Discover France
We're going on a little trip this week. From the Alps to a Roman engineering marvel. And then it's on to towering cliffs. Can you guess where we are? If you stick around, you'll find out. ♪ (FRENCH) Willem Lange. If you guessed France as the answer to the first question, you were right.
I'm in Chamonix, in the heart of the French Alps. A wonderful place for mountain biking, hiking, skiing, climbing. It's surrounded by Switzerland and Italy on both sides.
And it was the home of the first Winter Olympics. I'm here in Chamonix and France in general, with a very merry band of travelers. We're having a great time going through France. Boo. ♪ It doesn't take much imagination to see why skiers and mountaineers love the town of Chamonix. ♪ Just look around. ♪ Chamonix is in the old Savoie region of the French Alps.
It's near the borders of Switzerland and Italy. ♪ What you see is part of the Aiguilles de Chamonix mountain chain. Mont Blanc is the centerpiece, rising nearly 16,000 ft.
♪ I's the second highest mountain in Europe. ♪ Experienced mountaineers climb these peaks on foot. ♪ I know another way. ♪ We're about to take a ride up the tramway to Mont Blanc. It's one of France's largest rack and rail trains.
Think of. Think of New Hampshire's cog railway. There are four passenger cars here: Anne, Jeanne, Marie and Marguerite.
That's because the man who managed this place here back in the 50s, had four daughters. ♪ Welcome to Chamonix, Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc, the white mountain. The white mountains are still white because we had horrible weather the last days, but since you arrived, we have beautiful weather today. Beaté Hartmann is our guide for the day. ♪ The tramway opened to the public in 1907.
A single line stretches across alpine terrain for nearly eight miles. It's electrified, which seems to work pretty well. ♪ Along the way, we enjoy the view. We climb at an average gradient of 15 degrees.
At one section of the mountain, it's 24 degrees. ♪ The tramway is popular with mountaineers and hikers from around the world. ♪ You ride up, you get dropped off the trailheads along the way. It's even a bigger draw with tourists. They get to see a different view of the Alps and step into the Mont Blanc glacier. I think I'd like to work on that building it. You know? Masons. Yep.
You get to ride to work every morning on the train. Wow, look at that. Look at that. What a view. ♪ So, actually, this is just a beautiful place for the scenery. For the mountain scenery, but it's also, of course, a historical place.
Because actually, here, all the history of Chamonix started. We had here the first visitors in 1741. They were British. They came to this place, they arrived up here. There was no construction. It was just nature. There was nothing. And they arrived here. They came here
because they wanted to see more of this glacier. So in that time, of course, around the middle of the last ice age, just small ice age. So actually the glacier is now just a little leftover that you can see down there. Yeah. We had in that time
that time the glacier took just all the valley filled out. Yeah. Completely to to the other side. You can see the moraine. Yes, you can see the moraine. You can see the trim line.
You can see really the altitude of the ice at that time. ♪ The glaciers thickness varies between 100 and 300 m. Climate change, even at this altitude, is changing that. According to French research studies, the glaciers in the Mont Blanc range are thinning rapidly. In 2022, they lost about 13 ft in thickness.
♪ Take a short walk down from the tramway station to see for yourself what a living glacier looks like. Enter the ice caves and you're in the belly of the Mer de Glace. The sea of ice.
There are interactive exhibits about glaciers and the effects of a warming climate. (LAUGHTER) So for those who went to the ice cave, they took the small cables cut and then they had all these steps and they were going. It's an artificial ice cave, you know, they they dig it, they dig. It's artificial.
Twice a year in the glacier that visitors Yeah. Can go inside of a glacier. ♪ But then here, the most, let's say, impressive mountain that you can see from here is Grande Jorasses. Grande Jorasses, yeah. They are 4,200 m high. And over there we have the two points of, the left one is Vélan and Verte. But we cannot see Mont Blanc from here because we have the Chamonix hiding us from Mont Blanc, but we saw it this morning, and we will see when we go back to Chamonix.
♪ Some of my travel companions took a brief side trip to Aigille du Midi. ♪ It's the closest you can get to the summit of the Mont-Blanc without actually being on it. ♪ We leave the Alps and take a step back in time.
A four hour drive southwest puts us near Avignon. As you can probably tell, the ancient Romans beat us here. ♪ Right behind me here is the Pont du Gard.
It's an ancient Roman aqueduct that carried water over the Gard River. A thousand men labored nearly five years to build it. They must've known what they were doing because it's still here nearly 2,000 years later.
The Pont du Gard is as much a technical marvel as an artistic masterpiece. It's an important part of a 30 mile aqueduct built in the middle of the first century. At that time it carried millions of gallons of water to baths and gardens of nearby Nimes.
♪ At its highest point, the Pont du Gard is as high as the Statue of Liberty and it's as long as three A380 air busses. It's huge. ♪ The limestone blocks, some weighing as much as six tons, were precisely cut and fitted together like an elaborate puzzle. ♪ Look closely at the blocks and you might see an inscription. That's the numbering system used to build the aqueduct 2,000 years ago. ♪ If you wonder what holds the blocks together.
It's friction and gravity. No mortar was used during the construction. ♪ 30 minutes down the road from the Pont du Gard is Nimes. ♪ It's known as the most Roman city outside Italy. ♪ We were in Nimes, an ancient Roman town in southern France and I'm surrounded behind me by 18th century gardens full of beautiful ponds and fish. And all of this water came here via the Pont du Gard, from a spring way up in the hills named Uzès.
♪ You can see, the horse chestnut trees. Yeah. With the flowers. Claire-Lise Creissen will show us around town and teach us a few things about the Roman influence here. Before we leave, she'll share an interesting fact about Nimes that may surprise you.
So when the Romans came here they decided to create a colony. The Romans came here and found there wasn't enough water to support a big city. So they brought water from Uzès? Uzès. Via the Pont du Gard and the and the and the aqueduct here and that's how we got those ponds, right? Just the water source in in fountain gardens. Yeah.
So at the origin it was enough, but when Nimes became a very large city. Yeah. There were forced to find other sources of water. Yeah. But they seem to being doing fine. Yeah. Very busy. There are tourists everywhere.
Yes. Like us. Yeah. Everywhere yes. Now, the Roman influence is mostly
in the old town, right? Yes. And this fountain here in the park is like 18th or 19th century? It dates from the 19th century. Yeah, yeah. Actually, it's in the new town. Okay. The Roman remains, you know, in English, very small, older. Roman and medieval tower walls.
And they had a wall around it? Yes. During the past. Yeah. But in the modern time, the authorities of the town decided it was not really pleasing and they decided to destroy, to demolish the parts. Yes, they did and that makes it very nice. ♪ Nimes was founded before the Romans arrived. The Celtic tribe settled here sometime around the sixth century BCE. Nimes was founded by the Celts, right? The. Before the Romans?
Yes. Here, there was a Gaelic tribe by the name of the tribe was, Volcae Arecomici and they were powerful. Yeah. And so during the colonization, during their Roman colonization, probably they deal with, the Roman authority. Yeah. And so,
the the the town in was a mix for Gaelic traditions and new Romans now usings. And the town was important because very close to Nimes you had the the Via Domitia. You know? The big road? Yep. Going from Italy to Spain. So it was a fantastic place for traders, soldiers. So that's why the town increased very year. ♪ Move from one neighborhood to the next and you can see that Nimes' ancient and contemporary histories work very well together.
What I like is the modern times facing the very old times. During the Roman times, Imagine the defensive walls, okay? We leave Nimes with a story about its history that in some way touches all of us. Denim. During the 19th century, then some people in Nimes used to make cotton fabric colored with indigo blue. And so around 1816, some traders moved to the United States and especially, Levi Strauss.
Yeah. And so little by little the Nimes fabric became very, very famous because in the United States the people used to make trousers with the blue. We still we still do. Yes, yes, yes. And little by little, it became the famous, denim. And so denim because it was actually written on the big bags arriving in the United States, (FRENCH) (DENIM) So it means, Nimes fabric.
(FRENCH) And little by little, the American people, say denim. There you have it. The story of blue jeans, right from France. ♪ After a day in Nimes, we make our way about an hour south to the Mediterranean town of Aigues-Mortes. ♪ We are in the Camargue, at the southern end of France, right on the Mediterranean coast.
And we're kind of tooling along a big canal, which leads down to Sète and the and the Mediterranean and just those few miles, sorry, kilometers and it's very peaceful. (FRENCH) ♪ Less than an hour east of Aigues-Mortes is Arles. This is where you'll find Roman ruins within arm's reach. ♪ As we hike through town, one name keeps reappearing. In 1888, Vincent van Gogh arrived here.
It's where he painted. It's also where he experienced a mental breakdown. Perhaps the first sign of his illness. It's reported that in Arle he cut off part of his left ear. ♪ We take you to France's oldest city, Marseilles.
♪ This Mediterranean port city was founded by the Greeks in 600 BCE. The old harbor, this one here, is well, so, the Greeks settled 26 centuries ago. And this is the heart of Marseilles it's an inlet.
People were trading here for centuries. Marseilles was known to the ancient Greeks as Massalia. And to the Romans, Massilia. Populations were arriving here. Some Celts that were called, Salia. Salesians.
That's from where the name of the city comes from. The house of the Salesians. The house is Ma. And Salian, the name of the tribe was Massilia was the name of the city. They were able to build the city not fighting, but with an arrangement they did with the locals. ♪ As peaceful as Marseilles is today, there was a time not long ago when darkness fell over this port city. Some of you asked me about the day today.
Why why is a bank holiday? It is 8th May. So in 8th May 1945, something happened. The liberation of France. Yeah. 45.
Is the end of Second World War. In Europe. In Europe, yeah. Five years earlier, in 1940, Marseilles became a sanctuary city for people living under the threat from Hitler. Because of its many escape routes, Marseilles eventually became the center of early resistance against the Nazis. November 42, the Vichy government with the General Pétain allowed the Nazis to come south, so they got they arrived south.
They, occupied everything. They occupied Marseilles. They saw. It's really easy to go on these naval to arrive on the harbor, to hide in these narrow, labyrinthe, maze streets and prepare a resistance. In January 1943, Hitler ordered the start of Operation Sultan.
Along with help from French authorities, nearly 6,000 people were arreste in Marseilles. Jewish families were rounded up and taken to camps and killing centers. The north quarter of Marseilles was then destroyed. We are going up together here and you'll see how it changed. How these buildings that are mod become old buildings behind. Because here was the 25 acres that were destroyed in January 43, sending 20,000 people to the concentration camps.
Marseilles was liberated by the Allies in August 1944. Operation Dragoon was led by nearly 130,000 French troops. ♪ Before we leave Merseille, we visit a pastry shop where we hear the story of navettes de Marseille. They're a sweet boat shaped biscuit and part of a Christmas tradition. And it represents the arrival of the Saint. So legend says, tradition says, that after crucifixion, people, biblical people were put on the boats delivered to the Mediterranean Sea and the currents will lead them to the south of France.
And the ones who arrived in Marseilles were Lazarus, Mary Magdalene. And so these boats represents the arrival of those saints that came to evangelize the Marseillian people. So take a piece and you will tell me what's about. So you'll tell me what it tastes about is not orange, but you are not far.
The orange flour and water gives navettes their flavor. And this should be about, bringing them here. Okay. That is another theory. I don't want to shock. Okay. Which is fertility.
If you're in Marseilles, stop by a pastry shop. Decide for yourself if you prefer the story of the three Marys, or if navettes really are a symbol of pre-Christian fertility. ♪ We're not going to leave Marseilles without taking you to the city's iconic symbol. ♪ Notre Dame de la Gard is a Catholic basilica. ♪ We take a train to Our Lady of the Gard to get a close look at the church.
It was built on the site of a 16th century fort. ♪ The construction of the basilica began in 1853 and took more than 40 years to complete. ♪ Au revoir. Goodbye. A journey through the south of France ends tomorrow morning. But before we head home to New England, we're going to take you on a cruise of the Cassis and Marseilles.
It's known as the fjords of France. And you're about to see how beautiful it is. I'm Willem Lange and I hope to see you again on (FRENCH) Windows to the Wild. ♪ Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J.
Reen Charitable Trust, Bailey Charitable Foundation, the Fuller Foundation, Road scholar and viewers like you. Thank you. Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund, established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS. To learn how you can keep environmental, nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at (603) 868-4467.
Thank you. ♪
2024-12-21 06:35
