For the past six days Arles a city full of Roman treasures located in Provence, Southern France has been living up to its reputation and providing us with glorious spring days, cloudless azure skies and gentle nights. Provence of course is a must see destination when travelling through France and we chose to stop off at Arles for various reasons. Not least because it was easily situated on main train routes between southern France and Italy but also because we know some people who live in nearby Saint-Remy-de-Provence.
Formerly of Myocum, Australia our friends are now living the dream and are currently converting a circa 17th/18th century barn into their house complete with gite for income. We sipped rosé on their patio, ate glorious food, gazed at their olive orchard, marveled at their ancient well and left full of envy.
Arles is the town where Vincent Van Gogh in 1888 came for inspiration. With its plethora of ancient monuments, pollution free environment and vibrant colours he was able to produce an abundance of work here. Most notably ‘The Starry Night” painted in Saint-Remy-de-Provence and “Cafe du Forum” painted 10 metres from our hotel room.
For 11 euros we have been able to purchase a “Pass to the City”. This has enabled us to visit up to six ancient monuments and two museums. And what monuments and museums they are! From amphitheaters built in the first century AD to Roman theatres and bathing houses everyday has been choc full of history lessons.
One very exciting event has been the discovery that one route of the Santiago de Compostela commences from Arles. The pilgrims walk also know as The Camino has been a dream of mine for some years now. While I may never get to actually walk the full route (from Arles its 970 km!) I can now at least say that I have walked about 2 kms of it.
One other very notable experience was that whilst visiting nearby Saint-Remy we saw the birthplace of Nostradamus born 1503.
We are finding it hard to adjust to the split days here. Shops close from 12-2 pm for lunch while most cafes and restaurants stop serving food from 2 pm until 7 pm. It all means that you have to be very organised not only with your shopping but when you want to eat. We consider 7 pm quite late to eat but it’s actually very early here!
Tomorrow it’s again back on the train for a 3 hour train trip to Nice.
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