I found Arles to be my fav so far. Possibly because it’s my kinda quaint. Old, battered, not too fancy. Friendly people, interesting stuff to look at. Van Gogh agreed, he did many of his paintings here, and the local gift shops will not let you forget it.

Who doesn’t like having a Roman amphitheater?

They have bullfighting. There was one that afternoon. Our guide went to great lengths to make sure we knew the French form of bullfighting does not kill the bull.

Ah yes, big party in town that night. We saw at least three stages going up. There was a carnival set up by the river. By the time I walked back to the boat the young people were playing beer pong and blasting hip-hop.

And every town needs a cathedral or six.

A little hard to see, I know, but behind the metal grate appears to be many glass boxes of bits of human remains. Presumably relics of the saints. They aren’t big on signage.

For the people reading this years from now, this poster is a photo of the fire at Notre-Dame which happened just a few days before.

Wherein Joyce finds some flamingoes.

I love the little details like this found in these old cities.

Then we went underground. No one is really sure of the function of these crypts, beyond being the foundations holding up the massive Roman forum above.

Here’s 8 minutes of audio recorded in secret in this busy bar / tobacco shop. People roll in and out of here nearly as fast as a New York bus station for tiny cups of espresso, tiny beers or mouse-sized glasses of … something that must be tasty.

Over the shoulder of the author you will see three ladies dressed in some period costume headed for doing something at la Féria.

And this is some of fine artwork on tobacco products. This one has slight humor aspect, but the images of cancer patients in the other packages aren’t so polite.