Nimes

On the border between Provence and Languedoc, the name of NÎMES is inescapably linked to two things – denim and Rome. The latter's influence is highly visible in some of the most extensive Roman remains in Europe, while the former (de Nîmes), equally visible on the backsides of the populace, was first manufactured in the city's textile mills, and exported to the southern USA in the nineteenth century to clothe slaves. It's worth a visit, in part for the ruins and, nowadays, for the city's new-found energy and direction. TGV direct from Paris or Lille and Garons airport servicing Ryanair, are both useful transport links.

Some twenty kilometres from Nîmes, the Pont du Gard is the greatest surviving stretch of a fifty-kilometre-long aqueduct built by the Romans in the middle of the first century to supply fresh water to the city. With just a seventeen-metre difference in altitude between start and finish, the aqueduct was quite an achievement, running as it does over hill and dale, through a tunnel, along the top of a wall, cut into trenches, and over rivers; the Pont du Gard carries it over the River Gard. Today the bridge is something of a tourist trap, but nonetheless a supreme piece of engineering, a brilliant combination of function and aesthetics. It made the impressionable Rousseau wish he'd been born Roman.

Three tiers of arches span the river, with the covered water conduit on the top, rendered with a special plaster waterproofed with a paint apparently based on fig juice. A visit here used to be a must for French journeymen masons on their traditional tour of the country, and many of them have left their names and home towns carved on the stonework. Markings made by the original builders are still visible on individual stones in the arches, such as "FR S III – frons sinistra", front side left no. 3. The Pont du Gard has recently undergone a massive restoration programme and work is now starting on improving the local amenities, including a multimedia centre with exhibits relating to the history of the aqueduct and the surrounding area.

Seventeen kilometres further on, near the start of the aqueduct and served by daily buses from Nîmes, UZÈS is a lovely old town perched on a hill above the River Alzon. Half a dozen medieval towers – the most fetching is the windowed Pisa-like Tour Fenestrelle, tacked onto the much later cathedral – rise above its tiled roofs and narrow lanes of Renaissance and Neoclassical houses, the residences of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century local bourgeoisie, who had grown rich like their Protestant co-religionists in Nîmes on textiles. From the mansion of Le Portalet, with its view out over the valley, walk past the Renaissance church of St-Étienne and into the medieval place aux Herbes, where there's a Saturday morning market, and up the arcaded rue de la République. The Gide family used to live off the square, the young André spending summer vacations with his granny there. To the right of rue de la République is the castle of Le Duché (90-minute guided tours daily: mid-June to mid-Sept 10am–6.30pm; mid-Sept to mid-June 10am–noon & 2–6pm; €10), still inhabited by the same family a thousand years on, and dominated by its original keep, the Tour Bermonde. Today, there are guided tours around the castle building and exhibits of local history and vintage cars. Opposite, the courtyard of the eighteenth-century Hôtel de Ville holds summer concerts.

Anduze

Nearby Anduze has a population of a little over 3000 people. It's situated on the river Gardon where you'll find stunning cliffs of rock formations that gives Anduze it's fabulous views. The Gardon has stony beaches where you'll find kids paddling and people sunning themselves in the Summer. Anduze is situated 25 mins South of Ales (where you'll find the big warehouse type shops), 45 mins West of Nimes and around 1 hour North of Montpellier. It's off the commuter catchment area for these two big towns and Anduze is truly the gateway to the Cevennes (mountain range).

The seigneurie of Anduze was established at the beginning of the 10th Century, and were an ally of the counts of Toulouse and participated in the crusades against the Albigensians.

At the end of the 13th Century Anduze was the main centre in this area for the silk industry. You'll see plenty of Magnaneries in the area : large square-ish farm buildings, in which they used to take the Mulberry tree branches to feed the worms. It was also an important area for wool.

In the 16th and 17th Centuries, Anduze was centre of Protestantism in the Cevennes. Many houses in the area have their own cemeteries, as Protestants weren't allowed into the village cemeteries until as late as 1860. You'll also find a lot of window shutters still painted grey or burgundy - the Protestant colours.

You'll find all the facilities you'll require in Anduze. Doctors, dentists, chemists, medium sized supermarket � well, just about everything you'll need. There's a weekly market on Tuesdays, that has a small covered area, right next to a stunningly beautiful tiled-roofed well. During the Summer there are night markets with fireworks, jugglers and lots of fun things. Sometimes there's an outdoor cinema in the park (very pretty with swans and activities for children.) They also have Christmas markets and during the Summer, special Sundays for locals to sell their own produce and pottery markets too.

Anduze is well known for the Bambouseraie - a large park full of Bamboo... worth a trip in the Summer when it's hot, as it's lovely and shady.You can get to the Bambouseraie with the Steam Train - a gorgeous 40 minute journey from Anduze to St Jean du Gard stops en route.

For more pictures and info visit "sightseeing in the Gard region "

ST NAZAIRE DE GARDIES

LANGUEDOC FRANCE