France: Arles

My Rick Steves guidebook to France states "many scholars claim the best-preserved ancient Roman buildings are not in Italy, but in France."  Arles exemplifies this.

The morning began with a steady drizzle and occasion chilly winds.  We all donned our rain jackets, some carried umbrellas, and we were met by our local guide, Pierette.  She took us on a 2-hour tour of the winding narrow streets and ancient ruins.  In order to hear our guides we all carry a radio receiver around our necks and affix an earpiece on the right side while the guide wears a microphone.  Our tour director calls these our "whispers".

Anyway, when Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompey were fighting for power in the last years BC Arles aligned itself with Caesar.  Since they chose the "right" side, Caesar rewarded the city by establishing it as an important trading center.  The first bridge over the Rhone was built here, the shipyard was busy, and the city was allowed to charge taxes to anyone wanting to enter or exit the river.  Caesar also built and enormous public forum.  Later a fighting arena and amphitheater were built.

 Everyone setting off through the streets, making their way to the area

As you can see from the picture above, there is a bit of structure that looks out of place.  The square tower on top of the arena was built during medieval times and most of the arches were bricked up so that a small village of residential buildings could be constructed inside.  At one point there were 200 homes crammed into the arena.  In the 1800s the city of Arles reopened the area for preservation and also so that they had a place to hold the local region's culturally important (and money-bringing) bull fights.

There are bull fights twice a year.  For Easter, a typical Spanish-style bullfight is held where the bull is killed at the end of the "dance" and then the animal is butchered and eaten by the locals.  At the end of the summer a second bullfight happens, where the bull is dressed with ribbons around its horns and the men try to carefully unhook each ribbon for money.  In this fight the bull is considered the master.  At the end of the fight the bull goes back to the farm it lives in.  Famous bulls that dance very well are buried with full ceremony, as if a member of the family has died.  The animal is buried in a very large grave, standing up, and with its head looking to the east.

One interesting feature of the city is it's street art and graffiti.  While a lot of it is clearly vandalism, some of it really stood out to me.

At the Roman amphitheater the city still holds music festivals.  The back wall used to be three times as high as it is now (it was used as a quarry at one time).  There are only two remaining columns from the back of the stage, and they are called "the widows" by locals.

 The Madonna on the upper right on the gateway was a place of prayer during times of plague,

on the right you can see our guide Pierette with her very sturdy green umbrella

 The "Night Cafe" that Van Gogh painted when he lived in Arles (more on that later)

Our guide pointed out that "some idiot" who owns the building painted the grey limestone yellow 

to make it look like the painting

The only remaining part of the old Roman forum existing today

During our tour the rain made picture taking a struggle, so I planned on walking the streets again after lunch.  However, since we had an our before that time Maury and I walked through the local market.  The fresh-smelling fish stands were my favorite but there was a lot of cheese sampling to be had and enormous slabs of nougat (seen below).

 

 And now, about Van Gogh!  Vincent Van Gogh came to Arles in the winter of 1888.  There was about a foot of snow on the ground, so the entire city was bundled up fairly tight.  Van Gogh spent his time painting still life and self-portraits.  Seen in the above right picture, the center building is what Vincent called "the yellow house", where he stayed in Arles.  The yellow house was destroyed in 1944 by an errant bridge-seeking bomb, but the four-story structure behind the yellow house in the painting still stands (see above left).

A relatively modern fountain in the city

 

 The back of the Amphitheater, viewed from a garden where Van Gogh painted often

St. Trophine Church sits in the main city square opposite city hall.  In the middle ages most of Arles' population was illiterate, so the Romanesque arch above the doorway gives a very clear message.  On the left all the good men and women are clothed and warm, being welcomed into paradise by the angels (though Maury pointed out that all the women are in the back of the line while the men go to heaven first!).  On the right, all the bad people who have not accepted the church are naked and in chains, marching to hell as flames lick their legs.  Creepy and yet stunning detail. 

The interior felt very old.  Other than the emergency exit lights and fire extinguishers it looked like the church hadn't been changed since medieval times.  Their most prized relic was the skull of St. Anthony of the Desert, considered to be the first monk (though he probably wasn't).  It turned out that the church held a collection of relics (bones) from 27 saints, all in elaborately decorated glass cases.  It was a very interesting visit.  I should mention that the tapestry and art collection was impressive also, if you could see it in the dim light.

At the end of the afternoon we revisited the hospital where Van Gogh was treated for blood loss (he'd just cut off part of his ear and given it to a prostitute).  The courtyard of the hospital (now an archival library)  remains the same today as it was when the artist painted its garden.  I read a wonderful quote in my guidebook from a letter that Van Gogh wrote to his sister while he was living in Arles:

"I don't know whether you can understand that one may make a poem by arranging colors...In a similar manner, the bizzare lines, purposely selected and multiplied, meandering all through the picture may not present a literal image of the garden, but they may present it to our minds as if in a dream."

Can you see the accidental self-portait?

 Later in the evening we returned for the captain's reception dinner.  Everyone was served cocktails and passed canapes.  Then we set down to a four-course dinner.  Everyone fell into a food coma shortly after.

A bientot!

-Dani