Hintergrund
Die Stadt Tarascon liegt am östlichen Rhôneufer, ziemlich genau zwischen Arles und Avignon. Die Distanz zu den beiden Städten beträgt je rund 20 Kilometer. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Flussseite befindet sich das Städtchen Beaucaire, die Zwillingsstädte sind über eine Rhônebrücke verbunden.
Die Stadt wurde im Jahre 48 von den Römern gegründet. Die Stadtgeschichte wird von der Legende des Drachens Tarasque geprägt, der an den Ufern der Rhône die Reisenden verschlungen haben und der dann von der Heiligen Martha gebannt worden sein soll (Die Legende um Martha und Tarasque). Diese Legende gab der Stadt auch ihren heutigen Name, vorher soll der Name Nerluc gelautet haben.
Im Ortsteil Saint-Gabriel, befand sich das römische Ernaginum am bedeutenden Kreuzungspunkt der Via Domitia, kurz bevor diese die Rhône überquert, mit der hier endenden Via Aurelia.
Politisch gehört die Stadt zum Arrondissement Arles, und ist Verwaltungssitz des Kanton Tarascon.
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône , atomic number 13, is a department in the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur . It has a long coastline to the south on the Mediterranean Sea. It also borders the departments of Gard to the west, Vaucluse to the north and Var to the east.
Wikimedia Maps | Map data © OpenStreetMap authors
Map of Bouches-du-Rhône
In the southwest lies the Rhône Delta with the Camargue – with huge sandy areas between the Mediterranean and brackish water lakes – and the Crau with steppe-like landscapes.
To the east of the Crau lies the Étang de Berre and further away the rocky coast of the Calanques between Marseille and Cassis .
Northeast of Marseille the relief rises up to the Montagnes Sainte-Victoire .
The northwesternmost mountain range is formed by the Alpilles, which can be seen from far away .
Four arrondissements with 53 cantons and 119 municipalities:
Sous-préfecture Aix-en-Provence – 388,877 inhabitants.
Sous-préfecture Arles – 184,265 inhabitants.
Sous-préfecture Istres – 297,679 inhabitants.
Marseille – 990,247 inhabitants
Beaucaire (Gard)
Beaucaire is a town in the French department of Gard in the Languedoc-Roussillon region .
background
The town of Beaucaire with its imposing castle lies on the Rhône opposite the town of Tarascon, which belongs to the Bouches-du-Rhône department, and is connected to it by a bridge. The Rhône with Beaucaire marks the eastern border of the Gard department , and the town lies between Avignon and Arles in an area dominated by wine-growing and agriculture.
For centuries, Beaucaire was known for its market, Foire de Beaucaire , as trade routes converged on the banks of the Rhône. In the early 19th century, the Canal du Rhône à Sète was created, but with the advent of the railway as a means of transport, Beaucaire lost importance.
Foire de Beaucaire, 18th century
protective wall for flood protection
The ancient city of Ugernum was located on the ancient connection between what is now northern Italy and Spain, the Via Domitia , which continued towards Nemausus ; in the area of what is now Beaucaire, the Rhône had to be crossed. Ruins of a Roman mausoleum were found on the Île du Comté in the middle of the Rhône.
The castle, built in the 12th/13th century, was further expanded in the Middle Ages. Visits by the French King Louis IX in the 13th century led to a boom, and in the 16th century the town remained under the rule of the Huguenots. The Foire de Beaucaire market, founded in 1217 , was held for around ten days in the second half of July and attracted over 100,000 visitors each time in the 17th/18th centuries. It only lost importance in the 19th century when the transport of goods was shifted from ships on the Rhône to rail. Due to the enormous number of visitors, the plague, which had been brought from Marseille, spread among market visitors returning from Beaucaire in 1720, which resulted in the construction of a plague wall in the Languedoc.
Marseille
neighborhoods
background
Wikimedia Maps | Map data © OpenStreetMap authors
map of MarseilleCathedral of La Major
Latin: Massilia
Statistically, Marseille is the fifth largest municipality in France (excluding overseas territories) with an area of around 240 km², far ahead of Paris (105 km²), although large parts of it are uninhabited (the Calanques massif is particularly worth mentioning here). Nevertheless, the city has a considerable area between Callelonge in the south and L’Éstaque in the north.
Mediterranean
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and belongs to Italy .
Sicily captivates visitors with a rich historical past, spectacular landscapes, diverse cultural treasures, delicious local cuisine and a wide range of activities ranging from exploring ancient sites to relaxing on picturesque beaches.
regions
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50 km
Wikimedia Maps | Map data © OpenStreetMap authors
Overview map of the provinces of Sicily
Sicily is administratively divided into nine provinces:
Agrigento on the south coast with the provincial capital Agrigento (known for the Valle dei Templi), the port and ceramics city of Sciacca and small towns, including Menfi
Caltanissetta , the province stretches from the capital of the same name to Gela on the south coast
Catania with the capital Catania and other small towns ( Adrano , Bronte and Randazzo on the southern circumference of Mount Etna as well as the ceramics town of Caltagirone in the hinterland
Enna with the capital Enna and the city of the Roman mosaic villa Piazza Armerina .
Messina with the capital, the ferry port of Messina on the north-eastern tip of Sicily, the historic coastal towns of Taormina and Giardini Naxos on the east and Milazzo on the north coast of Sicily
Palermo : with the island capital Palermo with its ferry and airport, the church of Monreale and the town of Cefalù on the north coast
Ragusa , covers one half of the southeastern tip of Sicily, besides the provincial capital Ragusa , the baroque towns of Modica , Scicli , Comiso and Vittoria and seaside resorts on the south coast are worth mentioning
Syracuse covers the southeast of Sicily, in addition to the provincial capital Syracuse, the baroque towns of Noto and Avola as well as the port city of Augusta are worth a visit
Trapani on the western tip of Sicily with the provincial capital and port city of Trapani , the nearby medieval mountain town of Erice , the port cities of Marsala and Mazara del Vallo on the south coast. The province also includes the Greek temple complexes of Selinunte near Castelvetrano in the south and Segesta in the mountainous hinterland in the north, and in the northwest the beaches around San Vito lo Capo .
The autonomous region of Sicily also includes the Aeolian Islands (also called Lipari Islands ) and the Aegadian Islands .
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is one of the 13 (until 2016: 18) administrative regions of France . It has a long coastline on the Mediterranean, which is also part of the region’s name as the Côte d’Azur . It also borders the Occitanie region to the west and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to the north . To the east, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur borders Italy (regions of Liguria and Piedmont ). The Principality of Monaco is an enclave in the region.
regions
The region is divided into the Côte d’Azur , i.e. the Mediterranean coast from Toulon to the Italian border, Provence proper and the southern part of the French Alps . In the area of the Maritime Alps near Nice, the Alps extend to the Riviera.
departments
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Alpes-Maritimes
Bouches-du-Rhône
Hautes-Alpes
Var
Vaucluse
landscapes
Camargue horses
Luberon − mountain range of limestone cliffs with the peak of Mourre Nègre
Mont Ventoux − 1912 m high mountain in the French Provence, which is considered a sacred mountain of the Celts.
Verdon Gorge · Gorges du Verdon − up to 700 m deep and 21 km long, is considered the ” Grand Canyon of Europe”
Alpilles − limestone chain in the heart of Provence between Avignon, Cavaillon and Arles
Maritime Alps − mountain range of the southern Western Alps with the Mercantour Nature Reserve
Camargue − the Rhone Delta in the west of Provence
Côte d’Azur · German: “Azure Coast”, also French Riviera − the French Mediterranean coast south of the Alps
Brugge-CanalRozenhoedkaai.JPG
The name “Bruges” probably comes from the Old Norse bryggja. It means pier or port. There were many contacts with Scandinavia, especially with the city of Bergen . There is also a similarity with the Tyske Bryggen – “German pier”. The river Reie, on which Bruges is located, also has its origins in “Rogia”, which meant “holy water” to the Celts . Rogia could have become Bryggia via Ryggia.
In 200 AD there was already a Gallic-Roman settlement and the name Bruges was first mentioned between 850 and 875. In 864 Margrave Baldwin I had a castle built. Under its protection and thanks to its port, the city grew into an international trading centre from the 9th to the 12th century. One of the most important trading houses was the Van der Beurse family, whose coat of arms is adorned with three purses (lat.: bursa) . This gave rise to the term stock exchange as a meeting place for traders.
Bruges is divided into eight districts. The most important districts for tourism are district I with the Bruges city centre , Sint-Pieters and Sint-Jozef and district VIII with Lissewege, Zeebrugge and Zwankendamme.
The city centre of Bruges was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. In 2002, Bruges was the European Capital of Culture together with Salamanca
Ghent - centre.jpg
Ghent lies at the confluence of the rivers Leie and Scheldt. This is where the city gets its name from: Ganta is a Celtic word meaning ” confluence” . Around the year 1000 AD, Count Baldwin I had a castle built here between two abbeys. The city became wealthy through cloth production. In the 14th century, with 65,000 inhabitants, Ghent was one of the largest cities north of the Alps, alongside Paris. But the city could not maintain this prosperity; various political constellations brought about its economic decline. It was not until the 18th century and then in the age of industrialization that prosperity returned to Ghent, thanks to new looms and machines. Today, Ghent has around a quarter of a million inhabitants, of whom around 65,000 are students.
A few quotes about the city: “Ghent is located between the cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Brussels and has the best of each of these cities.” – “The inhabitants of Ghent are as idiosyncratic as they were in the Middle Ages – in a charming way.” – “Ghent is authentic, contradictory, arbitrary – and that is what makes the city and its inhabitants so charming.” – “Ghent offers all the possibilities of a metropolis, but at the same time also the atmosphere of a village.”
