Some 37km from Nîmes, near the start of the Pont du Gard and served by daily buses from Nîmes, UZÈS
is a lovely old town perched on a hill above the River Alzon. Half a
dozen medieval towers - the most fetching is the windowed Pisa-like Tour Fenestrelle
, tacked onto the much later cathedral - rise above its tiled roofs and
narrow lanes of Renaissance and Neoclassical houses, the residences of
the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century local bourgeoisie, who had
grown rich like their Protestant co-religionists in Nîmes on textiles.
From the mansion of Le Portalet, with its view out over the valley,
walk past the Renaissance church of St-Étienne and into the
medieval place aux Herbes, where there's a Sunday morning market, and
up the arcaded rue de la République. The Gide family used to live off
the square, the young André spending summer vacations with his granny
there. To the right of rue de la République is the castle of Le Duché
(90-minute guided tours daily: mid-June to mid-Sept 10am-6.30pm; rest
of year 10am-noon & 2-6pm; €8.39), still inhabited by the same
family a thousand years on; it is dominated by its original keep, the Tour Bermonde
. Today, there are guided tours around the castle building and exhibits
of local history and vintage cars. Opposite, the courtyard of the
eighteenth-century Hôtel de Ville holds summer concerts.
For details of these and other summer events, including more bull-running corridas , consult the tourist office in place Albert 1er on boulevard Gambetta (July & Aug Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 10am-noon & 2-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 1.30-6pm, Sat 10am-1pm; tel 04.66.22.68.88, www.uzès.fr ). The gare routière (tel 04.66.22.00.58) is further west on avenue de la Libération. Should you need a bed , head for the friendly Hostellerie Provençal in two old row houses at 1 rue Grand Bourgade, south of the church of St-Étienne (tel 04.66.22.11.06; €24-34; closed Sun & Mon evening Sept-June & Feb), or the attractively renovated La Taverne (tel 04.66.22.13.10, fax 04.66.22.45.90; €34-46), behind the tourist office at 4 rue Xavier Sigalon, with a good terroir restaurant up the road at no. 7 (from €12.20). The only other option in town is the deluxe General d'Entraigues , 8 rue de la Calade (tel 04.66.22.32.68, fax 04.66.22.57.01; €46-61), in a converted fifteenth-century mansion opposite the cathedral. Alternatively, there is a municipal campsite off avenue Maxime-Pascal (tel 04.66.22.11.79; closed mid-Sept to mid-June), on the Bagnols-sur-Cèze road running northeast of town.
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