Day 33 Wed 17th July Arles – The Olive Farm and Les Baux de Provence

Arles is a very interesting city. The Romans founded it. Apart from Rome it has more Roman remains than any other city in Europe. The amazingly well constructed amphitheatre was built in 46 BC !! and could seat 26,000 spectators. There are so many things to see.

We started our morning with an optional trip out into the beautiful Provencal countryside.  We drove through fields of sunflowers, corn & tomatoes and past orchards, olive groves and vineyards.  We went to an olive farm and saw how they produced olive oil. Although it was quite a small concern they won an award in the US for the best olive oil in the world. We couldn’t get over how rocky the landscape was.

We then went to Les Baux de Provence. It is a picturesque village set on a rocky hill. The name "baux" means a prominent cliff, but has become more well-known for the bauxite named after this region. Bauxite was first discovered in the Alpilles, (a chain of limestone hills in this region) and named after the village of Baux-de-Provence. It is a photographer’s paradise and I got a bit carried away with photos again. Back to the ship for a delicious buffet lunch.

After lunch we went on a walking tour of Arles.  It was still very hot so we took hats and plenty of water. The humidity is extreme here.  We went through the amphitheatre which they are currently restoring and past several other very old remains.

After dinner we sat on the deck. It was a beautiful balmy evening.  We marvelled at the skills of the captain as we went through a rather large lock.

driving through the olive groves

under a cherry tree

at the olive grove in Provence France

panoramic view of Les Baux de Provence

in the village of Les Baux de Provence

a medieval church

very old medieval church (about 1200 I think)

the altar

the beautiful paintwork

the shop sings everywhere are so lovely. They tell what shop it is. 

not a good photo (from teh bus window moving fast but to give you an idea of the
 sunflowers everywhere

back in Arles

the roman amphitheatre built in 46 BC !!!!

what it looked like originally

and now. It is still used for bull fights and bull parades

a lot of restoration is going on left is after / right before

back in Les Baux de Provence - the photos are all over the place!!

panoramic view of Arles

making friends with Ginny from the USA.  The only thing Ginny new about Australia
was Azaria and the dingo. she didn't even know where AUS was but she
loved us