The city of Nimes makes a very attractive place to visit with its quiet pedestrian lanes
running through the center, and especially because of the three major Roman historic
sites.
There is an ancient temple, there is a large amphitheater, nearby is the famous aqueduct,
Pont du Gard.
Nimes is located in the south of France.
Quite nearby are the cities of Arles and Avignon and just further east, you've got Aix and
Marseille.
We are arriving in Nîmes this morning by train from Avignon and will be taking you
on a walking tour of the city.
Upon arrival in Nimes train station and walk a few blocks along the main busy street, Avenue
Feucheres, to a shady park, and just beyond to the star attraction of town and the world’s
best-preserved ancient Roman amphitheater, the most important structure in town.
It forms an ellipse, 145 yards long and 115 yards wide, and it’s 70 feet high.
Although it's smaller than the amphitheater in Rome, the great Coliseum or even the amphitheater
in Arles, it's actually in better preservation than any of them.
The arena is built of limestone blocks that are as large as 10 feet wide, perfectly adjusted
without any mortar to hold it together, in that ancient Roman style.
The exterior presents two stories each of sixty arches.
After the Roman days, the arena was converted into a fortress in the Middle Ages, and afterwards
it was occupied by houses.
And restoration has been continuously ongoing ever since..
It still used today for a variety of entertainments including concerts and the French version
of bullfighting where the bull tries to chase the would-be matadors out of the ring and
is not killed.
Actually we have arrived in Nîmes quite early in the morning.
It's about seven thirty in November, here before sunrise, because this is the beginning
of a long day that will continue on later to visit Pont du Gard, that colossal ancient
Roman aqueduct.
We've been staying in Avignon, so we left our hotel there to come to Nîmes before breakfast.
It just takes forty minutes to get here by train.
You don't have to come this early.
There are buses and trains that run later in the day but we wanted an early start.
.Shops generally open at 10 AM so it will still be very quiet at this early hour with
shuttered windows and just a few locals walking by on their way to work, but you stop and
have a coffee, you take it easy.
You look around at some odd statues and before you know it, it's daylight.
Place du Marché, the market square, is one of the central open spaces of the city with
some nice cafés and restaurants of course around it.
And in the middle there is the statue of the alligator that reminds us of the ancient Romans
who fought in Egypt where they encountered alligators, before retiring to their homes
in the Nîmes area.
Thus, the alligators become a symbol of the city.
Nîmes became a retirement area for the successful Roman soldiers and the population grew to
as much as sixty thousand during the time of the ancient Romans.
Originally in Roman times there were temples to Augustus and Apollo, there was a Basilica,
a theater, a circus, an amphitheater and an aqueduct.
And there were amparts, a major wall around the town.
There was a forum and a central CampusMartius.
This two thousand-year-old city has developed in a typically European-style with narrow
lanes for pedestrians meandering in a casual grid that makes a delightful place to walk.
It's an extensive zone of shops and cafés extending north of the arena, with the main
lane of Rue de l’Aspic running ten blocks through its center.
While the historic sites are attractive you'll also find the shopping zone very enjoyable,
just meandering and people-watching.
We'll show you on the map the walking route that were taking.
Starting out from the Roman Arena and then we continue on north along the pedestrian
lanes to one of the best preserved ancient Roman temples, and then we will walk over
to the canal area, there's fountains and gardens, and then through the center of town over to
a modern shopping mall.
We will continue to another ancient Roman site the, Gate of Augustus, and back over
towards the center, some beautiful squares, more pedestrian lanes, and then we had back
the way we came towards the arena and the train station.
Total distance about 3 km, just under 2 miles.
The people are out shopping.
You can stop and browse maybe get a coffee.
Say hi to these little kids going by.
Perhaps while shopping, you might look for some denim clothing because that fabric was
first created here and named after the city, which had been a major textile manufacturing
location for centuries producing silk and cotton.
It's marvelous how Nîmes and most other historic European towns have reclaimed their old centers
with major renovations in recent decades, turning what had been run down sections into
vibrant districts with great appeal.
Keep strolling it’s along Rue de l’Aspic and turn left on Rue General Perrier to the
other great historic monument of Nimes, the Maison Carrée.
It forms a rectangle 29 yards x 15 yards.
I'm standing in front of the best-preserved Roman temple in France.
We’re in Nîmes and this is a Roman temple called Maison Carrée, which means the square
house.
It’s two thousand years old.
This temple was founded, they say by the Emperor Augustus and built in honor of his two grandsons
who became the rulers of the Nîmes area.
This was an important part of the Roman Empire the south of France.
Maison Carrée looks like a smaller version of the Parthenon in Greece, with tall Corinthian
columns running around it, and a classic façade topped by that triangular pediment.
They could be standing on top of the Acropolis in Athens, but here it is in the south of
France, a Roman homage to ancient Greek architecture.
And for contrast, next to the ancient Roman temple, is this very modern art museum, designed
by the firm of Richard Rogers, one of England's most important modern architects.
Huge glass curtain wall and a canopy make an inviting façade for this modern art museum.
There's a beautiful canal that runs through the center of town.
This dates back to the eighteenth century when the town needed some more freshwater
to help power their industrial machines as well.
It was a fabrics and silk producing area.
There's a lovely promenade that runs right along the length of this canal right in the
heart of town, just a few blocks over from Maison Carrée, the Roman temple.
And there's a beautiful fountain park associated with it.
Similar to the more ancient aqueduct.
It reminds us of the Roman Pont du Gard, two thousand years ago when the Romans brought
an aqueduct and the canals right into the center of Nîmes.
Another vestige of ancient Roman rule is the statue of Emperor Antonino, who reigned in
the second century.
Nîmes became a colony of the ancient Roman Empire and became important around the time
of Julius Caesar.
By twenty-three BC it was a major establishment of the Romans, in particular, it was a retirement
home for some of the successful upper-class officers.
It’s As Roman influence decreased in the fifth
century Christianity came in and in 407 the town was pillaged by the Vandals, and the
Visigoths, and then the Saracens.
In eleven eighty-five it came into the possession of the counts of Toulouse.
So along with all of those charming pedestrian lanes and ancient historic sites, there's
also a modern shopping mall right in the heart of Nîmes.
You've got your typical modern mall interior.
The city has got something for everybody.
And this mall has a good mix of shops, it's not only clothing stores.
Maybe sit down and relax at the café with a light snack or you could have a convenient
lunch.
Adjacent to the modern shopping mall, we find a covered food market, Les Halles, typical
of French cities.
They've got some small supermarkets scattered around town, naturally, but this is more in
the traditional style of the covered food hall – a wide variety of fresh produce and
meats and packaged foods all under one roof From the central market we're walking a couple
blocks east towards the third major historic landmark of the city.
During the reign of Emperor Augustus, Nimes became quite important, and a defensive wall
was built around it.
Part of the wall still remains with the Gateway of Augustus, built in 15 BC.
When you examine the gate you'll see there are four arches, four entry points: two large
ones in the middle for vehicle, s and two on the side for pedestrians.
Ancient Nîmes was a busy and crowded Roman city.
Lots of chariots, lots of traffic, and lots of people walking.
Just like today, they separated their vehicles from the pedestrians.
A clever system.
And a statue of a Gustavus greets Romans as they enter his city.
Nearby, this old-fashioned covered shopping lane resembles a Parisian Passage of the nineteenth
century.
Many parts of Nîmes look like they could be a neighborhood in Paris with that French
atmosphere of the sidewalk cafés and lively streets.
The scenic Place Aux Herbs has always been a busy gathering place, and location of the
vegetable market, and setting for the town cathedral, Notre Dame, built in the eleventh
century.
There are a whole variety of kinds of streets in the heart of Nimes.
The main busy area is down towards the train station, the Avenue Feucheres, and there you’ve
got some department stores, fast food, little boutiques, all kinds of commerce going on
here, a wide boulevard with trees along it, a very pleasant area, one of several districts
in the heart of Nîmes that you'll have some good fun exploring.
Having seen what an attractive place this is, perhaps you'll be tempted to spend a night
or two and fully experience what Nîmes has to offer.
There are some excellent hotels in the city.
There is the Imperator Concorde, it’s a four-star deluxe property, and not far from
the canals and the Roman temple.
It has a beautiful interior.
Even if you not staying here, you're welcome to come in and have a meal in the restaurant,
perhaps have breakfast if you're here in the morning.
Enjoy the lounge.
There’s an old-fashioned elevator in this hotel.
Of course, the interior is very much up to date, a friendly place, reasonable prices.
A more modern hotel is the Novotel Atria.
This is located downtown closer to the train station.
Perhaps a little bit more of a business man's hotel, but it's welcoming to the casual visitor
as well.
Part of the very large French hotel chain Accor.
Novotel is one of their real quality properties.
As you see the lounge and lobby areas are very modern, comfortable, clean and functional.
Here too, there's a restaurant that's open to the public.
And it's so close to the train station.
It makes for very easy access right in the center of Nîmes.
The hotel is also close to the bus station adjacent to the train station, and very often
you'll find the buses are more convenient than train for reaching certain destinations.
Nîmes has recently created a very innovative bustram rapid transit network.
It goes around the old town on a dedicated 6 km lane, with many of the advantages of
light rail tram, except it's a rubber-tired bus that has a lot of flexibility.
It can drive on normal streets as well.
It's proven to be a big success with idership much higher than projected.
And the system extends into the suburbs connecting with nearby towns, and there are plans to
extend eventually to Uzes which would be very convenient for the traveler.
In our case we took the standard public bus service.
We were heading to Pont du Gard.
Be sure to look at our movie about that adventure in our series on the south of France.
We have many more movies about Provence and the south of France in our collection.
We’ll be taking you to the stone village of Les Baux, have some crepes, down to Nice,
the beach the old town.
We’ll see it during the daylight and take you back there at night.
We’ll be visiting historic sites and meeting the people, Pont du Gard, ancient Roman aqueduct,
the quaint village of St Remy will charm you on market day with street music, you'll see
shop dogs and ancient arcades, the daily joy of life in the streets is one of our specialties.
We’ll do some downtown shopping and enjoy traditional recreation, all the best of southern
France.
Look for it in our collection.
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