Nimes
Nimes is probably my favorite city in Provence. It's clean, has wonderful old Roman ruins in the form of the Forum, an Amphitheater and a temple and it has a sort of classiness to it that Avignon, Arles and Orange don't have.
Rick Steves however, doesn't even give it it's own section and places it under "Near Avignon" which is strange since Nimes has more historic ruins, is nicer and a much larger city. Why does he downplay it? I'm not sure but he does mention that people from Nimes will remind you that they don't need tourism because they have other industries. My guess is that Rick went there trying to get deals and they didn't want to play thus he recommends staying in Avignon or gritty Arles.
The only thing strange about Nimes is that on Monday nights the restaurants all close early (6pm and they're done) so do what the locals do and eat dinner early then grab an outdoor seat and watch a football game.
Oh and the park we were in at the Temple of Diana was really quite nice. I could see myself spending more time there if I lived here. It was built on an old Celtic temple.
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