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3 July 2026 - Erlenbach

Back in January I took a trip to Nîmes and spent many hours wandering through the monuments, like the Roman arena which is still in use! It's called by some the most Roman city outside of Italy. A the history museum I picked up Cabane and Jean's Nîmes au fil de l'Histoire, which is an excellent (French) survey of the history of the city. It covers prehistory, Gauls, Romans, Franks, Muslims, and finally the French. I was surprised to learn that Nîmes was a protestant majority city during the reformation, and that many prominent citizens fled to Switzerland and Prussia when the counter-reformation declared their religion illegal. About half of the book covers the period since the French revolution. Much of that second half of the book covers the history of individual buildings, which can be a little ponderous. Still, I can't wait to go back to Nîmes.