Shopping in France Nimes: Designed to impress
Nimes contrasts Roman remains with Norman Foster modernity.
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WHERE?
WHERE? Once a Roman staging post on the Domitian Way between Italy and Spain, later a prestigious textile town and a pawn in the Wars of Religion, Nîmes is a fascinating mix of ancient and modern, where a rich heritage is part of everyday life. Nîmes is an easy city to navigate - and best done so on foot (although there is a useful little bus, La Citadine, which runs in a loop from the station past many of the main sights). Most of the monuments, shops and places to eat are concentrated within and just around the Ecusson, the shield-shaped area between boulevards Gambetta, Amiral Courbet and Victor Hugo, with the Roman arena still swanning it over the town at the southern tip, ringed on one side by people-watching brasseries and upmarket restaurant Lisita. The tourist office is at 6 rue Auguste (00 33 4 66 58 38 00; www.ot-nimes.fr) near the Ilot Littre, the well-restored old dyers' quarter. The best hotels are also in the centre. Near the Carré d'Art, the Royal Hôtel at 3 boulevard Alphonse Daudet (00 33 4 66 58 28 27) is a cult address with its artfully casual boho touch, worn leather club chairs, wood floors, modern art, eclectic furniture and very friendly staff. Most rooms overlook the place d'Assas, where its trendy tapas bar La Bodeguita has tables out on the pavement. Doubles start at €60 (£43), and breakfast is €8 (£6). The Hôtel Imperator at quai de la Fontaine (00 33 4 66 21 90 30; www.hotel-imperator.com) doesn't look much from the street, but hides comfortable traditional rooms, good restaurant L'Enclos de la Fontaine, a vintage lift and a luxuriantly planted garden. This is where torreadors have traditionally stayed - and of course bullfighting buff Hemingway, who has inevitably given his name to the bar. Doubles cost from €123 (£88), with breakfast an extra €15 (£11). The New Hôtel La Baume at 21 rue Nationale (00 33 4 66 76 28 42; www.new-hotel.com), occupies one of Nîmes' fine 17th-century hôtels particuliers. The magnficent galleried central courtyard merits a look in its own right and the rooms have been comfortably refurbished in rich colours. The hotel offers doubles from €120 (£86), with breakfast costing an extra €10 (£7) WHY? Despite its impressive heritage this is a real, living city not a tourist one: a gutsy southern town, that doesn't care too much about the tourist-cliché Provence. Bullfighting mania has added a distinctly Spanish flavour, especially during the Feria de Pentecôte (which took place last weekend), but also in their lively tapas bars and bodegas. Nîmes has adapted its monuments over the centuries, constructing in and around them. Today's shops, flats and cafés occupy an old town peppered with the imposing doorways of fine 17th and 18th-century mansions, Renaissance stairways, Romanesque arches and fragments of Roman frieze, and daringly inserting modern art and architecture. Norman Foster's Carré d'Art right next to the Maison Carré is the most obvious example, but there are also the Philippe Starck bus shelter (on avenue Carnot), Jean Nouvel's Némausus apartment block (on route d'Arles) and modern fountains by artist Martial Raysse (on place du Marché and place d'Assas). Northeast of Nîmes, the Pont du Gard, a triple-decker aqueduct built to bring drinking water to Nîmes, is a feat of Roman engineering and still a spectacular sight today. WHAT? All roads lead to the Roman Arena (00 33 4 66 76 72 95), the best preserved in the Roman world, with its two tiers of 60 stone arcades and its 23,000 places. After serving as a fortress in the Middle Ages and later a residential district crammed with tenements, today it is once again the centre of Nîmois entertainment, just as when it was inaugurated at the end of the 1st century AD, only now, it is used for bullfights, pop concerts and trade fairs rather than gladiatorial combat and lion fights. Opposite is the Carré d'Art (00 33 4 66 76 35 35), the glass and steel structure designed by Sir Norman Foster as public library and contemporary art museum. The collection of post-1960 art includes works by Boltanski, Frize, Polke and Cragg, and there's an excellent café at the top with great views. Museums are open Tuesday to Sunday. Next to the cathedral on place aux Herbes, the Musée du Vieux-Nîmes occupies the former bishop's palace. Panelled rooms contain regional furniture and portraits, and there are interesting displays on the local textile industry, with its silk shawls, Provençal prints, and the tough woven cloth "de Nîmes" that has passed into legend as denim. Traces of Roman history can be seen in the Musée d'Archéologie which shares a former Jesuit college on boulevard Amiral Courbet with the natural history museum. Vieux Nîmes is also the area to shop. It's virtually non-stop clothes and shoe shops along rue du Général Perrier, which runs from place de la Maison Carrée to the covered market - a must for any foodie. At the rear, the Centre Commercial La Coupôle is a modern shopping centre with chainstores and a branch of the Fnac music, book and electrical equipment store, while rue Nationale, which follows the trace of the Domitian Way, is home to several tacky but fabulously cheap bargain stores. South of here is the domain of small individual shops, among them upmarket kitchenwares at Geneviève Lethu on rue de l'Aspic, bedlinens at Carré Blanc on rue des Lombards, and jeweller Meteorite and pâtissier Villaret, purveyor of jaw-breaking croquantes de Nîmes biscuits, on rue de la Madeleine, while as you approach the arena, you'll find torreadors' costumes, bullfighting prints and kitsch memorabilia. Save time though for the Jardins de la Fontaine, reached along the canalside quai de la Fontaine lined with splendid patrician's houses. The gardens are a favourite place to cool off in summer. Laid out in the 18th-century with canals, statues, terraces and flights of stairs, their origins are much more ancient, going back to the original Celtic settlement around the spring of Nemausus. For more information contact the Nîmes tourist office on 00 33 4 66 58 38 00; www.ot-nimes.fr WOW! The Roman arena - still the centre of Nîmois entertainment after all these years TOP FIVE: SHOPPING Brandade Raymond at 34 rue Nationale (00 33 4 66 67 20 47) is Nîmes' most famous purveyor of the local speciality brandade, salt cod beaten with olive oil and a little milk into a thick puree and usually served piping hot. Cacharel at 2 place de la Maison Carrée (00 33 4 66 21 82 82) is a French fashion line, famed for its romantic print dresses and tops. Although is now designed by Brit duo Clements Ribeiro it was founded in Nîmes in 1962 by former mayor Jean Bousquet. Galerie Béa at 4 place d'Assas (00 33 4 66 21 19 34) opens off a paved courtyard. It's a treasure trove of the ethnic and funky, including furniture, unusual mirrors, pretty glasses and other interior decoration items and gifts. As with any self-respecting French city, the covered market of Les Halles at rue des Halles (open every morning) is a centrepiece of local life. Produce reflects the garrigue-covered hills and the nearby Camargue, with olive oil, superb vegetables, little goat's cheeses, charcuterie and lamb from the Cévennes. Colourful Provençal wood-block prints, originally inspired by Indian fabrics, can be found at Les Indiennes de Nîmes, at 2 boulevard des Arènes (00 33 4 66 21 69 57) in all manner of furnishing fabrics, clothes and table linen. CITY SHOPPER: AIX-EN-PROVENCE, AVIGNON AND MARSEILLE AIX-EN-PROVENCE Sophisticated Aix-en-Provence is the perfect place for buying and window shopping in the largely pedestrianised Vieil Aix. The former capital of Provence, Aix is snooty and proud of it, with its aristocratic hôtels particuliers and intellectual reputation epitomised by its summer opera festival (15 June-30 July), historic university and the café culture of the Cours Mirabeau. The twin Gago boutiques on rue Fabrot are the places for men's and women's designer labels. As the home of the well-dressed bourgeoisie there are also several good shops for children's clothes, but Aix also has plenty of younger, more affordable boutiques, as befits its large student population. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings a large street market takes over much of the town centre, with fruit and veg on place des Precheurs and place de la Madeleine, clothes, fabrics and household items around the Palais de Justice and a fleamarket on place de Verdun. Good bookshops include the venerable Librairie de Provence on Cours Mirabeau, with English-language titles at Librarie Paradox and café-cum-bookshop Book in Bar. Around place des Trois-Ormeaux are several stylish interior design and kitchen shops, Provençal olive oils and pottery can be found amid the fine houses on rue Gaston de Saporta, which leads to the cathedral, while across the Cours Mirabeau, the quieter, elegant 17th-century Quartier Mazarin is the place for antiques dealers and smart furnishing fabrics. Aix-en-Provence tourist office (00 33 4 42 16 11 61; www.aixenprovencetourism.com) AVIGNON Within its serrated city walls, Avignon still has the aura of the city state it was during centuries of papal rule. The old town, dominated by the intimidating fortified Palais des Papes, is a place where small shops exist alongside medieval churches, 17th-century mansions, narrow alleyways and shady squares. From 8-27 July the town comes alive during Avignon Festival, with the most prestigious dance and theatre productions in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes. The even bigger Avignon Public Off (8-30 July) takes over every imaginable square and cloister. Contemporary art also gets a showcase at the Collection Lambert on rue Violette in another wonderfully converted mansion (Anselm Kiefer from 26 June to 23 October). Avignon's smartest shops curve along the elegant rue Joseph Vernet. Here, along with the beautiful hôtel particulier containing the Musée Joseph Calvet fine art museum, you'll find designer clothes, leather goods and Puyricard chocolates. There are some good antiques and interior design shops on rue de la Petite Fusterie, while across rue de la Répubique, the town's central spine lined with high-street brands, city chefs stock up at the covered market on place Pie. Avignon tourist office (00 33 4 32 74 32 74; www.ot-avignon.fr) MARSEILLE The Vieux Port is still the hub of France's oldest city, as it has been ever since a trading settlement was founded here in 600 BC by a bunch of Phocaen Greeks. A lively multicultural Mediterranean mix, the city combines tough urban districts, docks and sandy beaches, Haussmannian apartments, tiny terraced streets and luxurious villas, all with glittery sea views. The shopping here is equally eclectic, from the modern shopping centre of the Centre Bourse, the souk-like stalls around Cours Belsunce, grocers selling couscous, dates and Moroccan spices on rue d'Aubagne to the designer labels (Hugo Boss, Kenzo, Vuitton, Cartier, Hermes et al) on rue Paradis and rue Grignan. Traditional local specialities include Marseille soap, pastis and santon crèche figures. As befits this dynamic city, however, there's also a homegrown design scene: a number of local stylists have opened boutiques on rue de la Tour (dubbed rue de la Mode) near to the Opéra, including flamboyant hats by Manon Martin and clothes and accessories at Casablanca. Long-established Madame Zaza of Marseille with its flowing baroque designs is up in more boho Cours Julien, a magnet for records, literature, clothing and ethnic restaurants. Check out too the original objects by duo Cooked in Design, including colourful PVC coffee cups and lamps, at their boutique on 4 rue des Tyrans. Meanwhile, the historic Panier district has been colonised by craft workshops and potters. Marseille tourist office (00 33 4 91 13 89 00; www.marseille-tourisme.com)
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