Arles day-trip

We made a last-minute decision to go to Arles for the day.  It's about an hour train ride from the Montpellier train station (which is 20 min away fro our home).  We arrived in Arles by 10:30am this morning.  There was light rain so we togged up with jackets and umbrellas and headed towards town. Had only walked about 5 min when the heavens opened and a deluge began. We quickly popped into first café we saw, and enjoyed a morning coffee break.  After about 20 min it eased up, and soon after we resumed our walk the rain had stopped.  

Our entrance into town was through the Porte de la Calvaire, one of the old gates into the city.  

Next we came to this old fountain, with large ceramic image above.

We continued on into town and got our first glimpse of the Arles Roman Arena.

And then better views as we got closer - 

These last photos were taken in the afternoon, so you can see that the weather changed quite considerably from our morning start!

We soon realized that Arles is a major stop for tour buses and canal boat cruises.  We saw a long line up of tour buses outside the gates and 2 long river boats pulled alongside on the mighty Rhone River.  Arles is considered by some to be the start of one of the four main Camino routes through France and so we were very interested in seeing the church and finding any signs relating to the walk.  The church of St. Trophime is right off the Place de la Republique, which has its own Roman obelisk. It has a beautiful front facade with very well preserved statuary, showing exquisite detail in the carvings. 

We had a lovely chat with the church warden who sits in a little glass office during the church's open hours.  We were able to buy an Arles credential for pilgrims from her and she stamped it.  A very neat souvenir.  Wendy left her a card as the co-ordinator of the Victoria Chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims and she seemed suitably impressed.  ;-)

The city of Arles is most associated with Vincent Van Gogh who lived and painted here for two years, to capture the "light" of Provence.  There is a walking tour in town to guide you to places where Van Gogh painted. At each spot there is a yellow easel with a copy of his painting so that you can compare your view with his. 

We followed the walking map but got sidetracked by a number of stores that were selling Provence table cloths (a weakness of mine).  But soon lunch called, as it often does.  We wandered up and down the pedestrian streets looking for a good spot.  First time on this trip we have heard so much "American" being spoken.  We settled on Au Bar du Thym. We both had brochettes magret et poulet, (duck and chicken breast on skewers) with fries.  The chicken was delicious but we both found the duck undercooked for our liking. We should have paid attention when we heard other customers ordering it "bien cuit" i.e. well done.  We made the mistake of falling for a shared dessert again.  I should say I did because I talked Wendy into it.  I wish she had more control!!!  It was a lovely chocolate thing with whipped cream and a custard.  Much too heavy to be able to comfortably carry on walking afterwards.  Felt like a blob!!!

It got warmer and warmer as all the clouds cleared off, and soon we were searching for shady areas.

A garden we found behind some shops.  I think it would be lovely in the height of summer.  Some of the flowers were finished for the season.

The mighty Rhone River.

We didn't get home until after 6, but a great day.  Tomorrow we are really excited because Wendy has been able to sign us up for a vineyard tour recommended from the tourist info office.  

A la prochaine,

Wendy et Marion