With 3 days to go, the Christmas atmosphere is finally settling into the streets of the city centre in Nîmes

La formule gagnante ce dimanche ? Bonnet de Noël, soleil et plateaux de fruits de mer ! Midi Libre – C.S.

Clients affairés, commerçants souriants, délices du Réveillon en vitrine et "All I want for christmas is you" à toutes les sauces… Aucun doute, Noël c’est dans trois jours !

Free surface parking, the start of the school holidays and the fast approaching deadline all play a big part in this. This Sunday morning, December 22, Christmas had finally taken over the city centre at shopping time for many families.

On the Place de l'Horloge, regular customers in front of their black coffees were delighted to watch this ballet of consumers with their arms full of attention for their friends and family. “They're taking 10% off champagne. And it's probably only today!” a young woman suddenly calls out to her husband, before the couple rushes into Nicolas' wine shop.

Like this other couple from Fons-outre-Gardon “for the atmosphere, much nicer than in the area”, says the wife, many people enjoyed the musical atmosphere of the Peña Nîmes Hijo du tuba, rue Guizot, where the seafood platters and glasses of white wine were obviously well-placed on the high tables, around eleven o'clock.

Victuailles et sourires

Inside the market halls (recently ranked among the best food markets in the world, by the very serious English economic daily Financial Times, Editor's note), Father Christmas – in person – and his smiling assistant, distributed candy to intimidated children during the morning. Dragging behind them a speaker playing a disturbing version of the unshakeable Christmas hit All I want for Christmas is you, normally performed by Maria Carey.

At the stalls, it was obviously time to buy food and especially to reserve orders for the big day. In the windows, capons, truffled white puddings, foie gras and other smoked salmon held their own against the countless sweet delights, Christmas logs at the top, especially at the pastry chef Noailles or Villaret.

A little before noon, at the corner of rue Guizot and rue Général-Perrier, smiling families, clearly down in Nîmes for the holidays, promised their children that they would come back to town in the afternoon. For this essential Christmas holiday combo: hot chocolate on the terrace/trip to the funfair.