A bridge not too far

We had been advised by several friends that a worthwhile place to visit while in the south of France was, no, not Provence, but a town and associated bridges called Millau, located about 120kms north west of Montpellier. So, several weekends ago now, we hired a car and off we went. Getting there was easy, because apart from our very detailed Michelin road atlas of France, there are signs pointing to Millau in Montpellier, so as long as you get on the main highway heading in that direction, it is very hard to go wrong!
So why Millau? First of all it is another word with that "M" connotation - yes folks, Millau is yet another Medieval town. But that wasn't the main reason. The 2nd reason was gloves. Millau is famous for its beautiful soft leather gloves, made from sheepskin, not calfskin. We didn't get to an actual factory (it was Sunday and they were all closed), but we did see several glove shops and although the gloves were lovely and soft, and beautifully made, I didn't actually need them. I have also been reading that Millau is and was famous for its pottery dating back to Roman times, but again being Sunday there were few buildings open and even in the city centre, there was very little evidence of a thriving pottery industry.
So what was the main attraction - yes the bridge! Well we actually discovered there were two bridges. One is the lovely 12 century Medieval bridge, still in operation and the other is the new bridge built in 2003-4. This is the bridge all the fuss has been made of. It is written up on the internet and it is a modern engineering marvel. We have to say it is very spectacular. We are obviously developing a "thing" for modern bridges, because we also waxed lyrical over the modern bridge in Hong Kong (see one of our earliest blogs if you have forgotten). Here is a brief description from Wickipedia on the Internet.
"The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by the structural engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft) — slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later." Before this bridge was built, traffic was basically forced to zigzag down into the valley, through the town and zigzag back up again, clogging the road and the town. The bridge, although it actually bypasses Millau, has not destroyed it - rather it has brought the tourist industry and has made the town pleasant and accessible for all those who need to go there.
The drive there was quite spectacular as you head up through the hills surrounding Montpellier and out through the Causses and Gorges region, with cliffs, tunnels and great views.
The town was a lovely surprise, quite modern in parts, but it has also retained most of its historical centre with narrow Medieval streets and great buildings. The church bells were ringing, so we had a look in and discovered a wedding. It was a lovely old church, beautifully decorated. My Michelin guide on the Languedoc Roussillon region says the church once possessed a thorn from the Crown of Thorns and was an important pilgrimage centre in the Middle Ages. The current church was destroyed in 1582 and rebuilt in the 17th century with fabulous frescoes from 1939. Alan's favourite sight though, had to be the Cabriolet convertible tourist bus! We just got the photo as it turned the corner. Anyway I will now let the photos speak for themselves.



































These gloves are actually biscuits, made by an artisan patisserie!