Saint Laurent-la-Vernède

• Gard (30330) • Population: 722 • Altitude: 212 m

Gallery of 16 photos for Saint Laurent-la-Vernède

St-Laurent-la-Vernède village is centered around an ancient medieval fortress, locally called the Fort. This old chateau fortress, in the very center of the village, has high and thick walls, but forms a series of interior streets and squares that you can wander through. Some of the ancient structures are serving as private houses today, so the medieval interior has a sense of being lived in.

One café-restaurant.

St Laurent-la-Vernède Lavoir

The lavoir in St-Laurent-la-Vernède is on the south side of the village, in the southern-most corner of the large, tree-filled square called Place des Platans (square of the plane trees). It's a cover and walled lavoir, and quite nice, but it faces the south, away from the village, so if you just happen by you need to be curious enough about the plain little building to walk around to the "front" to see what it is.

Silkworm factory

An old building on the west side of the Place des Platans has a curious double roof, and looks to us as if it were once a manangerie, or silkworm raising place. We know that the whole area of Uzèshe [SP] had a silkworm industry during the 19th century.

Hiking

• GPS: 44.104799, 4.458498

Maps

IGN (1/25,000) #2940 OT "Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Pont-St-Exprit, Forets de Valbonne et"

"Garrigues et Concluses Autour de Lussan", map+info (1:30'000)

These village (west to east) are connected by a series of short loop-hike trails, with about 3 km between each village: La Bruguière, Fontarèches, St Laurent-la-Vernède, La Bastide-d Engras, Pougnadoresse

Dining

St-Laurent-la-Vernède has a very good café-restaurant, called the Coté Jardins. Its location is at the Place des Platans, facing the square away from the village. It's not in an obvious place, but the village is small and it's easy to get to. There's a terrace in front and a small café just inside the door. If the weather isn't great, there's a pair of dining rooms upstairs, with a long stairway for access. Menus are simple, home-cooked and good, with 13 euro lunch menu and 15 euro evening menu.

Open all year, but closes a week or so in April. Open for lunch Mon-Sat, for dinner Fri-Sat, closed Sunday.

Transportation Saint Laurent-la-Vernède

Department 30, Gard Buses

See Beyond's Gard Department Bus Schedules for Gard bus-lines maps and bus-line schedules (Horaires).

Maps (Plans) for the Gard bus lines are on the www.edgard.fr website, with a flash webpage for each of five zones around Nîmes (www.edgard-transport.fr/plan/?rub_code=5).

Schedules for the Gard bus lines are available via the www.edgard.fr website horaires page (www.edgard-transport.fr/horaires/?rub_code=23).