Pont-en-Royans
— We stepped outside the Drôme for a day to have a look at the quirky little village of Pont-en-Royans.”
We stepped outside the Drôme for a day to have a look at the quirky little village of Pont-en-Royans.
The “Pont” that gives the village its name is barely three metres across, but topographically this is a conveniently narrow point in the Gorges de la Bourne.
According to the Wikipedia article in French, there were many more of the famous hanging houses in the nineteenth century than those that now remain.
Indeed, the touristic appeal of the place seems only to have been appreciated relatively recently, when the façades of these houses were given a lick of paint.
Elsewhere, perhaps more famous are the Grands Goulets, carved rock tunnels collectively enabling a remarkable road that joins Pont-en-Royans to the Vercors. Sadly, at the time of writing, the road was closed due to rockfalls. Now that a sophisticated new tunnel has been opened a few metres away, it is very unlikely that the Goulets will reopen to road traffic.
Pont-en-Royans
We stepped outside the Drôme for a day to have a look at the quirky little village of Pont-en-Royans.
See also:
Pont du Gard
One of the world’s finest remaining examples of Roman engineering and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Originally published: 10 Jul 2010 in Architecture, Europe
Château de Villandry
A Renaissance château and garden, Villandry has been through a lot, but its best years are surely still to come.
- Originally published: 28 Apr 2011 in Architecture, Europe
If Van Gogh had Wheels
How to cram a three week trip to Provence into three days.
- Originally published: 8 Sep 2007 in Europe
Who you gonna call?
Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not a Princeton curator, Knoxville mayoral candidate, Kentuckian pastor or Arizona journalist, I just share the same name. In fact, I am a consultant working in user experience and information design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Black Albert.
Shameless self-promotion
Over a year in the making, Dopeology.org is my latest personal project: a topology of doping in thirty years of European pro road cycling.
I collected information from thousands of sources, then I modelled and published it via a lightweight user interface.
Comments
No responses yet to Pont-en-Royans
Why not give me your comments?