Friday May 24, 2019

Hail to the Ceasar

Today we sleep in a bit and then head out around 1000. We start by walking to the Maison Carree a temple built between 2 and 5 AD by the Emporor Augustus for the colony of Nemausus (now Nimes). It was built on a platform dominating the public square and its proportions are similar to the Temple of Apollo in Rome. It was surrounded by a forum and a neighborhood where some of the homes and area have been dated back to 100 BC.

Potatoes Are Us

We are near the covered market here she go check out Les Halles as we are always curious what food might be there. One stall has pretty much potatoes with some onions hanging from the rafter.      

Where the Aqueduct ended in Nimes

After the market, we walk and find the Castellum Aquae, the Roman aqueduct distribution site. This is where the Pont du Gard aqueduct terminated and then the local distribution was started with a series of pipes that led to more pipe lines. It is pretty cool to see the termination point of what we saw yesterday.

Tour Magne

After consulting our map, we wind our way through streets and climb up some steps to get to an entrance of the Jardins de la Fontaine. The Fontaine spring, still flowing today, is what coerced people to settle her before the aqueduct was built. It is all uphill to the Tour Magne, an old Roman Tower, that is on the hilltop here and visible from town. From the tower, we stroll the gardens, slowly descending, and find the spring. There are some very beautiful water lilies blooming in the pond below it.

Built in 25 AD

We keep going until we find the Temple of Diane. It almost looks like a set out of a Indiana Jones movie. Built around 25 AD, it is part of an Augusteum, a sanctuary devoted to the cult of the Emperor and his family. It was most likely used for celebrations and it is not clear what the association to Diana, the goddess of hunting, may have been.

CNC Jardins

We descend just a little further to the lower level of the park. There are water features and a nosy swan who comes to check me out as we are taking a picture. A couple from Australia asks Carol to take a picture of them which leads to a 25 minute conversation.

Charlie is Famous

It is now time for us to leave so we can make our lunch reservation. Along the way, we find a shrine to me, so we have to stop and pay homage. Then we make it back to Le Hef Rafael. Today’s special of the day is duck. We order an entree of tomato tartare, one plat of duck, and one plat of the Camembert. Like last time, everything is fantastic. Carol gets ice cream again for dessert, where I go with a panna cotta in violet sauce.

Panna Cotta and Violet Sauce

It is really good and as much as I don’t want to, I share some with Carol. Finishing lunch, we say au revoir to Rafael and take a long circuitous route home. We pass the Charles de Gaulle Esplanade where a farm expo is going on and there is a nice fountain to admire. We make it home and go back to our new favorite place in Nimes, the bakery. The nice lady is helpful as always and we increase our pastry purchase to four. Two of the green pastries and two chocolate ones to try. A baguette for our pasta dinner finishes our purchase. We have another small happy hour with beer and the addition of orange slices along with some cheese.

More Delicious Desserts

This tides us over until dinner in which I make a pasta with bleu cheese sauce along with the leftover pesto. We drink our bottle of wine with dinner. For dessert, we just have the chocolate pastries, one is just good, the other fantastic, and we save the green pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast. Our train tomorrow is not until 1145 so we can sleep in and have coffee in the morning. Nimes has been good to us.

Expenses
Studio N1 59E
Lunch at Le Chef Rafael 31.40E
Pastries from Bakery 10.75E
Walked 5 Miles