Arrr Matey!

When John suggested a trip to the nearby town of Arles, I was immediately on board.  Arles sounded like the kind of name a pirate would give a town, and I love pirates, so I figured it would be a good time.  We headed to Arles and managed to only get turned around once (much improved over the previous day’s trip to Marseille) and headed into town to explore.  A city originally founded by Greek colonists, Arles became a major commercial outpost for, who else – the Romans when a canal running parallel to the Rhone and connecting to the sea was built around 102 BC.  It became a prosperous city, often called the “second Rome” around the 4th century AD.  However, when Rome retreated, so too did the glory of Arles.  That is, until the reign of the great Charlemagne, when Arles was returned to its seat of importance and made The Kingdom Of Arles. Today, Arles is a maze of narrow, winding streets and old architecture with reminders of the Romans former presence spread throughout the city. For someone like myself who likes to take pictures, it was a treasure trove of spots.  However, I managed to reign myself in somewhat so as to not totally annoy everyone else. 

Some of the narrow streets.  Can you guess who might possibly be wearing a Puma backpack in front of me?

We decided to do a little walking around to try and get the “lay of the land” so to speak.  The small shops immediately caught Katie and I’s attention and it wasn’t long before we were inside one of the clothing shops that had a cute dress in the window.  Of course, Kevin and John refused to go in the shop and decided to wander off while Katie and I were browsing.  As I was making one last look around the shop, Kevin came running in, imploring me to come “RIGHT NOW” and follow him somewhere.  He lead me around the corner to a shop with Roo’s French cousin in the window.  In typical Schnauzer fashion, the dog saw us and knew we were admiring him/her and thus came and sat in the window so that I could get a good picture. Schnauzers are so smart.

Needless to say, I stared whinging (that’s the British version of whining or complaining) about how I missed the Hansdome Man and Macarooners. 

After my momentary sadness over the Von Schnauzers was over, we headed out to find the reason why we went to Arles – the Roman Coliseum.

Dating back to the 1st century AD, the amphitheater could seat over 20,000 blood thirsty Romans, eager to see chariot races and gladiator battles. Today, the audience is slightly less blood crazy, as it hosts kill free bullfighting (the matador merely has to remove a flag from the bull’s horn) as well as summer concerts.  It was nice to see that the people of Arles were very invested in the conservation of the amphitheater, as they were in the process of restoring a good part of it.  We also had a really good time climbing up to the very top to enjoy the view over picturesque Arles.

At some point in between heading up to the top and heading back down, we lost Kevin.  Naturally, this did not stop me from taking photos, or from some Katie/Amanda silliness. 

 

Since there was no bullfight that day, Katie and I decided to recreate one.  John was not amused.

After we located Kevin, lost Kevin AND John and then found them again, we decided to head over to another Roman ruin, right near by.  I thought this one was called an amphitheater, but don’t quote me on it. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the previous roman ruin, but being a history nerd, it was still neat to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Arles also had the remains of an old Roman bath, we decided to talk a quick trip over there before heading home.  On the way, we came across a square dominated by the statue of Vincent Van Gogh.  This may seem a strange subject, as most statues in public places tend to be politicians, military heroes or royalty.  However, Vincent Van Gogh spent a good deal of 1888 in Arles.  It was in this town where he cut off his ear lobe (only to then be chased out by townspeople for being mad).  Some of his more famous works were done while in Arles, among them “Vase with 12 sunflowers” and “ Café Terrace at Night.”

We  found the Roman baths but they appeared to have been updated somewhere in the Victorian time, and were not even remotely as impressive as the baths in Bath, England so we decided to forgo them in order to head home to our usual night routine – card games, drinks and dinner by the fire.