Day 64: Arles

November 9, 2022

Jackpot!

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We had a bit of a tough decision. The greatest thing about Arles, to us, is the immense Saturday market stretching down the middle of Boulevard des Lices, which is the biggest street in town. But our plan from here is to circle in the Camargue and some of the rest of Provence, following the Esterbauer map book "Cycling Guide Provence" which we actually schlepped all the way to here for the purpose. The thing is, to do this circuit will take long enough that we would not be able to be back in Arles for Saturday, that is, not unless we would leave right smartly this morning.

The problem with leaving today was a forecast for very heavy rain. Maybe it would be better to wait it out. Arles does also have a Wednesday market (today!) but it is said to be smaller than Saturday. If we set our hopes on Wednesday, and in so doing miss Saturday, there could be tears!

We decided to believe the heavy rain forecast for today, and so to not travel into the Camargue. Instead we put on our warm sweaters and raincoats, and set off in search of the Wednesday market.

Of course, up onto our bridge and down to the town gave us the wonderful views of the river and the buildings on the other side.

Here is a building that had a sausage factory in 1740

Some twisty alleys lead us to Boulevard des Lices

This is where the Saturday market is held. It occupies the whole street.

There are interesting steps, and an old aqueduct.

See the wall built on existing rock. Arles sits on a foundation of rock, but it is surrounded by swampy ground, limiting development.

We arrived at the market, which on Wednesday is held on nearby Emile Combes Boulevard. Our first look reveals the typical clothing and dry goods market stalls, that hold no interest for us. Such stalls went on for quite a while, and we were beginning to lose heart. But no, here was a fruit and vegetable seller, and then bang!, all our favourite kinds of stalls!

There were, for starters, two chicken rotisserie trucks, and unlike Valence, both had lots of chicken on the go. We immediately snapped up a big one, with potatoes.

Arles is one of the closer points in France to Tunisia and Algeria, and of course there is that strong French colonial tie. France invaded Algeria in 1830 and hung on there until 1962. Consequently one sees a number of north African items at something like the farmers' market. The first we hit was baklava, and after a free taste we invested in a half dozen.

There was also a team of Tunisians, rolling put dough and making flat breads on grills.

Tunisian, sure, but what about proper French bread? Aha, how about these baguettes!

These were not local, we found, but were trucked in from Nimes. Nimes is 36 km northwest.

You should understand at this point that we dwellers either on a bicycle or in a small hotel room were not just looking, but bought some of everything you have seen so far. Right. So what else do we like? Yellow pomegranates? Muscat grapes? Pears? Carrots? Persimmon like I saw on that tree one time? Some figs for Marvin? Sure, it was all here, and went into the backpack!

Olives - didn't buy these, but look, Laurie

The persimmon are called Kaki. I hope I picked a ripe one!

Of course we always like looking at the sea creatures, and that begins with the paella.

Ok, we recognize Coquilles St Jacques. These are great for Arles pilgrims.

What else? Vegetables. We do admit that at this point we are not quite buying up each item.

These thin French beans are not as neat and thin as they could be.

These ladies know what they are doing, It was fun to watch them picking through cactus fruits too.

Did you think we would forget the cheese? In fact there was only one cheese truck, and it seemed that in hard cheese, it mostly came from Jura. (Jura is 450 km north, still in France, but near Switzerland). Soft cheese was mostly goat. Goat can be so goat-y!

That would be it for our local market food tour, were it not for nearby pastries and candied fruits. We might as well have a look and get it over with!

Well readers, if you think that was a serious fattening amount of Market eye candy, hang on, because we are going now for a look at the narrow, super picturesque streets inside the wall.

If they are all starting to look alike, better hope your GPS is working!

Here is the square on Rue de la Republique that houses the Mairie.

Some streets, like Rue de la Republique, contained a large number of shops, but not with any stuff we needed to buy today. Rachael mentioned yesterday that she managed to find some very serviceable clothes, for example, at the outdoor markets.

One shop was a combined liquor and book shop, an interesting combination:

Around the amphitheater was our place to find postcards, and there were some great ones, especially those with reproductions of Van Gogh paintings. Other souvenirs in the store included many figures representing local people and animals.

Some of the Camargue icons: White horses and riders, black bulls, salt.

We commented to the shop staffer about the beauty of the white horses, and she noted that these horses also have to be tough, because of the hot summers here and the rigors of the Mistral wind, when it comes, in Winter. The woman spoke "chillingly" of the Mistral, noting that it could drop the temperature rapidly by 10 degrees, and take it to below freezing. January/February would be a prime time, but she warned it could come at any time now. (p.s. We speculated that the Mistral was named for the 19th century Nobel prize winning local author of that name, but in fact it is a word in Occitane.) We were interested in the Mistral, for its impact on when we could reasonably cycle here. Today, for example, was as hot and dry as Summer.

Hot and dry? What happened to the torrential rains we were supposedly here loafing about to avoid? I guess you can't always believe the forecast! Well we took a spin around the Amphitheatre and headed back to the hotel. The theatre was huge and impressive, looking like this:

After having walked 13 km through the town, we returned to the hotel to plot our foray into the Camargue. Good thing we spent the day resting up!

Today's ride: 13 km (8 miles)
Total: 2,886 km (1,792 miles)

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