Arles, France: Bed #6

Posted by Unknown April 05, 2014

Arles, France: Bed #6

Driving from Cinque Terre, Italy to Arles, France is a little like driving from the Rockies to home. The drive starts out very twisty, through many tunnels and hills, but nearer to Arles it became more agrarian with wide open spaces and thousands of sheep and cattle dotting the countryside (the livestock not so much like home). We were planning to stop in Nice for lunch, but it was pouring so we waved at it as we drove by.

A house near our condo. I wish we could grow these at home!

Arles is not a beautiful city, although there are beautiful areas, but we loved it nonetheless because our condo was in a very quiet and "rural" area where we slept like logs and once again ate like kings. After cooking in such “scantily clad” kitchens for the last number of weeks, the kitchen in Arles felt luxurious. Rubber scrapers and actual cloths, not just sponges. Spatulas, plenty of dishes, and a drip coffee maker – Ahhhhh…. It was lovely. Toasters have become luxuries and more than 4 forks - a miracle!

Provence is the birthplace of Ratatouille, so we tried our hand at making it. It was a hit!

The condo was in a complex where there was plenty of space to wander and to play volleyball. By the multiple pools and activity spaces, you can tell that in the summer this place is hopping, but in the off-season it was pretty quiet and nearly abandoned. It’s that feeling you get when you’re nearly the only ones in the campground – lovely to have the place to yourselves, but a little eerie at the same time.

It was also the first time that we didn’t have to tie ourselves into pretzels to get Internet access so there was screen time galore for all of us. The laptop is a hot commodity, so time on it needs to be negotiated. It’s our entertainment, our connection to people and our primary trip planning tool so it’s always in play.

Movie time.

There were a few things on the agenda in this area of Provence, and true to HM form, nature was first. Arles is near a large protected area of marshland which is home to many species of birds, “wild” horses and “wild” bulls. The horses and bulls aren’t completely wild as they are somewhat fenced in to protect them from running onto the highway and to protect people, but other than that they are free to roam. Pretty cool. Wild flamingos were also a real highlight. On our first trip to see them it was so windy that when they lept out of the water to fly, they would go backward at first. When we went to a bird sanctuary later in the week, it was much calmer and we got a closer look.

Yellow eyes - who knew.

They pretty much hung in mid-air or even got blown backward by the wind.

Creative Design

Checking out the birds from a "blind"

If there is any nature in Europe, the HM’s will find it. The guidebooks gave this area a "meh" which puzzles us as we spent hours there. We watched the flamingos for a long time, studying them intently, giggling as they'd seem to argue with each other, while most others gave them a quick look and moved on. I guess we're the odd ducks.

We are also realizing that the idea of a protected area is really something special in North America. There just aren’t as many in Europe, and wildlife is so rare. It saddens all of us to imagine how it might have looked here before human development and to hear the stories of how many different kinds of animals used to call this home.

Wild-ish Horses

Another highlight was Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct that is very well preserved. It’s the 2^nd tallest Roman ruin after the Coliseum. You just shake your head when you imagine that it was all built without the help of electric or fuel powered machinery. There was a fantastic museum on the grounds which explained how and why they built it. Fascinating. If someone proposed that project today, we’d say it was impossible.

Can you find Team HM?

Arles was also where Van Gogh spent a lot of time. Many of his famous paintings were completed there so there’s an interesting walking tour you can do to see permanent easels in the location of the scene in his painting. Only problem was that as Rick was snapping photos all day, we didn’t realize that there was no memory card in the camera. At least we have few shots from my phone. Once again Van Gogh’s story is the same as so many geniuses. He was a tormented soul and died very young at his own hand. We all agreed that we were content in our mediocrity.

Where Van Gogh sat...

...when he painted this.

Cheese stand at the market in Arles

Lex Baux was another highlight of this area. Lex Baux is a medieval castle ruin that is very well displayed and presented. There was a booklet for kids where they had to run around the ruins to find letters to spell a secret phrase. Aria totally bought in and eagerly completed the booklet, only to find that the secret phrase was in French (of course) and didn’t make perfect sense to us, but still, it served it’s purpose. Scattered throughout the ruin were pictures of how it looked and how it was used in it’s time. It really helped to recreate what life might have been like. They also had several siege engines (big machines that they used to break into castles) that were in working order. You can’t help but cringe when you think about life minus all of our comforts, never mind the notion of living in fear of savage attacks. Hot oil poured down on your head anyone?