Nîmes
| I took the 9 a.m. bus from St Jean du Gard for the 55 minute ride to Ales, at an amazing cost of 1 euro. I was the only person on the bus as far as Anduze, when another three got on for the remaining journey. At Ales I had intended to take the train to Nîmes; I was horrified to see that the ticket office was closed for renovation, and I had to deal with an automatic ticket vending machine. No mean feat as it was all i French and the machine did not take cash or notes. I eventually got my ticket for the 10-26 a.m. train, but the display did not indicate which platform it was to go from. By 10-24 a.m. I was starting to get worried as there was no train and no people! I then noticed a bus outside the railway station, and realised that they had swapped the train for a bus; I managed to get aboard and was on my way to Nîmes within seconds.
As the bus pulled in front of Nîmes station I spotted my hotel, Hotel Abalone, which made things easier as it was right next to the station, and convenient for the central area around the Roman arenas. With the Nîmes Feria being on that weekend, all the hotels were full and Nîmes was buzzing. |
The dreaded automatic ticket machine
No platform indication for the 10-26 am train. Suspicious!
There was a clue on my ticket if only I had realised.... "AUTOCAR" means BUS!
I caught the bus with seconds to spare!
Nîmes Railway Station
Hotel Abalone, immediately in front of the station
The Feria was in full swing
Matador Juan Bautista acknowledging the crowd
As the sun sets on Nîmes, so ends a good trip!
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