---

I hope you’ll agree. The Romans accomplished some pretty amazing things. As a whole, they weren’t the kind of people to lay in hammocks, drink iced tea, and wait sleepily for dinner time to roll around. Nope, they had energy to burn: aqueducts to build, peoples to conquer, orgies to, er, organize. Multifaceted, they were – probably more mult-y and more facet-y than any other culture to ever stomp their way around this planet at any time in history. So much so that they left a lot of their stuff behind. Just laying around.

---

Of course, the Roman stuff was so good, that anyone who came after them preferred to bury it. I mean, who wants to have to live up to those show-offs, eh? Better to just cover up their pretentious under-floor heating and get on with slapping up your mud walled hut where you, the wife, your twelve kids, the sheep, the cows and the pigs can all huddle together for warmth. And thank goodness they did. Because now we get to dig it all up and learn how this scrappy group from the Italian peninsula developed such a remarkably sophisticated material culture. One from which we still benefit today.

---

Cherie and I are fascinated by the ancient Romans and we jump at the chance to explore their history as often as possible. So when we happened to discover that there was a major site of Gallo-Roman ruins not too far away from our home, we carved out a day from our surprisingly busy retirement life schedule to go see them.

---

The ruins are part what was once an important Gallo-Roman town known as Noviodunum. They are now situated in the village of Jublains in Mayenne, Val de la Loire where the village and its partners have set aside and carefully maintained generous portions of land to allow visitors to view the extraordinary remains of the ancient town. The primary archeological remains in Jublains actually run from the Bronze Age through to the 4th century A.D. (or C.E., if you prefer).

---

There is also an excellent museum filled with hundreds of fascinating artifacts. All of the displays, descriptive plaques and visual aids are well thought out and executed. Well-done, Jublains!

---

Highlights of our visit were the civic baths which were discovered underneath the chancel end of the village’s church, the vast temple complex on the edge of town, the legionary fortress, and the amphitheater. There is a lot to see and this entails a bit of walking to and fro. We got plenty of exercise in without realizing it. But the sites appear to be well set up for those with different mobility challenges. One can also drive and park quite close to most of the areas, so it seemed to us that accessibility was actually quite good.

---

Sadly, the village itself felt just a little bit in need of a boost. It is clear that Jublains is not what you would call buzzing. The museum and historic sites are the main – well, only – attractions. But, to be fair, we visited on a Sunday. Stupidly, we assumed that we would be able to get something to eat at lunchtime. The village does have restaurants and a boulangerie. However, none of them were open. Only a bar-tabac was serving. But only drinks. “Just up the street is pizza, though,” offered the server, helpfully. Trudging up the street we found the pizza restaurant. Closed. But sporting a hot pizza vending machine which is becoming so popular in the rural parts of France these days. Sigh! Well, we had to eat. So we consumed our robot pizza for lunch and carried on with the cultural enrichment.

---

If you take the time to visit Jublains, you will not be disappointed. Unless, of course, you aren’t interested in history, culture, and how we all fit in to the rich tapestry of life. In which case, I really can’t help you with your terminal Kardashian infatuation. But the rest of you beautiful and intelligent people will find what the people of Noviodunum left behind to be fascinating and thought-provoking. We had a fantastic time!