Arles

Wednesday and Thursday, July 20-21 - Arles, France

Our last morning in Montauroux was leisurely, and the boys swam while I worked on tidying and packing up our things. We hung out until 2:00, then set out for Arles. It took us about two hours to get there, and per the hotel’s instructions, we parked in a public garage and walked the half kilometer up to Hotel le Calendal, which is in the old Roman part of the city. We were happy that the skies were blue, but it was HOT, and we were thrilled to arrive to a room with strong air-conditioning (which is not as common as you would think in Europe). Given it was our 20th wedding anniversary, we had asked our hotelier to book us a dinner reservation at a nice nearby restaurant. We relaxed in our room until dinner, then walked a few doors down to the restaurant called Le Criquet, where we enjoyed a fantastic meal, full of the most fresh and wonderful ingredients. 

We started with a cool bowl of gazpacho garnished with a tender slice of grilled eggplant. The servers were kind enough to accommodate Ewan with a plain bowl of pasta with tomato sauce, rather than the fancier entrées on the menu. Gavin enjoyed a fork tender serving of bull stew and I devoured a plate of melt-in-your-mouth lamb chops. We sprung for a bottle of velvety Chateauneuf du Pape red blend, which paired perfectly with the meat. We finished with an airy pavlova garnished with cream and sweet berries. Yum.

After breakfast at the hotel the next morning, we headed down towards the river to the beginning of Rick Steves’ suggested walk. Vincent Van Gogh lived for several years in Arles and there are all kinds of easels around the city that describe the paintings he created at the spots where he painted them. The first stop of our walk was the spot where Vincent sat to paint the famous “The Yellow House” painting. Unfortunately the actual house, which was where he lived in Arles, was destroyed during World War II, however the brasserie building and the bridges behind the house are still there, as you can see from the picture below. 

Next we walked towards the river (Rhône) and found another easel at the spot where he painted some of his “Starry Night” paintings. Apparently he was one of the first painters to ever paint at night, and he actually modified his straw hat to hold candles so he could see what he was doing!

Our next stop was the gigantic Roman arena. This arena is nearly 2,000 years old and once boasted gladiator games for the masses to watch (it originally sat 10,000 people, who were seated according to their class, and all had separate exits so that the rich wouldn’t have to mingle with the riffraff, and this also prevented fights from breaking out.) This arena is still in use today, and we actually returned later in the afternoon to watch a demonstration of the gladiator combats. 

The arena itself was gorgeously well preserved, and we loved photographing the repetitive geometry of the arches and stone stadium rows. We also climbed the one open tower and were treated to a glorious view of the city.

After the arena, I did a little shopping and then we found an amazing spot for lunch where we shared some local specialties, then we went back to the hotel for a little while to recover from the heat in our air-conditioned room. 

Our hotel was ideally located right in the center of the village, and so it was easy to pop in and out for little sight-seeing breaks during the day. Later that afternoon, we continued our Rick Steves walk to the Jardin d’Eté, where we found another Van Gogh easel. Once again it was fun to compare the painting to the actual place, which really hadn’t changed that much! We also explored the Classical Theater, another Roman relic still in use today for concerts, as well as la Place de la République, where we visited the lovely Romanesque St. Trophime Church.

We headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at a restaurant called Bistro À Coté, which is run by renowned chef, Jean-Luc Rabanel. He runs two restaurants—L’Atelier is his destination restaurant, which has received two Michelin stars. Given we had Ewan with us, we thought it would be wiser to go with his sister restaurant, Bistro, still a refined cuisine and atmosphere, but much more accessible and kid friendly (and surprisingly affordable!) Our 3 course meal cost a very reasonable €32 each. Everything was exquisitely prepared and presented. Gavin and Ewan began with the gazpacho (served in a pitcher with a straw!) and I had a dish (I cant remember the name of it) which was a piece of focaccia covered in fresh anchovies, tomatoes, pesto, arugula, cheese, olives and other fresh herbs. Divine. 

We each had a different main: Ewan had the lamb, Gavin had a seared tuna steak and I had the beef tartare. We finished with more delicious desserts, then rolled ourselves back to our hotel room, our hearts and bellies full of love for Provence.