Food lovers’ walk

Les Halles de Nîmes

You are at Les Halles de Nîmes, the covered market of the historic centre. It opened in 1884, under Mayor Ali Margarot, with a celebration held on 9 and 10 November. The architects John Monod and Félix Beaujouan had divided it into four pavilions.

190 m to the next stop

Maison Villaret (croquants)

You are now in front of the Maison Villaret, on the corner of Rue de la Madeleine and Rue de l’Aspic, in the heart of the Écusson. The story begins in 1775, when Claude Villaret founded a bakery here making sourdough bread and cakes. It was his son, Jules, who perfected the recipe that would make the house famous: the croquant, an almond biscuit flavoured with lemon and orange blossom.

140 m to the next stop

Place aux Herbes

You are now on the Place aux Herbes, in front of the cathedral. Go up close to its facade: you will see square holes in it. They were cut so that the street traders of the Middle Ages could hang their vegetable stalls on them.

290 m to the next stop

Place du Marché

You are on the place du Marché, a small square in the Écusson lined with café terraces. In the centre, the fountain features the crocodile, the emblem of Nîmes. Its origin goes back to antiquity: after the battle of Actium, in 31 BC, coins struck to celebrate Octavian’s victory showed a crocodile chained to a palm, a symbol of Egypt conquered by Rome.

330 m to the next stop

Place de l’Horloge

You are on the place de l’Horloge, in the heart of the Écusson. The tower in front of you is 31 metres high. It was rebuilt from 1752 to 1754, on the site of an older fifteenth-century belfry: so a clock has set the rhythm of life in this district for about five centuries.