Arles to Eyguieres

September 29, 2018

into les Alpilles

Another blue sky day on tour. Our host, Laurence, tells us there will be a high of 28 degrees today. She says that no guests with bicycles arrive in Arles in July and August as it is just too hot - temperatures were reaching 40 degrees this summer. September and May are the best for touring here.

Laurence has a great B&B which is two historic 3 and 4 story homes combined into one. In fact, her homes were built over land that was part of the Roman bath house that resides accross the street. We dined on a typical french breakfast - croissants, baguette, jam and coffee with some yogurt available. Enough to get us going and out the door.

Pat with Laurence of L'Atelier du Midi. This B&B is only open for a few more weeks and then closes up for the winter but it is a wonderful stay and the bikes are secured safely in a garage.

Our first stop today is the Saturday morning market - and Steve - it was on my list and you are right! It is an amazing weekly market. One side of the street, (that goes for blocks and we never reached the end) sells hard goods and everything you can think of. We started with live rabbits and chickens in cages and ended with your typical dollar store stuff. But we had to get on our way so we crossed the street to the food side - specifically fruits and vegetables - this must take up a 1/2 block alone! We settled on the familar - avocado, tomato, more cheese and bread with some in season pears and apples for good measure.

Paella is often a mainstay at these markets. Smells great but does not travel well without refrigeration, I bet.

Beautiful aubergines - so much nicer sounding than eggplants!

We have two planned sights on route today - a Roman aquaduct ruin and the village of Les Baux de Provence with our final destination of Eyguieres. We found our way easily out of Arles onto 10 kms of backroad patched work pavement. Traffic was light through this farming area. We turned onto a slightly busier road but traffic was still pretty light as we began a gradual uphill course to the Roman ruins. We were confused as to it's location at first but eventually we found a sign, "Roman aquaduct" pointing down a small road. Not exactly a major tourist attraction as we found ourselves alone and able to climb all over these crumbling structures. Not even a sign to provide any detail. They were really cool - from a guy who likes to see natural ancient history in its unpreserved state.

Hard to believe that 2000 years ago water was flowing through these channels down to Arles.

We carried on and bumped into a small town - Fontvieille. There was a party going on here as it seems the circus was in town. They were busy taking down gated barricades along the main street that looked specially designed for a running of the bulls. Sorry to have missed that sight!

Just down the road we found a quiet place to picnic before we began the last 8kms to the hilltop town of Les Baux. Cars lined the streets as we approached the town and we knew we were into one of the uber touristy towns of Provence. They are a spectical but can be interesting for a quick visit and in this case, to check out the views. We thought this place must be be crazy in the summer months. From Wikipedia - translated from french, "Les Baux, located in the Alpilles massif , is mainly a tourist site since once being a place of life. They are one of the most beautiful villages of France and welcome more than a million and a half visitors a year." There is significant history in this area dating back to 6000 BC.

On the ride up. Nice shot of the apilles mastif that this area is known for.

View facing east from Les Baux de Provence - olive orchards and grape vines as far as you can see! Pat said it was worth the climb. The road in the foreground is the way we left Les Baux.

I liked this shot so I included it. Same view as above but framed in a hole in the sandstone rock.

The ride out was a wonderful 5km downhill full of twists and turns and we soon foumd ourselves again on quiet, undulating backroards enroute to Eyguieres. The town of Eyguiers is far from a tourist mecca. In fact, I am not sure that they even have a hotel - we are staying at La demeure B&B.

Stopped for a break at this square in Aureille before finishing the ride to Eyguieres. I did not know that France had such a strong bull fighting culture. This display is of Andre Solar, a very accomplished bull fighter from the local area.

We had hoped to be better with our timing of seeing sites and having dinner at the proper hour, so thought maybe a quick nap after our cycle would do the trick. Nope, overslept and when we arrived by foot at the restaurants closest to our home they were closing. Even the pizza guy was using his last crust! We dined on chips and beer. Scott was especially happy that dinner came in WAY under budget! Better luck tommorrow.

My first food picture of the blog. It can only get better from here.

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 130 km (81 miles)

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ROSY Colistroloving the photos and your journal: getting a taste for the places you are visiting; what a cool trip.
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