Three days in the ancient Provencal city of Nimes was next on our series of ‘mini-holidays’ within the wider trip. Travelling days can be stressful (especially in France), and eat into leisure time, so stays of 3 and 4 nights here and there reduce the travel and allow you to immerse yourself in a place.
On arrival day we took the short walk to the paved square around the Roman Amphitheatre for which Nimes is famous. There we were confronted by an obstacle course of road cones, gated-off areas, cops, strewn rubbish and rubbish trucks. Turns out we had arrived in the aftermath, not of a civil uprising, but of the Ferias Festival, the highlight of the Nimes calendar. Somehow it escaped our attention, but from various posters the highlight appears to have been three days of bullfighting (Nimes being one of the last bastions of the sport in France), and evidently a ‘running of the bulls’ event for those who regard the prospect of being gored and tossed about like a rag doll by a murderous three-tonne bovine as some kind of fun.
Built around 100 AD, the Arena is Nimes’ star attraction, and we headed there on our first full day. The largest Roman amphitheatre outside Italy is well preserved and hosts various performances all year round. It was a pretty vicious place back in the day, with executions, bear vs lion and man vs man fights to the death. It must have been a deafening cauldron of hostility at its peak. Though give me Anfield any day.
I found interesting the interpretation panels and costumes illustrating the various types of gladiator, their strengths and weaknesses (typically the trade-off between armour and mobility). I knew about the guy with the net and trident, but didn’t realise there were so many others.
It’s a photogenic building from outside, replete with the large surrounding spaces required to show off a grand monument to good effect. (The arena in Arles suffers a bit from being crowded in by other buildings). We went back at night to take some pics as the feature lighting began to take effect. At one point came the roar, not of the ghost of a doomed lion from within the amphitheatre, but of four gleaming supercars, led by a black SUV with a camera at its back. It looked like something from Top Gear, but we had no idea what was going on. For the record the cars in order were a Lamborghini, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Ferrari.
The Jardin de La Fontaine was also impressive. The 17th century park is a beautiful spread of fountains, canals, wide open spaces, Roman ruins, sculptures, promenades and botanic gardens. Reminiscent of the gardens of Versailles, but on a more modest scale.
Nimes also proved good for merely wandering and soaking up the Provencal vibe. We had planned a train trip to the Camargue but the ghosts of 2017 (bloody French rail unions and their endless strikes) came back to haunt us. Instead we took a bus trip to the beautiful hilltop village of Uzes, 40 minutes or so up the road. I’d considered Uzes as a potential destination at one point but ruled it out due to not having a train station. Apart from that, it would also been perfect. Particularly being roughly Mosgiel-sized (or the size Mosgiel was when I grew up there), which is a common benchmark I use in assessing potential destinations.
The tranquillity of Nimes was a welcome interlude after the bustle of Annecy. It would be tempting to say that we dodged the Feria with the skill of a matador’s cape, but it was more good luck than good management. Add in the Roman history and we chalked up Nimes as another win. Though when it comes to picking destinations you could throw a dart into a map of Provence and not go far wrong.
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