It was market day in Arles. What a lively and colorful place to be! Vendors line up along Boulevard des Lices and display the best looking produce, fromage, sausages and bread (pain) I’ve ever seen. Patrons are either toting large woven bags or wheeling carts that resemble carry-on luggage. We weaved through the busy market, me wishing I was a local and could do my weekly shopping here. Then we headed out to explore.
What Arles is know for: Arles grew as an important port after helping Julius Caesar defeat Pompey at Marseille. The bridge in Arles was the first one over the Rhône river. In the 1800s Van Gogh settled in Arles. Sadly, American bombers destroyed much of Arles in WWII.
We wandered down Rue du Cloitre and found our way to Théâtre Antique, a first-century roman theater. For €9 we got dual tickets for the Roman theater and Roman arena (where bullfights are still fought today).
Onward to Rue Voltaire … said to be the street Van Gogh first walked down in 1888. Easels are placed in spots where Van Gogh painted. Starry Night over the Rhône was painted here (the more well known Starry Night was painted in St. Rémy just about 20 minutes from Arles), and Café Terrace at Night in Forum Square (Café la Nuit).
I was a trooper and visited the Cryptoporticos, a dark & drippy underworld (as Rick Steves describes it). Tom was a trooper and wandered Rue de la République, a shopping street, where I was overly excited to be at a L’occitane en Provence while in Provence!
A lunch (and dessert for Tom) in a small Café that boasted about its air conditioning fit the bill.
