Nimes

---

The week after Barcelona was spent going on little day trips to three of the bigger cities in the area. The first city we had decided on was Nimes. Nimes is mostly known for its Roman buildings and history. Three major attractions are the Roman amphitheatre, the town hall and the Pont du Gard which is a three level Roman aqueduct. We went there mainly to see its Roman attractions although we didn’t get to see the aqueduct as it was out of town and we didn’t have a car to get there.

The first thing we saw was the Roman amphitheatre which was really impressive. It’s apparently the best kept amphitheatre in the world. It told you lots about it and I learnt heaps from it. It told you what would happen if you were lucky enough to be invited to go to the amphitheatre for the day. They would start with the animal fights with humans fighting lions, bulls and even bears. They would also have little fights among unknown fighters during the morning to get ready for the big gladiator fights after lunch – the fights everyone is excited about. While the guests leave to go get some snacks for lunch they usually kill the slaves in the arena with bears or lions. The arena is still used today. It’s mostly used for concerts and occasionally bull fights.

After the amphitheatre we went to the town hall. There we saw a 3D movie about the Roman history of Nimes which was really interesting. After the movie we did a bit of shopping around the streets before heading back to the train station to go home.

---