Two Ponts Romain (”esque”)

We’ve had a busy week.  The “survey” was done on Wednesday, on the house we’re in contract to buy.  We got the “survey” via email around 6 that evening and were up until midnight reading through it - about 150 pages and we had to translate each page.  I was up at 3 on Thursday morning, to talk with Whitney about her assessment of the “survey.”  We sent it to her on Wednesday so she could read through it after work.  We drove to Agen on Thursday morning for an 11:00 meeting with our Notaire, the seller, and the agent.  That meeting lasted 2.5 hours.  We signed the offer and we now have ten days for due diligence and to make a 10% deposit.  Papa has been working on sending the deposit, which isn’t so simple, as we are using a currency trader.  Our learning curve is straight up!

We went to the Lectoure Friday market yesterday, and bought locally grown pumpkin, apples, and Brussels sprouts.  We went to the Nerac Saturday market today, known as one of the largest and best markets in the area.  We were not disappointed!  It was huge, with good prices!  The vendors are spread down a long street and then up smaller streets.  We bought fresh persimmons, talked to a building contractor, found someone that reupholsters and re-canes old French chairs.  Success!

We drove to the village of Barbaste, just north of Nerac to see their Pont Romain de Barbaste.  The Pont is built over the Gelise River.  It is not of Roman origin, but located on the route that prior to Roman times linked the Pyrenees to the Garonne region.  The mill of Barbaste was built in the 13th century, next to the bridge.  The bridge is Romanesque and named Pont Romain.  It was a beautiful scene.

After leaving Barbaste, we drove just a few km south of Nerac, back to Frechou where we had stayed at Chateau de Frechou a few weeks ago.  We had seen a sign pointing down a path to a “Pont Romain.”  We went back today, to find the Pont.  We walked over 4 km on tractor trails, until we found it!  After getting home and doing a bit of research, it seems this bridge too, was built in the 13th century.  This bridge was a “Romieu bridge” or pilgrims bridge, located on one of the alternate routes of the Chemins de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle.  An old mill was on the far side, no longer in use.  We were surprised at the size of the bridge, in the middle of agricultural fields and the end of the road.