Arles, The Camargue and Avignon

On the road again to Arles. Although we were organised and booked a taxi, we got a phone call five minutes after the appointed time, to say that they could not find a driver. After a slight panic at first, we realised we had time to take the excellent metro, which is not only cheap, but also hugely efficient with incredibly helpful staff. We ended up arriving earlier than by taxi in the rush hour, I am sure, and it cost us virtually nothing.

After an uneventful trip, here we are in Arles. Not a lot has changed since my last visit probably ten years ago, though they have cleaned up some of the monuments and there is more traffic. Luckily, it is still not yet overrun with tour buses, or perhaps we are before the main rush!

Anyway, it was good to be back. It was sooooo hot as we walked to our appartment in the midday sun. Even the very gentle breeze from the Rhone did not help. The appartment is a bit dark, but maybe that is good because we have had four days in the thirties!

The first evening' s sunset over the river Rhone was very pretty. It lit up the roof tops of the old city. The temperature had fallen to an idyllic 20 degrees, and the swallows swooped and flew above us , making their gentle shrieking sounds as they hoovered up the midges. All in all, it was a glorious evening. 

As I sit by the river, in the shade, en route to the station to leave for Sete, our seaside destination, it is wonderful to think back over our three full days here, a perfect mix of new experiences and enjoying the delicious food of the Provence!

In the evenings we found a fabulous wee cafe next to the majestic Amphitheatre, where we sat and enjoyed the most delicious sangria, watching the tourists trooping by, and listening to buskers.

 What pleasant memories of the hours we sat and stared. We got to know the locals a bit too. They were thrilled to have customers who took their time, unlike the many who arrive in a tour, spend an hour rushing through the city with no time to even go into the amphitheatre or stop and look at it trom outside. What a pity!

Our first two days were largely spent exploring the beautiful Camargue, with its Camargue black bulls and cows, which have a relatively good life in that the cows remain with their calves because they are not used for dairy purposes, and the bulls, if used in the bullring, are not injured there, unlike the Spanish bulls which are still killed in cruel bull fights.

You certainly would not wish to enter these fields, although apparently a tourist last year thought it would be good to take a selfie with a bull and was gored to death! I hope someone got a good photo!

We took a four- hour 4x4 tour of the area, which was really informative and interesting. With only 4 of us in the jeep, we could all stand to get better views over the fields of rice, cows and, of course, the famous white horses of the Camargue.

They are such gorgeous creatures, generally seen in pairs so that they can swish away the flies from the other horse with their tails. This poor horse must be on his own judging by the number of flies pestering him.

Interestingly, the foals are born brown and gradually turn grey over the next years, becoming white at 3 years or even later. It was amusing to watch the cattle egrets hitching a ride on the back of the horses.

What a fabulous place to go horse- riding. This beach was beside the biggest Etang, which reminded me very much of Lake Ellesmere near Christchurch. It is very shallow and covers many hectares. The variety of wildlife there is impressive, and here we saw our first flamingo flocks. 

We were hugely excited, even though they were still quite far from shore. Little did we know that hours later we would be so close to flamingos that we could almost touch them!

Not far from this etang was the unbelievably beautiful Parc des oiseaux ( bird park) . I cannot believe that this was not mentioned by anyone as a must- see place. Fortunately, the brochure I picked up enticed us out there , where we undoubtedly had the best three hours of our entire trip. Stunning scenery,

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And hundreds upon hundreds of incredibly beautiful, and oh so elegant flamingos.

I think that this visit was possibly one of the highlights of my LIFE! Seeing flamingos has always been on my bucket list , but seeing so many, so close, was simply unbelievable.

I could have watched them all day. They make such interesting noises and seem to chat all the time, sounding much like geese, when their heads are out of the mud and water. Their beautiful long necks, which seem to be able to twist and turn so easily, form the most beautiful shapes and gorgeous reflections

Watching their landings and take offs was one of the most fascinating parts of the visit. I got the impression that many of the flamingos were young and experimenting. Some flights resulted in crash landings, followed by plenty of chat from those around them. It was absolutely captivating.

The walkway is pretty extensive around the many etangs, all of which have different species of birds in them - the flamingos opting for shallow waters. In others lived more herons and egrets, and whilst I was walking alone around etangs which seemed almost uninhabited, I met up with this very cute little coypu, who amazingly did not seem to mind my presence. I watched him feed for quite some time. What a fabulous encounter.

Then, just as I had to sadly bid farewell to this magical place to catch the last bus home, I heard a lot of noise coming from the far side of the etang, and to my surprise witnessed what appeared to be rush hour for flamingos moving from one pond to another in a long, well organised, but noisy line.

It was truly a breathtaking place! Everyone visiting there was obviously excited about it, and everyone was smiling and happy. As the sun sank a little lower, the waters glistened, adding yet another wonderful element to an already spectacular afternoon. What a place. Definitely not to be missed.

It was going to be hard to beat such an incredible place as that, and although we loved our entire time in Arles, the flamingos were undoubtedly something we will hopefully never forget.

The market the next day was a 'small' one. I have been to the 'big' one, so know how it can be, but this one was perfectly big enough!

There was everything there, and some rather amazing products, like these massive slabs of nougat. Delicious, but super sweet. Fortunately, we were not tempted.

The cheese stall was a different matter. Having tasted virtually each of the cheeses, we did settle on some for sandwiches. Wow, they were delicious!

In the afternoon, we retraced our steps, actually by bus ( only 1 euro for a 40 km ride), past our lovely hird park, to St Marie sur Mer. We saw loads of flamingos by the etangs near the park, and I have to say that I could easily have visited the park again, but we had opted for a boat trip to view the Camargue from the Little Rhone.

Actually, I really enjoyed  the tiny village of St Marie sur Mer, with a population of 6000 swelling to 60,000 in the summer. It was fine now, and though touristy, was also very colourful, clean and surprisingly calm.

Although human toilets were not easy to find, dogs were well catered for!

The gentle trip down Le Petit Rhone started and ended in a rather rough and unexpectedly exciting way. Despite the beautiful weather and hot temperatures, there was a brisk wind blowing from the east and so the ten minutes spent on the sea was quite hair-raising for poor sailors like me! The waves were huge and splashed over the sides of our little boat. It was fabulous arriving at the river, where we drifted smoothly along, , but coming out again into the area where the Little Rhone flowed out to the sea was even more thrilling, or terrifying!

Anyway, we made it, and although the gentle meander along the river was in no way equal to the bird park, it was still pleasant enough, and we did see more Camargue horses and bulls. It seems that the horses have the upper hand!

It was great to see some foals close up - very cute! Hard to believe that they will one day be the white horses of the Camargue,

Like these we saw on the banks of the river.

The beaches are quite small at St Marie, but we had a nice paddle in the crystal clear waters. We are looking forward to swimming in Sete.

It was a lovely afternoon in the only village in the Camargue, still quite quiet, the calm before the summer holiday storm!

I so loved this quote ' the flowers of spring are the dreams of winter'. 

What better way to top off a wonderful day than with delicious food and wonderful ambience. I had wanted to go to the Van Gogh restaurant when I last visited, but did not want to go alone, so now was perfect to go with Pam. We were happy that service was slow, though friendly, because we had time to lap up the lovely atmosphere of the Roman Forum and to relax on a perfect, balmy evening.

Yet another bucket list dream come true!

After a couple of days enjoying Arles and the Camargue, we set off to Avignon. We were in for a very hot day again, in the thirties. 

Leaving Arles, we passed the rather impressive statues which used to adorn the end of the bridge which crossed the Rhone. These are all that remain today, but are still fabulous, especially with the stunningly blue sky behind them.

Avignon was well worth another visit. The market was small, but this stall really appealed to the senses.

The Palais des Papes was magnificent

And we enjoyed having time to people watch from the shade! There were numerous bus tours in the city, and I have to say that I am happy we toured Croatia with lower temperatures. People did not look as if they were enjoying following the umbrellas or flags nuch!
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The views from the lovely, cool, shady Gardens above the Palais des Papes, were glorious

And the Famous Pont d'Avignon looked fantastic from this spot down by the river.

After a very simple, yet delicious lunch in the shade, we ambled through the artist and theatre area of the city, which I remembered from last time as having some quirky things to look at.

In the evening we once again wandered down to the Place de Forum to try out a different restaurant - there are dozens- and had a great meal plus some fantastic entertainment from two busking gymnasts, who we had seen the evening before, but were delighted to see again. The somersaults they did along the road were amazing and their obvious joie de vivre infectious.


Time on our last day for a final coffee/ water at our favourite bar at the end of this pretty street, overlooking the amphitheatre. We had enjoyed our time there enormously.

And a final glimpse of the corner we passed several times a day. Somehow, the French seem to have an uncanny ability to make even the simplest places look beautiful. Farewell to Arles and the Camargue!