Page 244 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

SALVE, PROVINCIA GALLIA TRANSALPINA

It all starts with the Greeks. After founding the city of Massalia, now Marseille,
around 600 BC, they spent the next few centuries establishing a long string of ports
along the coast, planting olives and grapes as they went. When migrating Celts
from the north joined forces with the local Ligurians, resistance to these booming
colonies grew. The Celto-Ligurians were a force to be reckoned with; unfortunately,
they were about to meet ancient history’s biggest bullies. In 125 BC the Romans
helped the Greeks defend Massalia, and swiftly took control.
Thus begins the Gallo-Roman era and the region of Provincia Gallia Transalpina,
the first Roman provincia (province), the name from which Provence takes it name.
Later Provincia Narbonensis, it embraced all of southern France from the Alps to
the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees.
Roads made the work of empire possible, and the Romans quickly set about
securing a route that joined Italy and Spain. Via Aurelia linked Rome to Fréjus, Aix-
en-Provence, Arles and Nîmes; the northbound Via Agrippa followed the Rhône from
Arles to Avignon, Orange and onwards to Lyon. The Via Domitia linked the Alps with
the Pyrenees by way of the Luberon and Nîmes.
With Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (58–51 BC), the region truly flourished.
Under the emperor Augustus, vast amphitheatres, triumphal arches and ingenious
aqueducts – the ones that propel this trip – were constructed. Augustus celebrated
his final defeat of the ever-rebellious Ligurians in 14 BC, with the construction of the
monument at La Turbie on the Côte d’Azur.
The Gallo-Roman legacy may be writ large and loud in Provence, but it also
persists in the everyday. Look for it in unusual places: recycled into cathedral floors
or hotel facades, in dusty cellars or simply buried beneath your feet.

PROVENCE & SOUTHEAST FRANCE 21 ROMAN PROVENCE
the main street and you’ll parking one block back
pass the mainstays of TRIP HIGHLIGHT from the theatre).
Roman life: baths, a forum 5 Orange At a massive 103m
and marketplace, temples It’s often said if you can wide and 37m high, the
and town villas. And stage wall of the Théâtre
beneath all this Roman only see one Roman site Antique (Ancient Roman
in France, make it Or-
handiwork lies the rem- Theatre; %04 90 51 17 60;
nants of an older Celtic ange. And yes, the town’s www.theatre-antique.com; rue
Roman treasures are
and Hellenic settlement, gobsmacking and unusu- Madeleine Roch; adult/child
built to take advantage €9.50/7.50; h9am-7pm Jun-
of a sacred spring. Van ally old; both are believed Aug, to 6pm Apr, May & Sep,
to have been built during
Gogh, as a patient of the 9.30am-5.30pm Mar & Oct,
neighbouring asylum, Augustus Caesar’s rule 9.30am-4.30pm rest of year)
(27 BC–AD 14). Plus, while
painted the olive orchard Orange may not be the dominates the surround-
that covered the site until ing streetscape. Minus a
its excavation in the 1920s. Provençal village of popu- few mosaics, plus a new
lar fantasy, it’s a cruisy,
5 p245 decidedly untouristy roof, it’s one of three in
town, making for good- the world still standing
The Drive » It’s the A7 all value accommodation and in their entirety, and
the way to Orange, 50km of originally seated 10,000
nondescript driving if you’re not hassle-free sightseeing spectators. Admission
tempted by a detour to Avignon (such as plentiful street includes an informative
on the way.
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