Nimes in France

Nimes is famous for its Roman sights including the Amphitheatre and the Maison Carree. There are others too in the Jardin de la Fontaine including The Temple of Diana and the symbol of Nimes, the Tour Magne.

The Amphitheatre, called Les Arenes, is the most visited sight in the city. Although there are larger Roman arenas in the world, the one in Nimes is the best preserved of them all and dates from roughly 70 AD. It is still heavily used for concerts and in Roman times could hold 24,000 spectators on 34 rows of seating, all with unrestricted views. Even when a large sound stage has been built, the structure is still dwarfed by the banks of stone seats surrounding the oval sandy area where gladiatorial contests took place 2,000 years ago. Strictly speaking this area is the Arena and the surrounding seating is the amphitheatre, but both terms are now in common use for the whole vast edifice.

When the Arena was built the Romans were very safety conscious and there is evidence the whole audience could be evacuated within 5 minutes. There are certainly many stairs up and down to the various levels. If you are feeling fit, however, you can just climb up and down the various levels of seating. For some reason, a few travellers bring their dogs with them. These canines are mainly small breeds that have tremendous difficulty climbing the stones and so have to be carried around.