Drive the Beautifully Sunlit Provence
by davequ
If you got there by train, a trip to Arles/Provence is greatly enhanced by renting a car or motorcycle for a day or two.
Using Arles, Nimes, or Aix en Provence as a home base, I recommend side trips to Roman ruins in Glanum, Orange, Camargue, Nimes, Pont du Gard, Rasteau, Saint-Remy, Aix en Provence, .... anywhere you feel like going.
The ancient town of Les Baux, and the Wine Heaven of Chateauneuf du Pape should not be missed.
Aix-en-Provence is worth a whole other set of pages in itself.
Most of all, driving on the small side roads and two lanes through the beautifully lit countryside that has inspired so many artists is such a pleasure. Driving to Chateauneuf du Pape estate Caves de Fines Roches and sampling their wines from the cellars on their beautiful estate. Chateauneuf and the Cotes du Rhones are some of the good wines of the world imho.
All of Provence is heaven when it is sunny and the mistral is not blowing.
Such remarkable countryside painted with sunlight.
Le Petanque
by agarcia
My grandfather used to play petanque in the park next to our home. He even tried once to teach me the mechanics of the game... the stupid game, as I thought then. I didn't pay much attention to his explanations, which sounded incredibly boring to my younger and tender ears.
So when I found these guys playing petanque in a park not so different to the one I grown up, I immediately remember grandpa, and the intense look in his eyes while playing, calculating the distance to the objective and the exact impulse needed to reach the goal.
I don't speak a single word in French, but when this people noticed my interest in the game, they tried to talk to me, with signals, writing things down in the sand. And so they explained to me how the game works and many other things about themselves. For example, one of the players was 93 years old and he was still the best of them. This kind of moments, this kind of people. These are the real reasons for my travels...
Go for a Stroll
by Lady_Mystique
The ancient streets of Arles are rather difficult to manoeuvre with a car, unless it's one of the few main avenues,
so I would highly recommend parking your car somewhere safe and exploring the town on foot.
This is by far the best way to really get a feel for the place, and at a pace that allows you to stop and go as you please.
There are so many charming and fascinating places to be discovered along the numerous cobbled and narrow streets.
I found most of the best ones radiated from the Arles Amphitheatre.
And don't forget to take your dog along with you!
It's a great way to meet the locals, who seemed to be deeply attached to their canine companions.
Baths of Constantine
by Tom_Fields
These baths offer a look at how the Romans bathed, which they generally did daily whenever possible. The baths were a center of social life, where people gather and talk about the day. There were three main parts: the tepidarium, the caldarium, and the frigidarium. The first was lukewarm, the second hot, and the third cold. Bathers would enter them in that order. Then they would dry off. Slaves kept the fires burning to heat up the water. One can still see where they would toil, constantly moving new coals into the cavities beneath the water and sweeping out the ashes.
Local market
by akikonomu
This is definitely a must-see. It's colourful and lively - gaudy Provencal skirts billowing in the breeze, fruits and vegetables of many colours and smell.
Try some of their local honey with flavours like lavender, and don't miss buying the fruits that are in season.
Do not attempt to take photographs of the locals without permission. Perhaps they are more exposed now, but we witnessed an old lady scolding a photographer.
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Annunciation (rt) and Joseph's Dream (lt)
The Saved Souls On Frieze
View of Columns and Seating
The Buyer
