Camargue and Arles

From Avignon, we drove to the southern coast of the region to take in the Camargue Wetlands, home of white horses, pink flamingos, and black bulls. We stayed the night in Arles, a city filled with Roman ruins due to their occupation starting in the early 2nd century. Van Gogh spent some time living in Arles and painted some of his most famous paintings here.

WIA: We had a quick lunch of tartines at L'Ardoise in the Place du Forum, which we ended up at because Cafe Van Gogh next door was no longer serving food in the late afternoon. We came across very few restaurants serving food at that point in the afternoon (3pm), so it was that or nothing. We were eating in the spot where Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night. Our dinner was outstanding at Jean Luc Rabanel's Bistro a'cote. We don't know anything about wine, so we mainly just let the waiters recommend something to us or drank the house wine. That worked out pretty well. The food was simple and straightforward. Everything we had was delicious. I had an enormous beef rib from a black bull like we had seen earlier that day in the Camargue Wetlands. The beef was tougher than what I was used to, but I enjoyed it a lot. Jenn had a mixed seafood dish with shrimp, mussels, and squid. I had a tasty apple cake for dessert, while Jenn had a vanilla/strawberry tiramisu. It was strawberry season, so we had lots of strawberries and strawberry desserts throughout the week.

WID: We drove down to the southern tip or the region and stopped in the city of Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer to get some information about the Camargue Wetlands in the tourist office. Our plan was to go horseback riding on the famous white horses from that area. The other famous animal in the area is the black bull. We saw several along the highway. They don't let you ride those unfortunately. There wasn't great information online, but everything we read just said there would be multiple places along the highway to which we could go. This was true, but some looked much more reputable than others. The woman Jenn spoke to in the tourist office wasn't that helpful, but gave her some information on different stables and a map. We stopped at a couple of stables, but the problem was that you couldn't just take a horse and go. These were guided rides and they only went at set times. The only times available at that point were much later in the day, and we didn't feel like waiting. We spent a couple of hours walking through the Orinthological park looking at flamingos and many other types of birds and then we decided to head towards Arles, which is where we would be staying that evening. The Wetlands were pretty, but we probably would have been okay if we hadn't gone at all. Maybe it would have been different if we would have been able to ride white horses along the beach.
Arles felt very Italian, which is due to the fact that it was occupied and developed by Romans. It's not just the arena that resembles the Roman Coliseum and the ruins of the amphitheater, but the layout of the town, the main square, and the narrow streets. We followed a route that took us to several different spots in the city where Van Gogh painted some of his famous pieces. This was a clever idea for the city to do. In each spot, they have a picture of the painting facing the direction of what Van Gogh would have been looking at as he painted. There was a river cruise ship blocking the view of "The Starry Night." We also walked through Les Alycamps, an ancient Roman cemetery filled with sarcophagi. Jenn had to explain to me what sarcophagi were. They are stone coffins. The cemetery is lined with them. Jenn wanted me to take a picture of her in one, but I refused because I thought it was disrespectful. She thought it would have been hilarious. We agreed to disagree. 
WIS: We stayed Le Calendal., which we chose because the price was right and it was the number one rated hotel in Arles on Trip Advisor. The location couldn't be beat as it's right in the center of the city and about 100 yards from the arena. It was very basic inside, but for one night, we weren't concerned. It surprisingly had a very nice spa. In each country, we always kind of tiptoe our way into the spa and watch other people to see what the rules are regarding what one wears and doesn't wear. Everyone was in bathing suits, so we did the same.

WAM: We were in the car a lot during the week, so we had the opportunity to catch up on all the current American pop music. There is no shortage of it on French radio. It's not like I grew up at a time to really experience or appreciate great songwriting, but there is so little concern for lyrics in most popular music today. It's all very catchy, I'll give them that, but if you ever take the time to really listen to the lyrics (which I do not recommend) of Nicki Manaj's "Starships" or Carly Rae Jepsen's incredibly catchy "Call Me Maybe", you will realize that they could have (and probably were) written by someone with either a 3rd grade education or with so little respect for the English language and those who speak it. It goes along with my ongoing complaint about the trend in television shows and movies catering to the lowest common denominator. I fear for the next generation as the world is becoming dumber every day. Having said all this, these songs, along with Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know" (which actually is somewhat well written) are much more likable than some of the other garbage at the top of the charts. We probably heard these three songs at least 20 times each in the week we were in Provence.

While on the subject of the radio, we devised a game while we were there called "French or English" where within the first few notes of a song, we would have to guess whether the song would be in French or English. Most of the radio stations played a mix of the two. It's much more fun than it sounds and harder than one might think.

WTF: It never ceases to amaze me how little regard their is in Europe for rules and order. It seems to almost be a badge of honor to make it clear that they are not as uptight as Americans and would never stress about such things. We drove up and down the road through Camargue to Saintes-Marie-de-la-mer several times trying to figure the whole thing out. There are plenty of horse stables, but you have to drive up to each one to then find out that there isn't any real schedule to it, but is based on when they have enough people to go. Even after talking with the tourist office, we still couldn't figure out where to drive and what there actually was to see in the Wetlands. We ended up pulling off on the side of the ride where we saw cars and it looked like something to see. This is how we happened upon the Orinthological Park. I'll be the first to say we're over the top in the US when it comes to order and procedure, but there is also something to be said for making it easier on people.

For more pictures, click here.