The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 11 - St. Remy, Arles

There is nothing like a full tank of gas to make you want to take a road trip ... so today we topped off and headed a little farther afield to the towns of St. Remy de Provence and Arles. We didn't know exactly what we would find but some of the nicest surprises have come when we just went off exploring.

On the map it looked like we would be spending a fair amount of time in transit, but things in Europe turn out to be a lot closer than you think. In no time at all we were in St. Remy ... and it didn't take long to wonder why! It is a nice enough little town but there seemed to be a lot of traffic and not all that much to see. We wandered around a bit and decided that lunch was definitely farther down the road.

There are a lot of Roman ruins in this part of France, some of the more famous of which are just outside of town. Alas, so are the tour busses, always a fatal sign for us. So we waved as we passed and headed on toward Arles.

Another roadside attraction in the area is the town of Les Baux, a former hilltop fortress that seems to blend with the very rocky plateau upon which it sits. Now a ruin, it lives off tourism. (It also gives its name to bauxite, which was discovered in the area.) We saw it from a distance and were intrigued ... until we saw the line of tour busses at the base. Maybe on a trip in the off season ...

So it was on to Arles, situated on the east bank of the Rhone River and, thanks to its well-preserved Roman arena in the old part of town, also a major tourist destination. The arena is still in use during the summer for, of all things, bullfights. These are not like the Spanish ones where the bull is killed. The only injuries in these events is likely to the matadors, who must pluck a tassle of sorts from between the bull's horns.

Arles was also where Van Gogh settled a hundred years ago, leaving only a chunk of his ear behind. His name is still all over everything. We found a little restaurant behind the arena for lunch and passed the time watching two young boys sneak in over the back fence and trying not to attract the attention of the members of an American tour group that also found this a nice spot for lunch!

The drive back was actually quite refreshing. Despite being on two-lane roads with more truck traffic than I would have liked to see, much of the road was down an allee (alley) of plane trees that formed a green canopy over the roadway. This was an innovation of Napoleon, who had these trees planted to provide shelter for his troops as they marched around the countryside.

Our thoughts are starting to become occupied with the going home process. One more day on the river and then it is back to the twenty-first century.

Around the Alpilles

Arles


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