Tour: In the Arena

So we went to Nimes, in the South of France.  Not Provence, but Languedoc-Roussillon.

One of the most impressive sights in the town is the Roman amphitheatre - the Arenes.  In constant use since it was built - including as a fortress against invading Goths and as the ramparts of the medieval town - it is now used as, well, an amphitheatre again.  For pop shows and bullfighting.

While we were there 'Stars 80' - sounds wonderful - had just been staged.  And we were assured that although some Spanish bullfighting still occurred (where the bull is killed), there was also local Camarguian (sp?) bullfighting (where it isn't).

The Arenes des Nimes isn't the largest remaining Roman amphitheatre - but it is the most complete.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a good audio tour which tells you far more than you will ever want to know about the various types of gladiators who fought in Roman times and also about more contemporary bullfighting.

It explained how Roman amphitheatres arose from the combination of two traditional theatres placed face-to-face (which I found a little unlikely as an explanation - although clearly construction techniques and the pattern of ramped seats were common).

We also visited Arles - that strangely pastel-coloured town in Provence, which has a larger but much less-well preserved arena.

But we preferred the one in Nimes.