Arles 28th August 2010

There was a street market on the main street which divides the old part of Arles to the new.  The food section was amazing.  The aromas from the spices and cooked food mouth-watering.  The rest of the stalls was of clothing and a lot of junk – cheap toys – nothing authentic to the area at all.  I managed to buy a nice bikini. 

We went into the old part of town and had a coffee while we people watched.  We went to see the Van Gogh space.  It was disappointing to see that there was nothing there but the building where he was a patient, a beautiful partierre garden, and lots of gift/tourist shops cashing in on his name.  (Two years later we went to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam so that made up for today’s disappointment.)

We bought tickets to go into the arena (small colleseum) and also for the evening show that was going to be held there.  It was unbelievable being able to just wander around, mostly by ourselves.  We climbed up into one of the towers and could look out over the city.  It was great although it was very windy up on the top in fact it was so windy it was hard to take photos.

We sat at one of the cafes overlooking the arena for our lunch.  Then time for some more shopping.  I bought 2 lovely scarves, a wooden chicken and some lovely little tins.

It was time to head back to the Hotel for a rest then out for tea.  We had our dinner in a café overlooking the scene of one of Van Gogh’s famous paintings.  Then into the arena to take our seats ready for the ‘Gladiator Show’.  This was a fabulous experience.  Some of it we didn’t understand as they seemed to be making a film, but the gladiator fighting and the chariot races made up for the arty part.  The crowd went wild, cheered and clapped.  It was an amazing feeling sitting in this arena which had been built 100bc by Julius Caesar for his retired Generals.  A step back into history.