May 15, 2013 - Controversial Julius Caesar head highlight of Arles antiquity museum

Well, Richard recovered enough from our marathon at Avignon yesterday to strike out for Arles today. The city became an important Phoenician trading port, before being taken by the Romans in 123 BCE who expanded it into an important city, with a canal link to the Mediterranean Sea being constructed in 104 BCE. However, it struggled to escape the shadow of Massalia (Marseilles) further along the coast. Its chance came when it sided with Julius Caesar against Pompey, providing military support. Massalia backed Pompey; when Caesar emerged...

May 14, 2013 - Avignon: A 14th century home of popes

Today, we journeyed to Avignon to walk in the footsteps of popes during The Great Schism of the 14th century at the papal palace there. The Great Schism which lasted between 1378 to 1417 occurred when the King of France, who did not like the reigning Italian Pope, elected his own instead (or rather his French cardinals did)and ensconced him in a papal palace at Avignon. This so-called antipope, Robert of Geneva, took the name of Pope Clement VII. The 15,000 sq meter palace had been originally built for Pope John XXII, a successor to Pope...

Apr 15, 2013 - The first ride

I finally got my push bike back on the road and decided that I would get the crew to drop me and the bike off at the Pont de Van Gogh and use the bike path I had spied last time I was there. But first, a short detour to have a little look through the market in Arles again. The strong smells of 20 or more spices fragrantly floating on the crisp morning air, tantalising and teasing your nose in search of that particular herb or spice and differentiate between them. After the dot and dash of following the rest of the countryside, who had...

Mar 24, 2013 - Les Saints Maries de la Mer

Saturday finally arrived and with it my chance to try for the markets in Arles again...so through the streets of town and past the avenues of Plane Trees (apparently they are called London Plane trees which are planted along the roadside to absorb pollution...) The incredible displays of flowers, mostly edible, that are planted in the little gardens on roundabouts and around important village signage is always stunning and the one outside the Tourist information in Port St Louis is no different. Along the country roads where the wheat...

Mar 24, 2013 - Chez Fernandel!

C’est parti, en fait je suis parti et du même coup arrivé… à Marseille. J’y étais passé en 1975, je crois, donc de ça 38 ans, avec mon père. Avec ce temps, en surface tout a changé mais le fond est toujours le même (comme moi). Marseille c’est un port, la mer, le soleil, (15 degré à mon arrivé le 20 mars), le pastis, la bouillabaisse, la pétanque, le fameux savon de Marseille, le Château d’If et Le Comte de Monte-Cristo d’Alexandre Dumas, Fernandel, Pagnol et notre Clairette Oddera ...Ce sont (les Marseillais) d’abord des gens, qui comme un...

Mar 10, 2013 - flamingos

I hit the road early this morning in anticipation of the divine profiteroles with croquant toffee tops that the fellow makes fresh for the markets in Arles but after driving through the mist and frost for an hour I found that the markets were not on so had to head back to the Port and put up with 3 day old Chausson Pomme (apple turnover) and a tea in my room. The Restaurant opened for lunch and after waiting patiently for my Club Poulet (Cloob Pooleh in French), it sounds so exotic, no? What turned up on the plate was a little different to...

Feb 3, 2013 - Frejus, France

After waking to beautiful blue skies and enjoying the morning with the Monteleone Family we headed south toward the French Rivera. Traffic was surprisingly light from Milan with almost no traffic till we reached the French border. We turned off the motorway to Menton, essentially the first town once you cross the border from Italy. The town has an orange festival from the 6th of Feb till mid March so we were a little early but we saw the preparation of the town for the festival which included many structures clad in oranges? why? We...

Jan 9, 2013 - The Last Day in France

On our last day in France we motored around to several little villages. They were each different but all old and great places to take pictures. We ended up in a village and decided to have lunch had a ham and cheese omelet with salad it was the best meal huge portion. We were going through the mountains on hairpin turns and came upon a bicycle accident the bike must have gotten away from him going downhill fast. We stayed in a great bed and breakfast and they gave us ideas about what to see which is how we came upon the church in the...

Jan 8, 2013 - Made it to our Bed and Breakfast in France

We arrived in the town of our bed and breakfast at about 8 at night. I had read it was better to park down by the first fountain and walk up. We did that lugging our suitcases you can see it is a very old place with cobblestone streets going up and up. I was looking for the defibrilator when we got to the place we are staying. I have been up and down that hill many times since and am still not finding it any easier. The place we are staying is wonderful I will send some inside pictures tomorrow. The streets have a different view every turn...

Dec 19, 2012 - Menton

Well, we finally arrived at our next destination, Menton (France) after flying Barcelona/Madrid and Madrid/Nice. We picked up a rental car in Nice and drove to Menton, approximately 32kms. It reminded me of our road trips in America, in that, I had to get use to driving on the right-hand side of the road again and handling a left-hand drive vehicle! It was a bit hairy exiting the airport and the numerous roundabouts, but once we were on the motorway it was plain sailing. Our apartment here is absolutely beautiful, very chic and modern (a...

Nov 16, 2012 - End of the River

Our last stop and one of the most amazing. The city is a UNESCO site. It is surrounded by 3 miles of wall built in the 14th century that has kept the flood waters out of the city. The main road around the exterior was once the moat. It has more than 60 towers and 13 gates and was built by the popes that lived here during the 14th century. Because of the insecurity of Rome in the 1300s, Avignon became the papal seat. Clement V, the first born French Pope moved here in 1309. Seven popes lived here from 1309 to 1376. The Papal Palace is one of...

Nov 16, 2012 - Roman the Ruins

are in Arles, "Little Rome of Gaul", once the second richest city in the Roman Empire (Rome being the first). This city was beloved by Van Gogh, where he was briefly joined by Paul Gaugain. During his stay here from 1888-89, he produced 200 paintings and 100 drawings. Here is where he cut off his ear lobe and spent time in the hospital. We decided to do a self guided tour of the many Roman ruins found here. We did meet up with one of the tour groups from the boat to get our free entry into the Amphitheater, Les Arenes. It dates to the 1st...