SIGHTSEEING
Ancien hotel Regina
Hôtel Regina
Another major landmark of Cimiez , the sumptuous Belle Epoque Hôtel Regina , lies just outside the park . Queen Victoria enjoyed vacationing in the hotel and Henri Matisse lived and worked there ! Still more to see — you ’ ll find the Musée National Marc Chagall on Avenue du Docteur Menard , a short walk away from the park .
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Modern engineers tried to build the Malpasset Dam nearby … an eventual disaster that killed over 400 people in 1959 . They
Roman aqueduct in Fréjus could have learned from Roman engineers who built reinforced buttresses for the Mons Aqueduct , whose great arches still stand after 2000 years .
Fréjus itself ( Forum Iulii ) was founded by Caesar in 49 BC , and Cicero mentioned the town in one of his letters . Part of the fleet taken from Marcus Antonius in the battle of Actium , where he was defeated with Cleopatra , was established in Fréjus as a military fleet . A number of fine buildings were erected such as ramparts , an amphitheatre , a theatre and harbour installations .
In the first century the Romans built this magnificent aqueduct to supply water to Fréjus and the surrounding area from spring sources almost 500 metres higher and over 40 kilometres away .
42 km long , 481 m fall , 36 arches took the Romans only 20 years of construction . The aqueduct in Fréjus is an exceptional structure . For lovers of antiquity , and poets and artists too , it continues to be a source of fascination ... and much admired by engineers .
Victor Hugo himself wrote : “ The new and complete aqueduct was probably beautiful two thousand years ago , but it was no more beautiful than this gigantic collapse spread over the plain , running , falling , rising . Ivy and bramble hang from all these magnificences of Rome and time ”.
THE MONS AQUEDUCT — A ROMAN ENGINEERING MARVEL ( 82 KMS FROM MONACO )
The Romans didn ’ t do things by halves . Their engineering is nothing less than a marvel . Take the Mons Aqueduct at Fréjus . It was the main supplier of water to the area for 450 years ! Up to two thousand years after its construction parts of it have still been in use . Large parts of the aqueduct are still well preserved , and in fact were partially restored and used for agriculture between 1874 and 1910 and small parts up to today even .
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