Nimes

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Our night bus brought us to the city of Nimes early in the morning. We originally missed our stop, and were let off a mile or so from the station. We had found a hostel in Barcelona, and so we took a bus to where we believed it to be. The bus however had different opinions, and we ended up 2 or 3 miles from it and downhill. We arrived at the "L'auberge de Jeunesse" sleepy and tired, but after a short break left the empty and boring place and went to explore Nimes.

We had originally chosen Nimes because it was between us and Marseille, and when clicking on random cities in France Nimes seemed like it would be really interesting. It was, however a small city with very little to do and easily explorable in one day. As we walked to the city center, the first three buildings that presented themselves were a bakery selling baguettes, a cheese shop, and a wine store. Yes indeed, we were in France.

The main attractions of Nimes are its well-preserved Roman Coliseum and Roman Temple. After buying a pass, we walked around the coliseum for a good 2 hours, listening to the audio-taped explanation of the arena and history of Nimes. Originally built for the Roman gladiatorial combats, it was put to use as a castle during medieval times (holding the "Knights of the Arena") and is currently used to host bull-fights. The architecture and the place itself were just incredible. It was the very image of a Roman Coliseum, hundreds of rows of benches leading downwards to a center pit. The view from the top was incredible as well, and to top it all off cats were napping and relaxing on the benches like so many bored Roman citizens waiting for a show. Of which, apparently the arena could hold 24,000. As I sat on the tiered benches, I tried to imagine a packed arena thousands of years ago, holding 24,000 cheering Roman citizens as they watched gladiators test their might against one another. As I walked its halls, I thought of how amazing Roman civilization was at its height.

We went to the Roman Temple next, impressive from the outside and not so from the in. It is a huge building dedicated to the worship of Roman emperors, and is "one of the best preserved in the world." Regardless, the inside only holds an unpleasant and boring 3D movie on the history of Nimes. We watched it with a crowd of French schoolchildren, then moved on to a Roman/Celtic watchtower on a hill overlooking Nimes. The entire mountain was a vast garden, and as we worked our way up we passed couple after couple being romantic on benches and lawns. It was quite a sight, and even more so when we stood on top of the tower and saw for miles in all directions. Couples dotted the entire mountain, and they were not very reserved in their merrymaking.

Returning to the hostel, we changed our reservation to one day, and left around 3 on the second day in Nimes for Marseilles.

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