{"id":34677,"date":"2023-09-15T02:20:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T16:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=34677"},"modified":"2023-09-15T02:20:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T16:20:51","slug":"balazuc-france-%f0%9f%87%ab%f0%9f%87%b7-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=34677","title":{"rendered":"Balazuc, France \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 12th September 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 60 kms from Viviers to Ruoms  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited: Viviers and Balazuc  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: Ruoms Aire CC, \u20ac14, N44.45240, E04.33660  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget: 113 days @ \u20ac96 per day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We enjoyed a quiet night in Viviers. The aire is another old campsite the local municipality has lost interest in and handed over the Camping Card Aire, who run the. Boom gate. Whilst the \u20ac14 is a bit steep, these sites have electricity and all the service including WIFI and there generally relatively secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough about the housekeeping, Pam\u2019s up and wants a walk so we go off to explore Viviers, which to our surprise was well worth a walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s become obvious as we walk toward the centrum, Viviers history is closely associated with the Catholic Faith. There is a huge Catholic seminary, the Cath\u00e9drale of Saint-Vincent pictured above and various other buildings that all formed part of the Canon\u2019s Quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Tower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Back of the Cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Just Interesting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On our return to the Hymer we do what needs to be done before rolling out the gate for Balazuc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019d like to say it was an easy drive but the GPS route leads us to a no motorhomes or Caravan sign which adds another 10 kms detour to the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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500m long one lane bridge was a test of nerve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From our guide book the Most Beautiful Villages of France you\u2019ll find Balazac<\/a> on page 91. Standing on a cliff overlooking the River Ard\u00e9che. From the 13th century Wars of Religion the Lords of Balazuc built and established a castle and ramparts to fortify this village. Today the village remains a maze of laneways and stone archways leading somewhere or maybe nowhere. Apart from all that the views of the Ard\u00e9che and the single lane bridge that crosses it, make the walk worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carpark is above the village so it\u2019s all downhill until you\u2019ve down exploring and the hard work of slogging back up the ridge begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 13th century ruin of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Funeral Chapel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Summer Gate and North Tower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Fachini\u00e9r\u2019s Gap or Witch\u2019s Cave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Sabli\u00e9re Porte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pictured below, from the bridge the Ard\u00e8che, looking up and down stream. The bridge itself was built in 1884. According to the blurb a degree had been issued guaranteeing children access to school, hence the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The French love canoeing in plastic boats, if there\u2019s a river there\u2019s canoes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Despite the cloud cover it\u2019s hot and humid, the walk back up to the hill is a bit of a struggle. Pam manages a rest stop at a jeweller and a tat shop as we walk back up to the Hymer. Out of the car-park we turn the Hymer for an aire in Ruoms which is less than 15 minutes away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael + Pam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: 12th September 2023 Travelled: 60 kms from Viviers to Ruoms   Visited: Viviers and Balazuc   Stayed: Ruoms Aire CC, \u20ac14, N44.45240, E04.33660   Budget: 113 days @ \u20ac96 per day We enjoyed a quiet night in Viviers. The aire is another old campsite the local municipality has lost interest in and handed over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":34706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[72],"class_list":{"0":"post-34677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-french-villages","9":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34677"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34705,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34677\/revisions\/34705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}