Nîmes Audioguides

Nimes has the most complete collection of Roman monuments in France, arguably in the world outside Italy, and the city wears this distinction with something approaching casual indifference. The Arena of Nimes, built around 70 AD, seats 24,000 people and still hosts bullfights and concerts, which means that this Roman amphitheater is not a museum piece but an active venue. The Maison Carree, a temple from around 4-7 AD, is the best-preserved Roman temple in existence anywhere. You can see it from a cafe terrace, framed between the modern street furniture, and it takes a moment to absorb that something so perfect is simply standing there.

The name of denim fabric traces back to this city.

'Serge de Nimes' was a sturdy cloth made in Nimes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and American sailors and workers adopted the material. The name contracted to 'denim.' The Levi Strauss legend connects to fabric from Nimes, though the detail is debated. What's not debated is that the city's cloth-making history is real and that several local clothing brands still trade on it.