Arles

Last weekend, we were supposed to have an excursion to Marseille with the program, but it got pushed back a week. So Claudia, Victor and I decided to go to Arles on Sunday. We bought our Cartreize cards for people under 26 that allow you to take the buses in the department Bouches-du-Rhône for 2€ during a 24-hour period (no matter how many rides you take!). The Bouches-du-Rhône department includes Aix, Marseille, and Arles, and is one of 6 departments in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (PACA).

Regions of France (PACA=bottom right)

 

PACA departments (BdR=bottom left)

Van Gogh garden

It started out horribly because it was raining and cold in Aix, and by the time we got to the bus station we were soaked and freezing. The bus ride took about an hour and 20 minutes, but luckily when we got to Arles the rain had stopped! Unfortunately, many places were closed because it was Sunday. We stopped at the Office of Tourism and got a map and info about seeing the ruins that Arles is known for.  

We ate lunch at a little café and headed off to sightsee! We saw a garden that Van Gogh painted, and I believe the building around it used to be a hospital and was where he went when the ear thing happened. Then we saw a cloister, which was pretty neat but they were under construction so a lot of our photos have that beautiful sight in them.. 

Cloister

View from above the cloister

 












Because of Marseille-Provence European cultural capital 2013 (MP13), there are extra exhibits everywhere, and we saw a really neat art exhibit that contained a ton of chairs and giant wooden stamps around a room. There were two giant chairs with stamps and bundles of material, and a giant pile of the bundles. There were also posters with the stamps stamped on them. It was one of the coolest exhibits I have seen, and the little artist explanation was really neat.

 

Amphitheater

Theater

Next we went to an ancient theater, where they still hold concerts today, and then the amphitheater. They were beautiful and it was so nice that there weren’t a lot of people around. We climbed one of the towers in the amphitheater, where they have bullfights, and the view of Arles was just incredible. The last stop was a crypt, which was really creepy because it was extremely dark and no one else was there. Before we caught the bus back, we stopped in a café and met an English guy. It’s funny, we have already met 3 British people in France because when they hear someone speaking English they want to talk to you! It ended up being a really great trip and I will definitely return to visit beautiful Arles!

Beautiful views from the amphitheater tower

Having fun in Arles!