Nîmes, France

Nîmes is a town in the South of France that had its heyday back as part of the Roman Empire. Anthony and Cleopatra may never have set foot in Nîmes, but the city’s abundance of crocodiles bears testament to their legacy. Veterans of Augustus’s victory in Egypt settled in Roman Nemausus – and while they didn’t bring actual crocodiles, the colony began minting coins depicting a crocodile chained to a palm tree. Eventually this non native reptile became the emblem of NÎmes. They defeated the locals called the Guals and integrated the Roman society with the locals. Nimes also sat on the Via Domitia in 100BC a road that connected Spain with Rome making it a popular trade route. They brought their advanced civilization along with it creating aqueducts to feed the ever growing city with water as it slowly expanded over time. In the 17th century it hit its prime manufacturing silk and it was the third largest economy at the time trailing Paris and Lyon. Nimes is also the birthplace of denim.

Today Roman history reverberates throughout Nîmes, today dubbed the “French Rome.” Even after the fall of the Empire, the Nîmois never abandoned their aqueduct, arena, or main temple. As a result, these ancient structures are not only exceptionally well-preserved, they’ve also acquired additional layers of history. We were here during FIFA soccer world cup and you could hear locals parading after a win and even lighting fireworks. The town has roudy locals but also has a certain sleepy elegance to it still present left by the Romans.Read more