A day in Nimes

October 23, 2018

everything Roman

Today we started our day in Nimes at the Musée de la Romanité. This is a very modern musuem bringing together several collections of Roman artifacts found in Nimes as well as other locations. It has some excellent examples of ancient tile floors that were found intact when developing a nearby underground parking garage.

An incredibly detailed tile mosiac found when completing the underground parking garage.

Detailed stone work that would be placed at the roofline of the Roman buildings. Hand carved in rock!

For lunch we returned to des Halles, a large food market, and had a wonderful meal at La Maison des Halles. Pat had the daily special, a potato and sausage dish, and Scott had the seiche (cuttlefish) with black rice. You know you are in the right place when all the seats are full of locals!

A simple but delicious lunch at Maison des Halles.

I love these chalk board menus, but they can be hard to read and translate. The waiter kindly offered an English version that assisted us in NOT ordering the lamb's testicles. Likely very good though.

The roofline of Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor de Nîmes. Some parts date back to the 11th century but it was largely rebuilt in the 16th century.

A very pretty set of windows and flower pots. Much longer growing season here than our home.

After our lunch we returned to our hotel to pick up our bikes to explore an extraordinary park - Jardins de la Fontaine. This is one of the oldest areas of the city and also includes the Temple of Diana (1st century) and the Magne Tower (dating back to 300 BC - pre Roman) .

Nimes le Castellum built in the first century. This circular basin cut in the rock was where water from the Nimes aquaduct was stored. It was carried through lead pipes to the public fountains and the different neighbourhoods of the city. The water arrived via a system of pipes and aquaducts from over 50 kms away. The roman construction is amazing.

Inside the temple of Diana. This is a small Roman artifact that you are free to walk around and explore without any real restrictions.

The highest location in Nimes dates back to pre-Roman times. The Romans later expanded the Magne Tower.

It was a beautiful fall afternoon and many people were out enjoying this large park and the ponds.

Another angle of the ponds that are full of large Coi fish.

These trikes could be rented. They came in many shapes. The kids had a lot of fun racing around the oval on this warm afternoon.

This sulky would be the choice of many young girls including one that we know very well.

We left the park via Avenue Jean-Jaurès, a 1.5km linear park, and located a place for a beer as the sun was falling behind the nearby buildings. We found it funny and heart warming that their three televisions were showing the Philadelphia versus Colorado game ... yes the NHL! No one seemed to really be paying any attention.

Looking down Avenue Jean-Jaurès from above. A nice leisurely cycle route full of water features, kids play areas, bols courts and other fun stuff.

An afternoon beer stop in Nimes.... Bar Joe... even has happy hour pricing. The cheapest pint I bought in France at four euro.

Today's ride: 9 km (6 miles)
Total: 862 km (535 miles)

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