After finishing our exploration of Aigues Morte we returned to our car and headed across the Camargue to Arles. The Camargue is not only a source of salt. It's also France's second largest national park and home to hundreds of species of birds and other small wildlife. It is a fragile ecological biospace and it has its own French version of our cowboy. They are called guardians. In the old days they lived in thatched huts out on the wetlands. To this day, they are charged with preserving the Camargue and act as guides as well as herding the famous black steer that inhabit this place and we could see herds of them as we rode through this wild and wet area.
We reached Arles and set off to explore the town. We wanted to see the rest home where Van Gogh had spent time. Today, it's called the L'Espace Van Gogh but it had been a sanitorium for people with mental disorders for many years, even before Vincent arrived. The engraving above the arched entrance said "Hotel Dieu." The courtyard is filled with flowers and the very same arches that line its permiter were the subject of a Van Gogh painting. We stood and compared.
Stacey at Arles' Hotel Dieu.
Today's hospital courtyard is filled with beautiful flowers.
The courtyard of the ancien Hotel Dieu.
And here it is as painted by Vincent - The Garden Of The Hospital At Arles.
We continued exploring the town and came across the Place Hotel de Ville, the "City Hall Square." By this time we realized that each and every town has such a place, but, despite their omnipresence, we found that so many are simply beautiful and striking. Arles is a small town and it was off season so the place was particularly wonderful: quiet and luminous in the setting sun. A few local senior citizens were sitting here and there, talking and socializing. It was peaceful and beautiful.
Place Hotel de Ville - City Hall Square in Arles, France.
People watching Arlesian-style.
Fountain near City Hall, Arles.
Medieval church on Place Hotel de Ville.
As we walked to still another Place, we came across the cafe that Van Gogh immortalized in his painting Le Cafe Le Soir (Cafe At Night). Now renamed Cafe Van Gogh and a haunt of tourists (wouldn't you want to have an espresso in this famous cafe?), it looked very much the same to us as we stood to compare and identify the various elements in the painting and in the real world in front of us.
A sign calls out the historic nature of the cafe in front of us.
(Note: You can click for a larger version on any of these photos. Then hit "back" to return to the BLOG).
Le Cafe Le Soir. Thank you, Vincent, for sharing that with us.
Arles is on the Rhone river and we walked along the embankment as the sun was setting. A beautiful scene. We then strolled over to the Amphitheatre, one of the largest and best preserved in all of what had been Roman Gaul. It held almost 20,000 people but today not even the four of us, as it had already closed for the evening. Dinner was at a lovely restaurant off the Place de Forum where I discovered Soupe de Poisson (fish soup) that immediately became my favorite French dish. It's served with croutons, on which you smear some intense garlic aïoli and then parmesan cheese. Float those croutons in the flavorful broth until they get soggy and then voilà - bon appetit!
After dinner, we walked to our car and then took our long and dark ride back home to our chambre d'hôte (B&B) in Montpellier.
The Rhone river runs gently through Arles on its way to the Camargue and the Mediterranean.
The Roman amphitheater in a fading sunlight. Closed for the day when we arrived.
Lynn enjoys a salad at a restaurant in Arles.
Soupe de poisson - my new discovery.
3 comments:
I get the chills when I see all those scenes made immortal by Vincent. How wonderful to be there! You are lucky. :)
Soupy, my favorite, what kind of soup is it? Fish soup or onion soup that is la question.
Willem said, I like the pictures & he knew about clicking on the photo's to make them bigger! Mom didn't know this! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
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