Nimes in a day

Monday 8th May : Victory in WWII Day in France

We were on a mission to complete our checklist of places to go in Nimes today as we are off tomorrow. Sometimes you just have to make a list and go for it. (liz would thoroughly approve of this approach but she prefers a spreadsheet with lots of detail).

Nimes greatest claim to fame is that the fabric Des Nimes was first produced here  - better known now as denim of course.
It's other claim to fame is the number of ancient Roman buildings that are still here for us to see almost two centuries later.

So here's how we went:

1.  Book a place that is not far from all major attractions: Big tick!
Somehow I managed to book a tiny apartment within walking distance of the major attractions.














2. The Amphitheatre or Arenes: Big Tick!

In fabulous condition due to many renovations since the time it was built in AD70. There was some event there today but we wandered around in the sunshine and listened to the very informative audio guide. Who knew there were so many types of gladiators?? Not me!
And it was good to see that these sorts of exceptional spaces are still used today

2. Maison Carree: Big tick!

Looking a bit like a Parthenon this building was built in 58 AD and has been a temple, stables, hostel, granary, private house, church and archives before becoming a tourist attraction. We watched a very dramatic film account of its development ( alht\\though who knew they had lipstick and mascara in Gaul times?).It was originally built to honour Augustus and Rome.



Lunch at a cute little vegan cafe as none of the shops ( except for Zara) and lots of cafes weren't open because of the Public Holiday It was called Le p'tits poissson verts. Delicious food. Worth a visit.

3. Jardins le Fontaine: Big Tick!

Playing boules in the gardens

The gardens have been developed around a natural spring whose water provided for most of Nimes many centuries ago. Now there are green pools, a beautiful fountain and lots of huge trees . Very pretty and very well-used. Lots of picnickers, kids on bikes, couples and of course, elderly men playing boules




















4. Temple of Diana (we couldn't miss this one!) Big tick!

Very small ruins in the Gardens. Nothing to write home about (actually I am!)











5. Tour Magne: Big tick! With extra points for actually climbing to the very top!
Originally a Gaul Tower before the Romans arrived. They made it bigger but apart from possible use as a lookout (it's on the highest hill in Nimes) no one is too sure what it was for, Very steep spiral stairs that were a test for our fitness levels.But lovely views.

6. Pont du Gard: Half a tick only, because we arrived too late to really see all of the information about it in the modern Museum - 20 minutes was not enough. On the other hand it is a UNESCO Heritage site so that must improve the score.

You can get a sense of the size of this aqueduct here: That's Ewan standing under one of the huge arches

Gloria, the GPS, went a bit off course as Ewan hadn't quite put the right address in. Consequently we ended up bush bashing along a very minor dirt road. As this is a big tourist attraction we clearly weren't in the right place!

Basically they have cut off the Aqueduct from public view on both sides of the Gard river that  it spans, so you have to pay to get in and park in their car parking space. Definitely no public access without paying. I'm not sure whether I think that is fair. It is all beautifully landscaped and has been restored but shouldn't it be available to anyone who wants a glimpse?
It is an impressive aqueduct, larger than any we've seen before, and obviously UNESCO was impressed too. Construction started around 19BC when the rocks were quarried from nearby, carved by hand and transported to the site without mechanical assistance as we have today. Remarkable really as some of them weighed 5 tonnes! It carried up to 20,000 cubic metres of water per day which seem a huge amount to me. We had to drive for 30 kms to see it, but well worth it (even though we had to be asked to leave the Museum by a Security guy who was keen to go home).

A very interesting but tiring day.

your exhausted correspondent

Dianne

Learning to sing La Marseillaise on the road to Marseille

La Marseillaise: I don't know how to sing it but could probably hum a bit of it, which is only relevant because we are on our way to Marseilles over the next few days.

Sunday 7th May
We farewelled Liz after a breakfast of our favourite pastries - pain au raisin. She is off to Barcelona for a few days equipped with a spreadsheet (she is the spreadsheet queen!) so she can cram everything she wants to see into a few days. We will see how she goes!

As the sun was shining we decided we would have a few hours checking out the beaches of Languedoc Rousillion and see if we could see a few flamingoes on the way. Not something you see at Rye or Dromana.

We headed for an area of coast which is as flat as a pancake, and consists of lagoons, both man made and natural, which eventually turn into open sea.

Chairlift over one of the many canals

The first destination was Plavars des Flots which had miles of beautiful sandy beach overlooked by very modest 4 or 5 storey apartments (not the monstrous multi-storey apartments that line some of our beaches. There were the usual cafes, moules (mussels) and fish sellers, cheap beach clothes and unfortunately very loud rock music which hastened our departure!

We drove past a couple of towns full of larger apartment buildings an

d stopped at La Grai du Roi. To my surprise there was a small bullring with an impressive bull statue outside. In the coastal areas , the Camargue, they have bullfights but they don't end with the death of the poor bull. It's more a test of skill and speed as the 'matadors' try to grab ribbons tied to the rampaging bulls.

 Unfortunately nothing happening today so we wandered through the port to admire the boats m smell the fish (raw and cooked) and stroll to the end of the pier. I was greatly reassured to see a Jesus on a cross at the end of the pier - phew!
We decided to have a picnic lunch whilst looking out over one of the canals jampacked with expensive boats, both big and small.
With some time to kill before we reached our destination for the night we were tempted by a description in the Lonely Planet of a small town called Uzes, supposedly famous for it's silk, linen and LICORICE! Who could resist?

But first it was flamingo spotting time. i was fully prepared to see only a few but they were everywhere, standing in the shallow lagoons heads down and bums up, as they sifted through the mud for food. No photos as there was no way we could stop on the fast moving road, and really it would have looked like a few white/pink blobs on the water.

Uzes was the source of the most frightening experience of the trip so far! W e arrived to stroll around the lovely old town in search of the aforementioned specialties of the area and we saw.....none of them. Where was the licorice? Nowhere to be seen.

There was a 12th century tower though, but that didn't console me - I was ready for licorice.
Then I caught sight of a sign saying 'Musee de Haribo. Now I'm sure all of you have at some time chewed on a Haribo lolly of some sort. But I have to admit that the idea of a Museum was intriguing, especially for a sweet tooth like me!

I had no intention of going on any tours  - I just wanted to go to the shop and maybe buy a small packet for one of my daughters ...and some licorice if possible, of course.








Well I can tell you that the shop was a nightmare of lurid colours, families with huge boxes of lollies and everything Haribo, including Haribo boxer shorts and umbrellas and stuffed toys. Horrendous!! It was completely overwhelming so I snapped a few photos, staggered to the exit, grabbed a handful of free samples ( I wasn't THAT overwhelmed!) and negotiated my way through families with huge carrier bags bursting with lollies, and small children with far too much sugar on board. Phew! I jumped in the car and we sped off munching on our freebies. It was a narrow escape!

Yep that really is a giant licorice stick!!!!!!!!

These were the smallest containers you could buy but no one was interested... but they were interesetd in the huge boxes at the end!

Nimes was our destination and we travelled through hilly country where every flat piece of land was planted out, and every now and then a beautiful field of bright red poppies growing wild appeared.

We managed to navigate the narrow streets of Nimes to meet up with the AirBnB guy. With Liz gone I was back in the navigator's seat which is a challenge, although I managed to get us here without mishap. We  unpacked into the small apartment before going on a stroll to reconnoitre. Tomorrow is another Public Holiday to celebrate 'Victory in Europe' Day so we needed to see where we might find food tomorrow, after our experience in Rennes when we nearly starved ( highly unlikely really!). We found some magnificent old buildings and some great cafes and restaurants before deciding to have Pakistani food for dinner - not exactly French I admit!

your sugar-free correspondent

Dianne

Languedoc-Roussillion.....hard to pronounce but great to visit!

When I was at school in French lessons with Mrs Jackson, I do remember drawing a map of France . Along the bottom of France we all drew very neat lines of upside -down 'V's between Spain and France and carefully labelled it 'The Pyrenees'.

For the past few days we have travelled around and through the Pyrenees, a vast contrast to the flat rolling plains of the North. They are massive sheer grey mountains which one would have thought would be impossible to climb or build on.

Spot the castle as that's where we were headed!

But then, as you round a corner in the road there is a building perched as high up as it can be, clinging to the sides of a rock mountain.

Today, as we left Collioure behind, we drove towards an area known for it's Cathar fortresses. There are four within a short distance so we started with the Castle of Queribus  described by Lonely Planet as "providing panoramic views of both the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees", With the weather forecast saying 19 degrees we were looking forward to a "short steep climb" in the balmy air to see the views.

All did not go as planned.....the weather deteriorated as did our optimism about the joy of climbing heavenwards in rain and mist.

After donning our wet weather gear and squinting into the heavy mist to try and see where we were going, we started the climb up stony tracks and rocky stairs. For the first time I remembered to take the long lens for my camera to snap some shots of the fabulous long-range views,

Fortunately we did manage to see some of the views as we carefully negotiated the climb. It was a fascinating castle, much of it in it's centuries-old state and nothing more than rock walled rooms, Some gothic arches designated the chapel and Ewan climbed a steep spiral stone staircase which ascended quite a few levels. We did reach the top and admired the sign asking us to control our children , as it was very exposed.

A lovely view of the clouds from the top!

Then the cloud dropped and we were enveloped in white so panoramic views from the top - NIL! Oh well! Then the rain started and we slowly negotiated the slippery stairs all the way back to the car.

A wonderful panoramic view of....white cloud!

 Coffee and lunch was needed so Cucugnan, a tiny town was our next destination, A fantastic 'fournil' (bakehouse) provided lunch, the highlight of which was bread with Roquefort cheese and nuts in it. Superb.

Ewan being a dare devil on the ridge, Don't worry
I checked that his life insurance was paid up!

Fresh warm bread with Roquefort cheese and walnuts, or
 jambon and cheese: yum!

It was the windmill bakery so here's the windmill!

As we were on our way to Montpellier a few hours drive away, we had to forgo the joy of staggering up the other three castles in the rain, although we think we spotted a couple of them.

After locating our Airbnb apartment close to the centre of Montpellier we set off to get acquainted with the city.
For future reference- Airbnb: Charming 3 rooms with balcony and parking - Arceaux - host is Matteo

The location was great as it was close to the huge main square of town so had the chance to admire a huge aqueduct at the end of our street, and walk through the large Place Royale du Peyrou which had a huge statue of an unknown important person, a lovely round water tower that looked like a bandstand, an impressive arch and trees which had been carefully made into flat topiary. Very odd!

As we waked towards the centre of town there were lots of beautifully restored buildings and quite a buzz when we got there as it was time for Friday night drinks and every Bar seemed to be full of young people enjoying themselves . We strolled around some of the lanes and alleyways before deciding to have Korean food, which was simple and delicious.
In the main square we were admiring some of the lovely old buildings when we noticed some graffiti in a place that would have been very difficult to access....but there it. We walked home as we had yet to fathom the complexities of the tram system. A challenge for another day!

With a full day before Liz goes hurtling off to Spain we set off in the morning to A get a tram Ticket and B, Find the Tourist Information office, both of which we achieved easily. then we parted ways: Ewan to the Musee Fabre to look at artworks over the centuries,and Liz and I to search for something to look at that was a bit more modern.

 The first place we went - La Panacee -was between installations so nothing to see at all. And when we arrived at the second place it was full of people who had obviously just attended the opening of the photographic exhibition. Unfortunately the free drinks were just being packed away so no glass of champers for us! It was the Pavillon Populaire which is the Montpellier city  including some lovely impressionist paintings gallery. Despite the lack of alcohol we really enjoyed the diversity of lots of small exhibitions on display. It was a collaboration between photographers from Montpellier and form Rome and covered lots of topics including refugees, snow photos, perfume that had been dripped onto extra sensitive photo paper ( sounds weird but was beautiful) and photos from around the world.
We also enjoyed a very cute playground outside that had a musical theme.

 The problem with separating from Ewan is then you have to meet up with him again so we had decided to meet at the Jardin des Plantes - Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately most of the gates were locked so there were a few terse conversations and text messages whilst we all tried to arrive at the same gate at the same time.

 We were expecting a stunning garden wiht lots of rare species but instead discovered an unkempt jungle badly in need of attention. It reminded me of home actually!! Any rare plants were probably hidden under the weeds and the whole place looked like a wreck. Very sad to see.

To console ourselves it was lunch in a lovely cafe Napoleon Dynamite) in another of the many squares here. To our surprise when Ewan asked for a beer he was offered a Hawthorn Blonde beer from ....Glenferrie Road Hawthorn!
We had shed our rain jackets as the morning showers had disappeared and the sunshine set in so it was a very pleasant and relaxed lunch.
We decided to fully utilise our daily tram ticket to look at a housing project that turned out to be very ordinary  (sad face) but happened to be next to a shopping centre ( happy face!), Ewan allocated us 30 minutes so we did a quick whizz through a few shops before catching one of the colourful trams home again for a rest. Then back on the tram to find  a restaurant for our last dinner together, at Teppane which was terrific and not very expensive.

Here's some of the coloured trams which we really enjoyed using: fast, clean and efficient!

I particularly liked this one as it was painted as if it had been embroidered wiht sequins ,
bugle beads and jewels - very colourful

your tired  correspondent

Dianne
PS here's a photo of one of the weirdest churches we've seen Saint Pierre. massive turrets on a church?????