Arles: La Flamboyante

What a city, as small as it may seem it lacks nothing in character. After crossing le Rhone you find yourself in a town full of original sights, sounds and flavors, that also happens to be embedded with a handful of ancient Roman artifacts.

Our (my Dad, my Mom, Sarah and myself) day started off at Arles’s amphitheatre, modeled after the “Coliseum” it dates back to 100 AD. Back in the day, the arena used to be able to hold up to 25,000 spectators who came to watch the gladiators fight to the death. Today it only holds half of what it did in the days of the Roman’s and bulls and matadors have replaced the gladiators, but the monument continues to be a window to the past. We had a good chuckle (but I think my Mom’s laugh can be classified as a guffaw) when my Dad gave us some well kn

own words of advice just before we entered the inside of the amphitheatre. I believe the exact words were… “Whatever happens we stick together… Has anybody had any military training?” I swear I could have mistaken him for Russell Crow ;)

From there, we headed to the ruins of a Roman theatre, St Trophime cathedral and the noted neighborhood la Roquette, where we found an intriguing market that provided us with fresh and flavorful lunch. The fresh produce and mouth watering French cuisine made for an appetizing lunch.

We finished the day with a visit to the museum of Roman antiquities, which ended up being a nice, quiet way to end our visit. My Dad even found his counterpart, a statue of Julius Caesar, which is why we now refer to him as Jules or Guius (Caesar’s nickname as a child.)

That night we ate at an unforgettable restaurant called “Restaurant le Plaza”. One of the best meals I have ever eaten. A “must go to” restaurant if you ever find yourself in the area. A cool side story to this outing, was that we found out that the “Gypsy King’s” are from Arles, who knew?

A great visited to an interesting town that can be classified as a Roman artifact itself.