Days 10&11 – Arles (Provence)

Provence covers a relatively large area of Southern France and has its own unique terroir. Our first stop in Provence was Arles, known for its Roman ruins and the asylum that housed Van Gogh before his tragic demise.

We arrived in Arles to find ourselves (again) navigating streets that resemble alleys by US standards. A large car is a definite liability. The GPS is virtually useless because many streets are periodically closed to automobiles.  For some reason our (2015) GPS doesn’t seem to know which streets are one way and, on many occasions, directed us to turn onto a street in the prohibited direction. We were provided with a code by the hotel that lowered the street posts allowing us to drive to our accomodation in the city center.

As soon as the family who owns and runs the Hotel Forum saw us, they grabbed our bags and parked our car.  Thank goodness, for trying to find “le parking” and engineering the car into a small space would have done us in.

Wow, our nerves were shaken after the wild ride of Mr. Toad, so the bartender in the hotel made us a 007 [shaken, not stirred] martini, extra dry.  We loved the old movie posters that were suspended on the red walls: Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, a young and thin Gerard Depardieu, etc., decorated the room.

The plaza, la place du Forum, in front of our hotel holds a sea of café seats.

So many restaurants line the street that choosing one became a challenge.

In front of our hotel, Jill spotted this café, which immediately reminded her of Van Gogh’s painting “Café Terrace at Night.”  By golly, it is the exact spot where he painted it.

The painting is also known as “The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum.”  How magical.

The hotel management told us to go to La Paillot for dinner.  On a side street, the small intimate bistro served up some excellent grub.  Above is the entrée, petit chevre a l’huile d’olive, tomate confite, herbes de Provence (warm goat cheese, tomatoes, olive oil and herbs wrapped in a flakey pastry).  This course was after the charcuterie platter.  Time for our stretchy pants.

The local vin was both excellent and reasonably priced.

Dos de saumon, poele, fondue de poireaux (salmon with a leek fondue)

Estouffade de taureau revisitée, riz de Camargue (buffalo estouffade & brown rice)

Onctueau de chocolat noir, sirop de fruits rouges (chocolate goodness, in a berry sauce)

The best crème brûlée Pete ever tasted!

The next day we did some serious sightseeing.  Here is the Roman Theatre Antique, which could hold around 10,000 spectators.

A private garden near the ruins

Many stony pathways

The exterior of the Roman Amphitheatre, which could seat 21,000 spectators.  This place must have been a real party town back in the day.

Today it is used for bullfights and other events.

The stadium is huge, but the upper sections are so rickety that we turned back before reaching the top.

The bull pen

Bull stadium entry.  We learned that France does not allow the killing of the bull.

We ate lunch in a Russian café across from the amplitheater, another spot painted by Van Gogh. The town puts out posters at the sites of his paintings.  A woman near the restaurant was singing the songs of Edith Piaf for the tourists.

We then toured the asylum where Van Gogh painted some of his greatest works before his death  It now is filled with offices, galleries, and shops.

The actual tree that he painted

Iris patch

Man does not live by French food alone.  We went for some pho at a local Vietnamese restaurant, L’Apsara, which was packed with young, chic French people.  We were the only oldies and the only tourists.  A soccer match was on the TV, so the place was lively. Tomorrow we head out for Aix-en-Provence.