80km of 2564km so far…
Hubert had already bought the essentials for a big breakfast by the time I was up. He cycles a lot as well, so the breakfast was rather complete, something that I really appreciated. I put my new tire on the bike, loaded it with all my bags and off to the road again.
The destination of the day was Nimes, which has an impressive Roman Arena. I did a big detour to get there, to avoid the motorway but also visit a nice village. I got to Sommieres just on time for lunch, so I bought a some pate from the local botcher, bread, cheese and tomatoes and had them by the river.
- The entrance of Sommieres
- Its centre
The rest of the way from Sommieres to Nimes was entirly on a cycle path which I rather enjoied, after spending the last couple of days on busier roads. The only problem was the head wind which made the ride slow.
- The cycle path
- Faster than my shadow
- Forward thinking
I got to Nimes and after an ice cream break went straight for the big monument. The Arena is about 2000 years old and the best preserved in the world. It used to host 24000 spectators, who would go there to see the famous gladiators and other kind of bloody shows. I spend about an hour in there, wondering around the corridors and looking at the arena while listening to the audio guide which had detailed description of how the events took place. The arena is occasionally used even today for bullfights. Another cyclist I met in Carcassonne, visited the Arena to watch some. He told me they have two shows a day and on each one they kill 6 bulls.
- Nimes’ stamp
- The Arena
- Its galleries
- From the top
- The ground is covered in sand, so they can quickly cover the blood
I departed and started making my way to the south again, as I will soon be visiting Marseille. I ended up checking into a camping in Saint Giles, which was about 20km away from Nimes
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