Apart from having many attractions itself, Marseille is a short distance from several attractive smaller towns in Provence.
One of them is Arles. It’s about an hour by train from Marseille and is one of France’s oldest cities.
After breakfast, where I was joined by the hotel cat, I walked to Marseille’s main train station, Marseille-St-Charles, and got the train to Arles.
After the scenic train journey, I was quickly into a kilometre-long outdoor market not too far from the station. It sold everything! It was like an outdoor department store.
Markets in France are central to everyday life. People buy food, clothes, and other goods there. And, unlike some places, the markets don’t sell cheap goods. The goods are often high quality and appropriately priced. They also have the freshest vegetables and fruits.
Upon leaving the market, I walked around town admiring some of the quintessential French streets.
The Provence city’s biggest draw is its Roman heritage. You can see it everywhere. The Romans conquered Arles over 2000 years ago. At one point, it was the imperial capital of a Roman emperor and its population ballooned to about 100,000. It was absorbed into the Roman world in 1 BC. Arles supported Julius Caesar in his war with Pompey. Caesar rewarded the city by establishing a Roman colony there around 46 BC.
Being on the Rhone River, Arles became a major transport and trading hub between the Mediterranean and inland regions. Arles became wealthy and influential as Roman goods, people, and armies moved through the city,
There are a few Roman monuments still standing in Arles. I went to two.
The Arles Amphitheatre is one of the best-preserved Roman arenas in Europe. It was built around 90 AD and is one of several UNESCO-listed Roman monuments in Arles. It’s a huge arena and once held gladiatorial games and spectacles. In later years, bullfights were held here.
The arena is breathtaking. It’s incredible that it’s over 2000 years old!
I previously mentioned buildings being re-purposed as times change. The Amphitheatre is now a cultural centre. After 2000 years it’s still going strong. How many current buildings will last 2000 years?!
The second Roman monument I went to was Les Alyscamps, a Roman cemetery containing elaborate tombs and monuments. The walk to the Church of Saint-Honorat is lined with sarcophagi (stone coffins).
This spiritual site, dating back to the 12th century, marks the starting point of the Arles Way, one of the main French pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
The cemetery is probably most famous for being painted by Vincent Van Gogh.
