Housed in the 17th century former bishop's palace, the Museum of Old Nîmes tells the story of city since the end of the Middle Ages through everyday items and bourgeois interiors. An essential visit to discover local traditions and daily life in Nîmes over the centuries. Local 18th and 19th century interiors have been reconstituted. The textile industry is of prime importance in the history of the city and is the subject of displays in the museum, with famous Nîmes shawls exported to the whole of Europe in the eighteenth century. A blue room is devoted to Nîmes cloth, the famous denim.
References:The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.
The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.