DAY 2 Wednesday 16 August - Arles
Joan received a text to say her bag would be delivered 10:00 – 20:00
While we slept the boat departed down-river for Arles, arriving there at 08:00. We took the included walking tour at 09:15, Joan wearing one of my shirts.
Temperature was in the high 30˚s and Joan bought a hat from a street stall. Arles is most famous for two sites; its amphitheatre (not Coliseum insisted our guide who said there’s only one and it’s in Rome) and the hospital where Vincent van Gogh stayed and painted that and around 300 other Arles views. There are other Roman ruins and the town centre is close to the river, compact and easily walkable.
The amphitheatre is impressively large. We sat on one of the seating tiers while the guide told us its history and showed picture of how it looked in Roman times. It is still used to day for public shows.
Then a few minutes later we were in the courtyard of van Gogh’s hospital. It had several different roles subsequently before coming into public ownership. The garden was recreated from van Gogh’s paintings and letters.
Our guide mused on the various pronunciations of van Gogh’s name. Go (o as in ‘owe’) is usual in USA, while Goff (o as in ‘ox’) in UK and Gock (gh as in a cough crossed with throat clearing) in his native Netherlands.
During the walk the guide pointed out where van Gogh had rented rooms, the café terrace in his 1888 painting Café Terrace at Night and other scenes.
We made our own way back to the boat for a coffee instead of waiting around in ‘free time’.
After lunch we walked the short distance back to Arles where Joan bought a t-shirt.
The boat cast off at 18:00 to return to Avignon. Joan’s bag did not arrive.
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