Valliguières
• Gard (30210) • Population: 538 • Altitude: 170 m
Gallery of 20 photos for Valliguières
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Valliguières is a tiny village between Uzès and Avignon, with a Roman history, tiny 12th-century canal and an ancient medieval interior. The village is small and, at first glance, rather empty, with one bakery and a single café-restaurant as the only commerce, but Valliguières has a lovely fountain, neat interior and a chateau with a medieval core.
The main square of Valliguières, beside the main road through town, has a small but welcoming café-restaurant and an open parking area with the village fountain.
The village fountain was built in 1821, but the original four rams' head spigots have been replaced by modern-looking frog sculptures.
A covered lavoir was built beside the fountain in 1882. Unfortunately, the lavoir was dismantled, moved and reconstructed (except for the all-important water) to the south edge of the village, where it sits today, housing a communal meeting room.
The main church of Valliguières, with its tall, peaked-roof bell tower, was built at the beginning of the 17th century. The church was enlarged and modified a couple of centuries later, beginning in 1807.
Valliguières Chateau
The chateau of Valliguières was built in the 9th century and reconstructed in the 11th and 12th centuries. Inside the entry portal is what amounts to a tiny medieval village, only partly in ruins, with the ancient stone walls and short narrow streets.
The Valliguières privately owned today, and is being restored (perpetually) by the owner. The owner was working there when we passed by, and offered (at his initiation) to give us an extensive tour of the interior.
Hiking
• GPS: 44.006546, 4.578167
Maps
IGN (1/25,000) #2941 ET "Remoulins, Pont du Gard"
"Entre Rhône et Gardon", map+info (1:30'000)
Several small PR (Petite Randonée) hiking trails provide loop hikes northeast and southeast of Valliguières village, and the hiking trails connect together Valliguières with the surrounding villages.
One of the loop hikes passes beside the 12th-century irrigation canals at the northern edge of the village.
The southeast hiking loop goes by the 9th-century Saint-Pierre Chapel, perched on the hilltop site of 2000-year-old oppidum.
Transportation Valliguières
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).