The Roman Arena, where there is bullfighting in March into April.

Today we visited the city of Nimes, which is nearly an hour from home, in the direction of Arles, visited last week. 

The town was founded in Roman times and is still home of some well preserved Roman Architecture such as the Arena, similar to those found in Arles, Rome, and Verona, although much smaller than the two in Italy. The Arena is well maintained and is in use for cultural events, - most controversially for bull fighting in a short season from the beginning in March into April. I remember that in 1977 I went on holiday to Barcelona with my parents and we attended a bull fight. We did not enjoy it, but there is no doubt that it is part of the local culture here and is a theme that runs through the region in imagery and art.

We liked the city very much. Whilst it is an old city, unlike Arles, many of the streets are very wide, fanning out from the arena, and there is less of a feeling of mild claustophobia. The city is slowly being dressed for Christmas and there are some very pretty shop windows. We found a wider variety of interesting shops than elsewhere we have visited with the exception of Avignon including a huge art and crafts shop, where Paulne could not resist picking up some art supplies with the intention of painting. Pictures of vineyards await!