Arles

Arles was the first stop on what I was calling my "AAA" trip, Alres, Avignon and Aix. First a map...

Arles is about half way up on the extreme left of the map.

To get there I took a train from Nice to Marseille, then a smaller train on to Arles.

Arles was a major Roman colony, often referred to as the "Rome of Gaul", it is situated on the Rh��ne river. Van Gogh painted some 200 works while in Arles including "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night Over the Rhone". This is also where he cut off his ear and was initially hospitalized.

Arles turned out be my favorite of the three. It is packed with stuff to see, is very walkable, and is of a scale that is very easy to grasp. It also was not overrun with tourists and had a really first rate museum.

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It is hard to envision it, but this is roughly the spot from where Van Gogh painted "Starry Night Over the Rhone". The gallery picture is the "real thing" from my trip to the Muse�� D'Orsay in Paris. Most of the waterfront area of Arles was heavily bombed during WWII.	< D'Orsay/Paris
	Place de la R��publique (Main Square) in Arles. Hotel de Ville (later) to the left, an Egyptian obelisk that used to stand in the middle of the Coliseum and Saint Trophime Cathedral.
The interior of Saint Trophime is nothing much, although it has hosted such dignitaries as our friend Barbarossa, but the facade is really spectacular and not just because it has recently been restored. Basically telling the story of the final judgement, notice the condemned sinners in flames and Jesus surrounded by the animal representations of the major saints.
The Cloister "Clo��tre" at St. Trophime is also very nice.
Hotel de Ville 1673-1675 A spectacular ceiling on the first floor. Funky design and get this... no mortar!
	One very nice surprise was The Arles Museum of Antiquities (my translation) or Mus��e de l'Arles Antique http://www.arles-antique.org/ it was very open, set up well and had a very high quality collection. The picture is of a ligurian stele depicting horses which were believed to take the souls of the dead to the underworld.
Roman and early Christian sarcophagi, most of which originally sat in Les Alyscamps (below) but were kind of pillaged by the town and occasionally given as gifts.
Let's see... First picture, I think the end one is Hardrian, or Tiberius, the middle guy is Markus Orillias (sp?)...
	This is a model of the Roman Circus at Arles. There is practically nothing left of it, but as you can tell it was very large, 450 meters long, 101 meters wide, and could hold 20,000 spectators. It was built in the 2nd century AD. One end of it can still be seen below grade just outside the museum.
	I thought the old keys were neat
	This is a model of a fascinating multilevel mill that was outside of Arles. Notice how there is a water wheel on each side at each of the 7 levels of the building.
	Yup, those are Roman water pipes. These are the first I have seen above ground. Very sophisticated, but unfortunately for the Romans made out of lead.
Very nice recovered mosaic floors. One showing the kidnapping of Europe, a common theme.

	Weights used in measuring and commerce.
	With the amount of "noses" that are broken off of status it is amazing that humans don't suffer from this more often.
	Very nice bronze statue of Nike, or Victory.
	Athena
	Fantastic bronze cherub fellow with bird.
More beautiful mosaic panels.
	Oil lamp from a section of the exhibit on Algeria.
Back into downtown Arles... The Cryptoportico of the Forum, 30-20BC is the now buried lower level of the Roman Forum. You get there by going through the floor of this neat Baroque church. There are two "U" shaped galleries
Roman theater, 27-5 BC, most of it seems to have been carted away.
Amphitheater/Arena, built around 90AD, currently used as a bullfighting ring, in the8th century turned into a fortress (hence the towers) and as a mini city had some 200 buildings inside of it. Good views (below)

Constantines Bath, 4th century AD...the largest remaining in Provence. The pillars of stone were used to hold up the floor and allowed hot air to circulate from below. This would have been the same design used in the baths at Nice.
	Picasso poster from Mus��e R��attu, the worlds most humid museum.
In Place du Forum is the subject of Van Gogh's "Cafe Terrace" (can you tell?), sorry I didn't get a better angle or waited until nightfall. The owners painted it yellow, though originally it was only yellow because of the light.
	"Interesting" translation in my hotel room. "In case of fire...warm the reception"
Evening views in Arles. The remains of the bridge are Roman, over 2000 years old, and once supported a boat bridge across the Rhone.
The Alyscamps, a Roman and early Christian cemetery. Mentioned in Dante's "Inferno".
Both Van Gogh and Gaugin painted scenes from les Alyscamps.
St. Honorats church, 12th Century, at the end of Les Alyscamps.