Rock and the Templar and Hospitaller Sites

The land of Roquefort and the home of blue cheese:- in the morning we headed to Roquefort to do a tour of the cheese factory.  On the way we took photos of the Millau Viaduct.

 Information Lachlan researched for his school blog:- The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres above the base of the structure. The cost of construction was approximately €400 million. It was opened in December 2004.

Then we were off to the Roquefort Cheese Factory - this was an amazing place - so much cheese - and all of it blue - Karl is in heaven! I think it is yuk! The tour was amazing though through the caves -  the caves are arranged in superposed levels, the caves are are ventilated by fleurines (natural galleries) that maintain a constant temperature all year round, from 8 ° to 12 ° C and a humidity of 95% due to infiltration of water through the scree. You could feel the breeze through these and realise how amazing it is that this is how this cheese has been made for centuries like this! 

The Roquefort refines slowly in this environment composed of stone and wood.

 

Karl got to eat quite a lot of blue cheese and me and boys were not fans.  The boys were great trying them but you can imagine Loki's reaction!

After this we headed to La Couvertoirade - In the late 12th century there was a network of commandries which contributed tot he war effort - the templars helped La Couvertoirade to prosper for 2 hundred years.  They are still amazingly intact and quite amazing although much smaller than we thought they would be.

It was then time for the last stage of our journey - via Nimes and home to Marseille.

The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheatre, situated in the French city of Nîmes. Built around AD 70, it was remodelled in 1863 to serve as a bullring.

The gorgeous boys by the arena - so cute.  Now we head home to Marseille and we have a few weeks settled at home before our next adventures.  Time to live local and enjoy all that is around us.


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