Martin Travels: Provence Day 2

What a Day! Our plan was to visit Arles, Aix en Provence and get to our evening B&B by dinner time. We decided to travel via St. Remy because Van Gogh had been a patient there, and there were some Roman ruins to see. We stopped to browse because the main street was closed for a Sunday morning dance festival and kids carousel - in the square outside the Catholic church - where mass was being held. So we had a coffee, watched the people and peeked in at the end of mass. On we drove heading for Arles, via Les Baux, not really knowing what we might see and just out of town, came across the 1st century Roman cenotaph built by Augustus to honour 2 young nephews killed in battle. The book says it's the best preserved such site anywhere. Across the road were the ruins of the Roman town of Glanum. After paying for parking, we didn't pay the additonal charge to tour inside, but sneaked a picture from the restaurant. We skipped Van Gogh's retreat for shock treatments - or whatever. But - did you know that Nostradamus came from St. Remy de Provence?
Les Baux, we read on the way was an ancient town on top of a rock outcrop with dwellings hewn out of the rock in the 10th century and the feudal family that lived there controlled the entire region. We found it to be quite the tourist attraction as well. Yes, on top, and yes, carved out of the rock, but also meticulously restored and serviced to handle hundreds of tourists at a time. Narrow streets, shops, churches, dwellings, restaurants, more shops, all in and on the rock and hanging off the edge of a cliff with a village below probably housing the proprietors of the aforementioned. The original settlement was demolished by Louis 13 presumably to exercise his control of the region from afar. By the end of this tour, we were well into the afternoon, but on to Arles we went.
We parked and wandered into the historic section, toured the Cloister of St. Trophime, and then found the only restaurant that was serving before 7:00 PM and had a great meal. After that and some mood enhancing wine, we toured the Roman Amphitheatre, which has been restored and equipped for live perfomances. We saw a video of what it once was, with a huge backdrop and sun shades and were amazed. The Romans used the amphitheatres to entertain and also to preach the Roman way to the locals. I wonder who did the grunt work quarrying, transporting and lifting those stones into place. Then we visited the Roman Arena, similarly restored. When we entered the Arena, around 6:00 PM, there was a rehearsal underway for an upcoming event with dancers, horsemen and women, including gladiators, 2 horse drawn buggies and a chariot. We could see why they needed to rehearse. After a walk to the car along the Rhone, we made a call to our B&B to say we're still coming. Then we had a nearly 2 hour drive on the motorways and toll roads we had planned to avoid, bypassing Aix en Provence to arrive well after dark on narrow windy roads at the sleepy village of Varages. Fortunately the village's one pub had 2 outdoor tables and one semi-drunk who spoke some English and knew where we wished to go. He told us to park and then he walked us half a block over to the door - with no sign - off the main square. We are now situated in the best accommodations we've had yet - or are likely to have on our travels - certainly the most spacious. We settled in with a snack and our preferred evening activities - J. reading, P. blogging.
You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.