Playful Rooted

A couple weeks ago (in fact, the week before we went to Amsterdam), Ben and I joined some friends from our international group for a day trip to Arles, a small town about an hour away from Montpellier. We were only there for a few hours, but it was such a cute and interesting town, and I wanted to capture it here before I forget!

Arles is probably most well known for being the city where Van Gogh painted his most famous works. He was in love with the Mediterranean light and how it fell across buildings and gardens. Plus, every single dwelling in Arles is so quaintly colorful! It makes so much sense as artistic inspiration.

It was an earlier Saturday morning wakeup than usual for most of us, so we started out the day with a round of coffee before checking out the Saturday market. It’s a big deal in Arles. I failed to capture the size of the market, but for such a tiny town, it was huge! I kept wanting to stop and peruse, but since we were a group, it wasn’t feasible – which was probably a really good thing for my bank account.

There were so many intriguing kitchen, furniture, and clothing items, but the real stars of the show were all the food items – spices and wines, exotic peppers and oils.

So typically French.

After the market, we walked over to the arena. So many of these little towns in Provence have a millenia-old arena, and I don’t know why, but it always surprises me.

This arena was constructed in 90 AD and was used to host chariot races and bloody gladiator battles. Yikes. They still use the arena to host events like concerts, plays, and sadly, bullfights, just like in Nîmes.

It’s quite a profound feeling, standing in a structure that’s almost 2,000 years old and that has seen so much excitement, happiness, fear, death, and triumph.

It makes me feel very small every time.

As we always do, Ben and I looked up vegan-friendly restaurants beforehand, and Arles has a grand total of one. (At least they have one!) So when the group broke for lunch, we headed there with another friend who’s vegetarian. I was actually very impressed with the service and the food. When Ben asked for his sandwich without cheese, the waiter said, “Are you allergic or vegan?” It was the first time I’ve met a French person who knew what vegan means! I had the most simple but amazing salad dressed with the region’s famous (delicious) olive oil. I don’t think I’ve become a wine snob (too much of one, anyway) in France, but I am definitely getting there with olive oil.

We had some extra time after lunch waiting for the rest of the group, so we got to explore this cute square. 🙂

In addition to the arena, Arles is home to these ruins, which used to be a theater in Roman times.

I find this so cool, and despite it being a happy place, it’s somber as well.

Even though he only lived in Arles for a couple of years, Van Gogh painted over 200 pieces here. We decided to check out a couple of the scenes he chose as inspiration. Like this one, the Langlois Bridge.

In the flesh! (Although I’ve got to say, the hour’s walk to get there wasn’t quite worth it. It’s cool and all, but… it’s a bridge.)

Afterward, we made the long walk back to the main part of town and stumbled across the scene of this painting…

…and it was totally  worth it.

One of the coolest things ever!

A quick jaunt on the TGV, and we were back home. One of the coolest parts of living in France is being able to just hop on a train and see such idyllic, incredible things so easily! Next up: lavender fields in Provence!

French expression of the day
Mon petit doigt m’a dit – A little birdie told me (literally: “My pinky finger told me”)