Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Arles


We took a bus to  Arles, which is famous for it's Roman buildings.
 The Rhone river flows through the city.







There are lots of places for Gourmand to enjoy. 





We loved the narrow cobble stoned streets.



Some were steep enough to need steps.



We did a bit of  window shopping.  Luckily we were backpacking so were able to resist shopping.





Entering the famous Amphitheater built in 90AD.





The view from the top was amazing.



You can see the seating in the background.







Relaxing on the seats.







Monday, May 5, 2014

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and Saint-Remy-de-Provence





L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a pretty little town on the Sorgue river.  It is famous for antiques and we saw lots of them.

 

We saw a lot of garden decorations. 

This large decorative giraffe caught our eye from across the street. 

 
 Later that day we returned to Avignon .  The next morning we caught a bus to Saint Remy-Provence because we heard that they had a famous market that day.

 

A whole roast pig!


More kinds of olives than I have ever seen in one place.


Pates, pickles and peppers...


garlic galore,


flowers,


Lavender (we were in Provence after all)


art,



linens and scarves,


fresh fruit,

and all kinds of cheese.

Then we sat down for one of our fantastic French meals.




After lunch we asked at the cute little tourist office about Saint Paul-de-Mausole which is an assylum famous for having had Vincent Van Gogh as a patient for a year.



  

 It was a bit of a hike but most of it was on a path with no traffic so it was a pleasant walk.

 

There were some beautiful gardens,


  

Lots of flowers


 

and plaques showing scenes that Van Gogh painted.