Weather aside, we both loved Arles - yet another medieval town built on top of Roman ruins, located on the banks of the Rhone River at the head of the Camargue area. The old town is full of Roman ruins, narrow medieval streets and very picturesque views down alleyways etc. It has an excellent Roman arena and the ruins of a Roman bath and an even more excellent 12th century medieval cathedral, St Trohime, which is renowned for the carving on its front portal. The old Roman arena is still used for bull fights, similar to the one at Nimes - see my blog about the bullfight. You can climb to the top of the Arles arena tower and get a fabulous view over red tiled rooftops and the surrounding countryside. Because Arles is a lot smaller than Nimes, it is more picturesque and less modernised.
This is also Van Gogh territory, evidenced by a huge Van Gogh museum in the old hospital where he stayed after chopping off his ear and of course various other commercial opportunists to promote something "Van Gogh". The town council have also placed prints of a number of famous Van Gogh prints at the relevant places where he painted them, similar to Melbourne where prints from the Heidelberg School of painters are located along the Yarra and Bayside bike paths.
As Alan noted, apart from the French shopkeepers, all he heard was English, American & Asian tourists! It was full of tourists, but even with that commercial aspect, the town still had a nice feel.
Due to the heavy rain, we decided to have a proper lunch for a change, instead of the usual baguette style sandwich. Pam ordered the plat du jour which happened to be taureaux or for the non Frenchies, bull, cooked in red wine and herbs, and the meal has to get a 10 out of 10 for flavour, texture and quantity. It was "superbe". Being in the camargue region, bull is a classic part of the culture here. Enough ranting, here are the photos we managed to take in the sunshine between the thunderstorms!
Entering the old Roman / Medieval gates. Note the fabulous mosaic on the building just inside the gates.
In a 5 star hotel in a restored 17th century town house, they discovered further Roman ruins, so instead of knocking the "old" building down, they just built a glass floor in the foyer, so you could see the ruins below ground level! You can also see evidence of the old Roman walls and where they have just built middle ages or 17/18th century buildings into the old walls.
Alan & I have decided to get new front doors and redecorate our windows when we get home!
For those who don't read Roman numerals this plaque says 1983!
Alan had a refreshing coffee at a cafe in front of the arena. You got a great view of the cafe when you climbed the arena tower.
Close by is the city square bordered by the Town Hall and St Trohime. the tour of the cathedral included a tour of the cloisters which have a number of famous architectural features, as well as great views from the roof top around the edge of the cloister area. Apart from the amazing carving around the front door, the inside had the typical Gothic feel and some lovely sculptures, a fabulous selection of golden boxes housing donations to the church and a fabulous room full of original medieval tapestries - a bit worn but still in amazing condition, given their location.
No comments:
Post a Comment