A Well Kept Man

After leaving the Pont du Gard, we headed to the city of Nîmes which is very similar to Arles in terms of architecture and feel. Nîmes however, has many more Roman buildings which are in much better condition. The arena (colosseum) in Nîmes was more complete than the arena in Arles, and Nîmes also has an ancient Roman temple, a Pantheon-like structure, a tower, and the remains of gate that marked the entrance to the city which dates from sometime in the early first century BC.

There are also canals running through the city which begin near the Roman Temple of Diane as a result of a naturally occurring spring. The exact purpose of this temple is unknown, but the ruins are part of what was most likely a much larger area of buildings, gardens, and monuments. Seeing such ancient buildings truly makes you stop and ponder just how long people have been running around on Earth.

As we sat in a park outside the arena eating some market food (hot sausages on a baguette for the boys, Mediterranean salad for the lady), we marveled at the awesome events that must have transpired within the arches of the arena (not the actual arches, I'm just attempting to wow you with my poetic skills). We were able to see a few more churches as well as more old stuff as we walked through the city on a pleasant Sunday afternoon (which meant pretty much everything was closed so all of our activities occurred outside). Although the picture doesn't do the scene justice, there was this dog resting his head on a window sill in one of Nîmes' squares. It just seemed to capture the mood of the day, a lazy Sunday in Spring. Our favorite sights here were the gardens (where the Temple of Diane and the Great Tower reside), as well as the arena/amphitheatre (at least from the outside it looked good...kind of hard to justify spending money to go into another arena when you were just in one the day before). Next stop, Avignon...

We stayed just outside of Arles in the town of Barbegal for three nights to finish our trip in Provence. Our lodging was a working farm about ten minutes from the city, which had plenty of chickens and feral cats (well, at the beginning of the stay there were plenty of chickens, by the end the cats decided there were too many). The city of Arles was settled by the Greeks in the 6th century BC, before being taken over by the Romans in 2nd century BC. We arrived on market day and wandered around seeing the various sights while snacking on some fresh strawberries from the market. Some of the more noteworthy sights include the Colosseum and the amphitheater; the former which remains one of the best preserved in Europe, the latter which has been ravaged by time but still evokes a picture of the greatness of Rome.

As luck would have it, we were able to get into the arena free of charge as they were practicing for a bullfight later that evening. It was interesting watching the matador dance with the young bull (probably no more than a year old), and thankfully, they were just practicing so there was no sad ending (although later that night, we caught a glimpse of the real thing through the open arches and decided that bullfights weren't really our thing). A funny item of interest was it was fairly evident when the matador did something well as the crowd's cheers were easily heard in the streets around the arena, which elicited cheers from passerbys as well. We laughed a bit when two ladies who obviously could not see a single thing other than the wall of the arena applauded with great fervor at the sound of the cheering crowd inside (¡Olé!).

Arles narrow streets had many vibrantly colored homes and storefronts, and provided a wonderful sensory experience. The main square is home to a cloister and the St. Trophime Church, with a fine example of Romanesque sculpture on the portal entrance. Nearby to Arles are various other sights, such as Daudet's windmill, and an abbey up in the hills. The fields surrounding Arles are mostly utilized for olive and grapes, although lavender is grown here as well. Arles is a very quaint city, and small enough to provide ample respite for those searching for a quiet adventure.