To Arles

October 9, 2022

Stepping back another 1200 years or so

We have a five+ hour train ride from the Bordeaux St. Jean station to Arles today, easy on and off since we can roll the bikes on board. Running along the coast for the last part of the trip, we catch a few glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea under sunny skies.

At the Arles station we meet a couple from Germany with a tandem recumbent. It must have been quite a job to load it on the train. I wonder where they were able to park it. The woman looks wistfully at our little folding bikes and comments on how light they look. I’m appreciating the Bike Fridays more all the time. They’re heavy to carry in a bag through train stations but we've figured out how to minimize that task. We're finding they are quite manageable and holding up well to the demands of this trip.

It would be fun to try one of these hybrid recumbent/diamond frame tandems. Everybody gets a clear view of the landscape and the stoker in front has a great perch for photography.

From the train station we ride south along the Rhone river and then up a series of narrow winding streets through Old Town Arles. It has a decidedly more ancient vibe after the days we've spent wandering through 12th century medieval fortresses and chapels.

The Romans took over the town in the first century BC and expanded it into a major port city of the empire. Not far from our lodgings we find the Amphitheatre of Arles, a 2000 year old arena that still hosts bullfights in the summer. Tomorrow we'll take a closer look at this treasure and more antiquities from the Roman era.

First look at the Rhone river near the train station

Winding through hilly, narrow lanes in Old Town Arles

Built in the first century AD, the Amphitheater of Arles hosted over 20,000 spectators for chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand combat.

Our AirBnb apartment is on the second floor of a 500 year old building on Rue Molière, in the southwest corner of Old Town. It's modern and roomy with a well-equipped kitchen. After bouncing around a series of shorter stays in tiny places lately, having four nights here sounds wonderful. We store our bikes for the night at the bike shop across the street and find some dinner at a cafe nearby.

The building on Rue Moliere where we find our AirBnb apartment.

Ancient doorway to our modern apartment.

Looks like a comfortable place to settle in for the next four nights.

Some of the buildings here look kind of dilapidated but it feels safe and there are plenty of shops and restaurants nearby.

From our window we see Cafe Georges and Boulevard des Lice just past it.

Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 471 km (292 miles)

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