Checked into a great two star hotel in Arles, the Hotel Porte Camargue, sited just over the bridge and a ten minute walk from the really interesting historical central section of old Arles.
What a simply amazing city. There are two driving forces that make this a great place to peg out for a week. One, this is Roman History central when it comes to France and two,Vincent Van Gogh moved down to Arles to take in the superior light conditions way back when, then proceeded to drink himself into oblivion, ended up committed to a local hospital, and all the while painted up a storm. This disagreeable genius even managed to persuade Gauguin to join him for an extended painter's bonding session. Of course their mateship ended in total disaster when the two had the mother of all altercations , in the main driven by an over imbibing of Absenth.
Cut off ear time, to express a state of mind that friends and foes couldn't quite get their heads around.
All that aside, Vincent painted some brilliant stuff when living in Arles. It's just a pity that his personality didn't exactly lend itself to being user friendly.
Julia tells me that during his life Vincent only managed to sell two paintings.
All I can say is I feel for his brother Theo who had to pay this sucker's bills.
All that aside, when you visit the various inner city locations where Vincent created most of his notable stuff, you do get that weird feeling that you are following in the steps of greatness. Julia in particular loves this feeling and is really making the most of her time here.
As for all the historical Roman stuff, it's simply overwhelming . These Romans certainly didn't mess about when they decided to settle in . You name it, they built it. It has taken us days to trawl our way though all the sites, throw in a few magnificent catholic structures, drinks in The Forum Romain, visits to local hillside villages and a must do experience to a huge cavern complex up country called Carrieres De Lumieres where some brilliant Frog has designed a light show dedicated to Van Gogh and Gauguin, and it's fair to say that we are well touristed out.
Side trips to Avignon and Les Baux de Provence, whilst obviously interesting, were however not in the same league as Arles.
There are actually Three Guys to this city: Julius, Vincent and Pablo. Picasso must be mentioned as he gifted 57 prints and drawings to the Musee Reattu- Beaux Arts in 1971. We were lucky enough to catch an amazing exhibition linking Christian Lacroix costume designs with Picasso's creative genius.
A couple more days and nights of this culture and that will be it for us.
Next stop the South of France and a bolt-hole high in the hills just above Nice
Can't wait.
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