After our stay in Toulouse, we packed up to head all the way to the eastern city of Nice. In talking with our hosts in Toulouse of our journey, they mentioned the problem of French tolls. We did some investigating and discovered that the direct journey to Nice would cost us around 50€ to do the trip so we decided to take back roads half the way so as to only pay 25€ overall. The idea turned out to be quite enjoyable as the French countryside we rode through was beautiful. We wound our way along a stretch of highway called the Route de Millau. We discovered that the south of France is covered in nice rolling hills full of farms and beautiful scenery. We stopped at little places along the way to take tons of pictures.
We found the little town of Montlaur when we detoured to the Chateau de Montaigut because it sounded interesting. It was built in the 10th century as a way to protect the small town of St. Affrique. There were seven or eight different buildings on the hill top and tons of old farming equipment.
From Montlaur, we passed through St. Affrique. It had a nice church that sat on the edge of the river and provided a great backdrop against the mountains behind it. The town was lovely but we couldn't stay long due to the long drive we still had ahead of us to Nice(pronounced Neece).
From St. Affrique, we headed to Millau because it was recommended we go see the viaduct built there because it is the tallest bridge in the world. It's built from the design of a Frenchman and an Englishman, what could wrong there? We tried to continue on our route of no tolls but alas, we were thwarted by a detour that led us back up the mountain so that we had to ride across the bridge. It was a nice view and we began our pocket emptying trek of paying all the tolls. Enjoy the pics from across the south.
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