Arles & Camargue Park

Wednesday, September 9th (written Thursday evening…) The big news for the day is that the water was hot and lights were on in the hallway and the garage when we arrived home. We started our day by heading across the Rhone to Arles for the Wednesday morning market. The market was blocks long, with the majority of vendors selling clothing and household goods. We found some great souvenirs at good prices and also really inexpensive fruits and vegetables. The provençal fabrics are so colorful! And packets of lavender are everywhere. The market was packed, with probably 35% of the women – and men, as well – of North African descent.

Our next stop was the Roman arena built in the first century AD. Although at the moment it is undergoing some restoration and cleaning, it is still in use and can seat as many as 20,000. Climbing to the top of one of the medieval towers gives a view over the city and, directly below, a little square which is recognizable from one of Van Gogh’s paintings. And we lingered over lunch under an umbrella in the Place du Forum which inspired “Café at Night” also by Van Gogh. Although his presence is everywhere, there are no Van Gogh paintings to be found in the city.

In 2000 I was in Arles for four nights – and found it to be charming. I was looking forward to seeing it again and wanted my children to experience it as I did. While I enjoyed our visit this year, it is hard to find that same charm when there for only a few hours. Yet, it still was more time than the average bus tour would allow.

Instead of driving directly back to Beaucaire, we headed south to the Camargue, the vast delta area of the Rhone river where it meets the Mediterranean. It is an important wetland and nature preserve, known for flamingos, black bulls and sturdy white horses. Just outside of the preserve we saw a huge salt recovery operation, apparently the source of almost all French salt. Seeing wildlife, however, was not easy to do. For the best views one has to get out of the car and walk into the preserve, but our schedule only allowed us a few brief sightings of bulls and horses from the car, and we spotted lots of flamingos just off shore. I believe the wildlife is outnumbered by the mosquitoes which don’t seem to have that familiar buzz sound, but have a very effective bite.