When we planned our trip to France, we were looking for places beyond Paris and Nice. If you read the previous blog on the Azores, you know what I’m talking about. One place that quickly caught our attention was Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy. From a commute and proximity point-of-view, it did not make sense, especially given our 2 week constraint. The next one was in the south of France – an interesting little city called Nimes (pronounced Neem). That’s the one we picked!

We waited for our bus at a junction in Cannes. The city of Cannes is most popular for being home to the international film festival as well as other festivals. We had spent half a day exploring the town, the Walk of Fame and cute cafes. There wasn’t a lot to do here and we had planned to take a bus in the afternoon to our next destination – Nimes.

Why did we pick Nimes?

If you check the map of the South of France, there are a bunch of cities lining the French Riviera- Provence-Occitanie region – Saint-Tropez, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Avignon and Nimes. Many of these places are famous for lavender fields. Some are resort towns. All of them are nice stops if you’re doing a slow road trip along the coast from Italy to France to Spain.

We were looking for something unique however. Nimes had a bunch of Roman monuments – in fact, it was often referred to as the most Roman city outside Italy. The Nimes arena is considered the best preserved Roman amphitheater in the world. It is still used for concerts. The Maison Carree, an ancient Roman temple, is also considered to be one the best preserved in the world. The best part however was a sight just outside the city and was one of the main things which prompted us to visit here.

The bus to Nimes

We had booked a Flixbus and it picked us up at exactly 2:15 pm (as mentioned on the ticket). The bus was on its way from Nice to Barcelona. It was a 3-4 hour journey and we got a lot of rain on the way. We passed through some of the cities mentioned earlier and had a long halt at Marseille. I could spot what looked like a fort inside the city. We picked up some sandwiches for lunch and resumed our journey.

It was drizzling mildly when we reached the bus station outside Nimes. Since we didn’t have a local SIM card, we hung around near the bus to get Wifi and figure out directions to our Airbnb – things you need to do when traveling on a budget! 

Pro tip: always download offline Google Maps before travelling to a new place. In this case, while we had the map, we couldn’t figure out the bus number without a network. So, ideally, make note of the bus routes as well. But if you are traveling more spontaneously, this tip may not work. 

You might ask why we didn’t ask anyone around for directions. Good question! The reality about most places in Europe is that there are hardly any people around – especially if you are outside the city. Plus, it started drizzling. So, we were the only ones there!

First impressions of Nimes

We took a trambus to the city center and got down at Boulevard Gambetta – our stay was very close to here. It was the tiniest house ever! We entered to see a small room with a sofa bed, a tiny kitchen with a table crammed inside – how would 4 people fit in here? That’s when we saw a tiny spiral staircase leading up to a bedroom with a small bathroom next to it. This was fine for a one-night stay.

After quickly freshening up, we went to get some supplies. We walked around the perfectly preserved Roman monuments – the Maison Caree and the Arena. We didn’t plan any sightseeing for the day as we just wanted to walk around and eat some good food. 

There were a couple of restaurants we had checked on Maps for dinner – both were closed. So, we ended up having kebabs, falafel and cherry coke (thank you immigrants for keeping your shops open!).

We picked up some wine, cheese and chips from a Spar and headed back to the room!

The most awaited part of the trip

It was a good morning. We picked up some bagels and coffee and walked towards the railway station.

There were some beautiful parks and fountains on the way there and Nam ran through them (her love for fountains continues and she has inducted Parth also during our trip to Almaty)!

We took a bus from near the train station towards Pont du Gard. At the time of our trip, it was called the Edgard bus. I believe it is now the liO bus. I found this website where you can get more details about it.

The bus dropped us off at a college bus stand near Remoulins and we changed to another bus that took us to Rond Point. It was a short walk towards the entrance. We took a regular ticket, walked across the gardens and got our first glimpse of the aqueduct. It was marvellous!

A triple decker Aqueduct!

The Roman aqueduct was built in the 1st century AD – it is that ancient! Along with its cousins, the other Roman monuments in Nimes, this is one of the best preserved aqueducts in the world. The structure stands 160 ft high and used to carry the entire water requirement of Nimes. We walked across the bridge on the aqueduct and went down to the Gardon river that flowed below it.

There were a bunch of school kids who had come for picnics with their teachers. It seemed to be a preferred destination for people in nearby cities. We spent some time enjoying the water and then returned to catch our bus back to Nimes.

Exploring the Nimes Arena

Next stop, the amphitheater – the Nimes Arena. We picked up an audio guide along with the tickets to learn about the history of the place. It was built around the year 100 – around the same time as the Colosseum. It was a venue where gladiators were put up against wild animals and other fighters. Today, the arena is used as a venue for concerts! The center was covered in sand and the seating was such that everyone got a good view of it.

One word of caution – the steps were really steep and if you have knee problems, you should take it easy!

Onwards to Barcelona

Done with our brief stay in Nimes, we picked up our bags from the Airbnb and headed to the railway station. At 5:08 pm, our train to Barcelona arrived and we moved on to the next leg of the trip!

Check out the other parts of our Europe trip here:

• The Azores Itinerary – the volcanic islands in the Atlantic
• Ponta Delgada – Whales, Volcanic Craters and Thermal Pools