Arles

September 25, 2024

Sights and Sounds of Arles

What a wonderful place Arles is. We did a rare hotel switch first thing in the morning. We weren’t happy in the Hotel Cheval Blanc, and it seemed worth it to us to make the effort to switch. We are now in the Hotel du Forum and wish we were here for a week. A fabulous spot. We have the most amazing room and even enjoyed their excellent breakfast this morning. One more shot at that tomorrow morning before we are back on the bikes.

The room is huge, overlooks the pool and this picture shows just one small corner.

We started our day at Tourist Information as we needed some direction to maximize our time here. We bought a multi entry ticket to the various historic sites and then headed straight to the Wednesday market. Grampies had mentioned how great it was but we wandered through all kinds of cheap goods, everything you can think of, I swear if it wasn’t at this market it doesn’t exist and I wasnt enchanted. Keith did score a new belt at this point. We will see how long it lasts. Finally though, we rounded a corner and there was the main event. The produce, the cheeses, the olives, the charcuterie, oh my. This is the part of the market Grampies raved about for sure.

Where does all this stuff come from anyway?

So many things we are not interested in giving house room to.

Here we are! This is what we came to see.

The colours, the aromas are so appealing.

Grampie chicken! Did it ever smell good.

All we bought was some fruit, but we enjoyed every moment of the food portion.

Then we walked to the amphitheatre and its arena. These spaces are always interesting. It was built at the end of the first century on the model of the Colosseum in Rome. We met a couple from Vancouver there. They have done several bike and barge cruises and it was intriguing to hear how much they enjoyed them. We also ran into our bug dodging friends from yesterday. We had a good laugh about those damn bugs again.

Enjoying the streets after the amphitheatre.

It held more than 20 000 spectators back in the day.

Next up were the Thermal Baths of Constantine, followed by the Cryptoporticoes and then the Antique Theatre. In between we wandered the shops and alleys, enjoyed the ambiance and just generally soaked it all in.

So many ancient ruins. This is the Thermal Baths.

They had pools of different temperatures.

In the Cryptoporticoes. There was some very strange art in there.

This reminded us both of the greenway tunnels.

We stopped for lunch in the pool area of our hotel. It is enclosed and was so quiet and peaceful. We then headed to the Antique Theatre where they were setting up for a performance, unfortunately not tonight or we would have tried to score tickets. Then one last push to see the ‘Alyscamps’. I had low expectations but it was our number two spot after the amphitheatre. So we went full tourist for the day and thoroughly enjoyed it. I could write reams about the history of these places but it is probably suffices to say it is amazing what the Romans did back in the day, and if you want to know more, just Google.

Getting ready for a performance next week.

We found this spot fascinating. Van Gogh loved it too.

Many of the sarcophagi were looted to be used as livestock troughs. They would be perfect for that, but pretty heavy to move!

This is a bit of a walk, ten minutes at most, but it was enough that we had the place to ourselves.

After all that we retreated to the oasis that is our beautiful room and we are drinking a good red wine as I write this. The weather is beautiful, and we have a very short day planned tomorrow. We are going to hang about here and soak up the sun for a few more days.

Today's ride: 2 km (1 miles)
Total: 956 km (594 miles)

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Kelly IniguezYou and the Andersons' are mighty close. Any chance of a meet up in the works?
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2 weeks ago

Anne MathersYes, you are within spitting distance of each other. A Cycleblaze meetup is in order!
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2 weeks ago

Keith ClassenTo Anne MathersThe Andersons? Never heard of them! But we will do some investigations and check them out.
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2 weeks ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Kelly IniguezWho??? The Andersons? Further to our note to Anne we will check them out.
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2 weeks ago

Pierre EhingerKathleen, what a wonderfull reporter you are 🤗.
Thanks for those fantastic pictures and comments.
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2 weeks ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesThere is a chance that we too will hit Arles on a Wednesday. Hope so!
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1 week ago