when we stopped in – Le Jardin Medieval, Le Duche d’Uzes, and the Le Musee Municipal.  The Museum did not open until 3PM, so we opted to see the Gardens first – Le Jardin Medieval. 

The garden

More of the garden

The beginning of the stairs to the tower....

The gardens are nestled between two towers, the Bishop’s Tower (12^th century) and the King’s Tower (early 13^th century).  Included in the garden tour was a climb up the tower.   We did the 125 steps, round and round and round, and were rewarded with excellent views of the city and the surrounding area.  

From the tower, looking toward the cathedral

Looking the other way at the top of the tower

From the gardens, we proceeded to the Duke’s palace (Le Duche d’ Uzes).  It is one of the most well preserved buildings in the town center and dates to the Feudal period (9^th to the 15^th century).  It was built on the site of a Roman fortress and strongly fortified to withstand attacks that never came.  The highest tower – the Bermond Tower, dates from the 11^th century.  The chapel was built in the 15^th century.  We climbed the Bermond Tower (135 steps) and got a similar view as that of the garden tower.  Yes, we will be sore tomorrow!  We also went on the tour of the palace.  I am attaching several photos.

One of the towers at the Duke's Palace

The House of Uzes goes back to Charlemagne and Louis IX (1214-1270).  Today, Uzes is the oldest ducal title in existence in France and as such is known as the "1st Duchy of France".

This is a helmet from Joan of Arc's time!  It weighs 16 lbs.  A full set of horseman's armor weighed about 100 lbs!

This is the Grand Salon of the palace.

This room was decorated by Charles Emmanuel de Crussol, Duke of Uzes, who was exiled from Court in 1727 and again in 1740 for more than 10 years for playing a practical joke on the Count Rantzau, a relation of the Queen.  One evening at the Opera, he offered the Count a very bitter sweet which he spat back at him.  This resulted in a duel, in which the Duke of Uzes killed the Count!  The Duke grew to enjoy his exile and improved the Chateau, received many roving ambassadors, and held a long correspondence with Voltaire (1694-1778).  The gold-leafed console on the right was gifted to the Duchess of Uzes of the time, by Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793).

The bed in the yellow bedroom.

The bed is from the late 18th century.  It is short because people of that period slept in an elevated position - laying flat was associated with death.

The private chapel in the palace

More of the chapel

The dining room of the palace.

The dining table consists of two trestles and a board which were put up at mealtimes in whichever room the inhabitants were in.  The French expression "dressing the table" means literally - putting it together.  On the wall of this room are multiple heads of deer and wild boar.  

The largest head of a deer.

The wine cellar of the palace

The palace gardens

We rode the bikes home a different way – exploring a bit more!  We did not make it to the museum today but are hoping to do it another day.  Tomorrow we are planning to head for Avignon.  It’s supposed to be warmer than it was today - we are lucking out on weather – still.  Love it!