Nimes, Amphitheater

(4 photos)
After a stop at the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store, a short walk down Boulevard Victor Hugo brought us to the amphitheater that was built in 50 AD. The Romans are known to have built seventy amphitheaters, and this one ranks about twentieth in size. It was designed with many internal stairways so the 20,000 spectators could leave the stadium in about five minutes, or whatever they called that span of time. While the arena has been here for centuries, a few years later we could not find Baskin-Robbins — don’t know if it closed, or we just missed it.
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At one time the amphitheater was turned into a fortress surrounded by a moat, and at another time it became a walled village of 2,000 poverty-stricken people, complete with houses and a chapel built in the center of the arena. When they renovated the amphitheater in the 1800s, a twenty-five foot layer of rubble had to be removed.
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Originally the amphitheater at Nîmes was a waterproof arena, and when it was filled with water, they could stage aquatic spectacles. Don’t think that style of use is gone forever. One time when we were in Nîmes the refrigeration truck from “Holiday on Ice” (that's what the sign advertises) was busily making ice on the floor of the arena, preparing for a modern ice spectacular.

During one (of four) visits, we saw an announcement for a religious meeting to be held in the amphitheater the following week. The poster invited the Christians, but didn’t say a word about the lions.
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