Nimes - twinned with?

Sunday 8th October 2017 - Fontveille.

I've left it a bit late to give you a bit of gleaned information about Provence.  I cannot guarantee the accuracy of any of the information as I massively over simplify it but here goes.

Provence probably became established as an area of south eastern France east of the Rhone river as it was the first area to be conquered by Rome outside of Italy in 1st Century BC (I'm not having any of the BCE and CE nonsense).  In the 5th Century AD it was ceded to the Franks and after a turbulent period it became a kingdom in its own right in the 9th Century AD but lands are shared by Counts of Barcelona and Toulouse but also by the Pope who controlled an area around Avignon (just to complicate matters).

Good King Rene seems to have had a good PR manager because he seems very popular around 1434-1480, he was Louis XI's uncle and ruled from Aix en Provence in a period of great prosperity.  However, over time Marseilles grew in importance and became the biggest city of the region.  Paul Ricard comes from this area, he invented the aniseed drink 'pastis' and it remains particularly popular in the region as is playing boules which is linked to the drinking of pastis.

There seems to be some Spanish influence too, many buildings look rather Spanish and bull rings exist in most large Provençal  towns.  Also, there seems to be a dual language on many street and town signs.  The best explanation for this is the Oil language (langue d'oil) in the north and the Oc language (langue d'oc - where Languedoc region gets its name) in the south.  Oil and Oc mean 'yes' in their respective languages.  I presume the added place names are a reference to the Oc language in the same way as we have dual signage in Wales.

Provence seems to specialise in growing grapes, lavender, almonds and olives.  They also make rather nice nougat.  Overall if feels very Mediterranean and sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Tuscany (plenty of cypress trees) or Spain.  It certainly is a lovely area.

We said farewell to our site near Uzes and travelled down through the Gorge de Gardon to give Nimes a day visit.  It's quite a big city and we thought that we could see what we wanted on a quieter Sunday morning rather than a normal busy weekday.  It was a good plan.  As we drove in we saw a sign which indicated that Nimes is twinned with an English city, which was quite interesting.  See if you can guess after looking at our photos?

The two big hitters for visiting tourists is the Roman Amphitheatre and the Tour de Magna.

If you put another layer on top it could be the Colloseum.  It is perfectly intact and I think it is used for events sometimes.  Another UNESCO World Heritage Site in the bag!

The Tour de Magna isn't another cycle race!  It was the highest part of the Roman Ramparts built in 1st Century AD and was still used for the city defences against the English in the Hundred Years War.

There were plenty of other things to see in the pleasant city centre.

The view from the Tour hill looking down over a wide road with a pedestrian area in the middle.  It goes all the way down to the Railway Station. We cycled down it, passing through pavement water fountains as we did.  The city was pleasantly quiet as we had hoped.

Have you guessed the English twinned town yet?

Well.....its.......not known for its beauty, it isn't a tourist city, it has no links with Ancient Rome.....in fact it has absolutely nothing in common with Nimes.  The city is Preston!  I can't see much reciprocal visiting going on with dignitaries from Nimes going to Preston.  Sorry Preston, I am being harsh, maybe if Preston had these blue skies it would also look beautiful but otherwise it hasn't got much to compare with Nimes.

We drove on to our overnight stop at Fontvielle.  A small town north east of Arles.  It has a famous moulin (windmill) that was featured in the writing of Alphonse Daudet.  Our Air de Camping location is next to the Moulin de Daudet.

We can't believe the weather.....it is rather windy.  I blame another writer from Provence, Frederic Mistral who was awarded a Nobel prize and seemingly had an over efficient digestion system as he had the Mistral wind named after him!  I'm expecting a Nobel prize in the post when I get home as I am similarly gifted!!

A nearby medieval village seemed to get plenty of attention in the guide book.  It was Les Baux en Provence.  The book advised that an early morning visit was best to avoid the coach parties but we thought that Sunday afternoon in October would be no problem.  We cycled over to the village and found that October weekends were still very busy and indeed coach trips were in full swing.  Never mind it was still a lovely old village on a 'citadel' overlooking a gorge, with bare rock faces on one side and views over the valley on the other side.

The most interesting fact about the village is that it is where 'bauxite' was first discovered.  If you didn't know it is the major constituent in the production of Aluminium.  If they hadn't discovered it I wouldn't be riding my bike around France today, coz that's what it's made of!

I have a sneeking feeling that the village is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, tick two!

Returning through Fontvielle we stopped to watch the boules matches in progress.  We didn't fully understand the rules and etiquette but could see the skill and the seriousness with which it is played.

There were about six games in constant action.