After exploring the small town of Grimaud we decided to go for a bit of a hike in the area to see an old castle ruins and a primitive stone bridge located just a short walk outside of the town center.
The day was super hot out and we made the mistake of not bringing any water with us so we were pretty much dying of thirst by the time we were done our little adventure.
The sights weren't very far so I thought that the walk would be a bit quicker than what it was, but in the end it took us well over an hour round trip to see everything. There was some steep uphill walking in both directions too, which was made worse because of the heat.
The path and the terrain were quite nice though and the hike was very scenic, so overall I would say that it was all totally worth it in the end.
The castle is located at the top of a hill overlooking the small village of Grimaud.
It's completely surrounded by an old stone wall on all sides which makes it all the more interesting.
Once you pass through the old gate to the castle property you follow a path that winds its way up the hill via a series of switchbacks.
Looking back from the path you can get some pretty amazing views of the village, as well as the valley below.
You could see for quite some distance from there.
The castle was originally built in the 11th century and added to again later in 13th.
At that time it was still pretty basic but it continued to be improved upon in 14th and 15th centuries before finally reaching its peak in the 17th century thereafter.
The wall was built in the year 1370 and then everything was abandoned and dismantle in the 18th century during the French Revolution. Source for the above Information
The ruins weren't spectacular by any means but they were something to see and they were close enough to the town to make it worth while. It only took about 10-15 minutes to get up there.
There's a platform up there as well with a great view of surrounding landscape.
These photos are posed but we did actually spend a bit of time taking in the views.
After checking out the ruins we made our way down the hillside in search of an old stone bridge by the name of Le Pont des Fées, or "the Fairies Bridge" in English.
This part of the walk was much longer and more difficult since the bridge was at the bottom of a hill on the opposite side of the castle in relation to the town.
It probably took us around 20-30 minutes to find it but eventually we spotted it from the path. From a distance it really blended in with its surroundings.
This next photo of the bridge with the castle ruins in the background kind of gives you an idea of the distance that we walked. It wasn't overly far but the walk back was entirely uphill in the heat, so it was fairly challenging at the time.
There are a couple of things to note about this spot that are mildly interesting. Firstly, the bridge crosses a small stream that is actually a river known as La Garde. The river was once the primary source of water for the village of Grimaud. Source.
Given the rivers location at the bottom of the hill and the distance of it away from the village itself, I'm guessing that the people had to walk quite a ways to collect their water and lug it back to their homes.
Eventually the bridge was constructed as an aquaduct though and used to bring a pipe across the landscape to the village itself. In my last post I mentioned that the residents of town were so happy when the municipality finally installed a new fountain in the main square and this additional information explains a little how that was accomplished.
The second interesting thing about the bridge has to do with its name and really makes one wonder just who exactly are the Fairies that the name is based on?
Apparently the Fairies of the region are Hermann's tortoises, which are a type of tortoise common in the region. Source. We didn't see any of the tortoises during our walk but I still think that it's interesting knowing that they were probably out there in the landscape. I also wonder if they ever use the bridge to cross the stream?
We hung out at the bridge for just enough time to check it out and take some photos and then we headed back to town to get a much needed drink of water. From there we went back to Aix-en-Provence for the evening and all of that basically completed day two of our trip in tha area.