Arles Things to Do

Imagine watching a bullfight in a 2000+ year old Roman Arena. An Arena which seems to have barely fallen prey to the hands of time. The sun-warmed seats are carved into the stone, and apart from the loudspeakers blaring, you could almost feel like you stepped into a time portal.

Usually in France they have the no-kill bullfights, the Course Camarguaise. A few times a year they have the Corrida. One in particular is the Feria du Riz, in September. As I had never seen a bullfight I decided to get a ticket to the event when I got to town. But not before "running with the bulls" . (see picture - these were actually small bulls, not the ones used for the actual fight)

It may seem odd to watch a bullfight in France, but this part of France seems to occasionally embrace some Spanish traditions. (I also found out the Gipsy Kings are from Arles!).

It starts out with a great deal of pageantry. Beautiful and talented horse and rider teams, doing their pirouettes for the crowd. I found out a good horse could run 100K dollars - this was 2001!

Then, the bull, who by now is in a frenzy in his little cage, is released, and a horse and rider (picador) entice and enrage the bull into chasing them around the arena. I was amazed at how calm the horses remained - at some times the horse was barely inches ahead it seemed but very controlled and graceful.

When he got close enough, the rider would take two long spears, festooned with ribbons, and plunge them into the bull's shoulders and side. This whole scenario is meant to tire him out.

The horse and rider exits and the matador comes out. There is some footplay for the crowd for a while, and, the final coup de grace comes after the bull "gives up" - usually by falling to its knees. At that point it is over VERY fast. The matador spikes him right between the ears and the bull drops like a tree. Legs up - no joking.

It's a sad denouement when the horse drawn winch comes into the arena to drag the bull away.

Les Arenes (The Arena) is a good example of public buildings reutilization, and an indispensable visit. What was once the scene of brutal battles between gladiators now is the scene of not so brutal fights between bullfighters and bulls. Well, at least the French version of Bullfighting is not as dangerous for the bull's health as the Spanish one (which inevitably and sadly always ended with the dead of the animal)

The old dead city above the new city.
Windy, windy .. with excellent hiking through the ruins.....
then dejeuner (some good restaurants & cafes with Provence cuisine)
down in the new city... An afternoon well spent in Les Baux.

Pinched this photo from http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/us/index.html (credit T.Fréchier)

I took a vista shot climbing down to the new city, but forgot to take any of my own in the old city. Sorry 'bout that.

The Roman Arena in Arles most likely looks much like it did almost 2000 years ago.

I could feel the history as I walked through the interior and all the passageways from the gladiators' dressing rooms, through stables where animals were kept, and out into the arena itself.
Be sure to climb to the top. There are great views of the city of Arles and Provence from the top row of the arena.

The arena is right next to hotel le Calendal. They still hold outdoor events and bullfights in the arena. I root for the bull.
I took this one evening after midnight.

The city of Nimes, just a few kilometers NW of Arles, also has an excellent Roman Arena.
Southern France is filled with outstanding roman ruins.

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There are two friezes elaborating the facade of St. Trophime church. One should read what is probaby the first sculpture of a nativity story of Jesus which is given in the lower frieze below the tympanum on the facade. It starts at the edge of the north main door with the Annunciation and Joseph's dream and progresses to the south main door edge with the first bath and the Nativity. The following events include the stories of the Magi, the killing of the Innocents and the Flight Into Egypt.

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Lateral to each side of the main doors of the church stand five statues of important saints of the church. The lateral ones stand between Corinthian columns. The medial one on the north is St. Trophime dressed in high religious attire. On the south facade at the same point is a decapitation of St. Stephen showing his soul going to heaven. In this period there was no recognition of excessive expression and so sculpture was applied where ever there was free room. Immediately below Stephen sitting on the facade base is a forlorn Daniel with two crying lions.

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St. Trophime stands on the outer corner of the northwest point of the cloister. He is one of the earliest examples of full height statues created by the Moissac and Toulouse masons on leaving for new sites. They came to Arles in 1160 after first doing some similar works 10 miles west in St. Gilles. These tall deeply carved works, almost free standing, were similarly being created at Chartres on its west facade. That Cathedral was shortly destroyed by fire. Luckily Chartres west facade was saved allowing its statues to become more famous. On the northeast corner is St. Stephen, but no statue is remains from the third corner. There are four sets of statues in between the ends, also on pilasters and most have survived. Few visitors stop to look at them; walking in the cloister in the shade for a few minutes is enjoyable enough.

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The story of the Last Judgement occurs on the West facade of St. Trophime covering two friezes lateral to the tympanum, the upper one at the level of the lintel. The story has a prelude with the Original Sin starring Adam and Eve on the north lateral upper frieze. The saved souls start on the main west facade. On the right facade starts the walk of the damned and they continue around onto the lateral face. Large bas-relief sculptures complete the story with St. Michael weighing the souls on the north lateral face and the devil on the south lateral face.