Page 242 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

Swim upstream for unen- still sees blood spilled,
cumbered views, though just like in the good old
downstream is also good gladiatorial days (it hosts
for summer dips, with bullfights and courses
shaded wooden platforms Camarguaises, which UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP / GETTY IMAGES ©
set in the flatter banks. is the local variation).
Want to make a day of Likewise, the 1st-century
it? There’s Museo de la Théâtre Antique (%04 90
Romanité, an interac- 96 93 30; bd des Lices; adult/
tive, information-based child €6/free, joint ticket with Les
museum, plus a children’s Arènes €9/free; h9am-7pm
area, and a peaceful May-Sep, shorter hours rest of
1.4km botanical walk, year) is still regularly used
Mémoires de Garrigue. for alfresco performances.
Just as social, poli tical
The Drive » Kayaking to and religious life revolved
the next stop would be more
fun, and more direct, but you’ll around the forum in Are-
need to hit the highway for 40 late, the busy plane-tree-
minutes to Arles – the A9 that shaded place du Forum
skirts back towards Nîmes and buzzes with cafe life
then the A54. today. Sip a pastis here
and spot the remains of
TRIP HIGHLIGHT a 2nd-century temple
embedded in the facade
3 Arles of the Hôtel Nord-Pinus.
Arles, formerly known as Under your feet are
Arelate, was part of the Cryptoportiques (adult/
Roman Empire from as child €4.50/free; h9am-noon
early as the 2nd century & 2-7pm) – subterranean
PROVENCE & SOUTHEAST FRANCE 21 ROMAN PROVENCE
BC. It wasn’t until the foundations and buried
49–45 BC civil war, arcades. Access the
however, when nearby under ground galleries,
Massalia (Marseille) 89m long and 59m wide,
supported Pompey (ie at the hôtel de ville (Town
backed the wrong side), Hall; place de la République).
that it became a booming Emperor Constantin’s
regional capital. partly preserved 4th-
The town today is century private baths, the by Christians in the
delightful, Roman cache Thermes de Constantin 4th century. It contains
or no, but what a living (rue du Grand Prieuré; adult/ the tombs of martyr St
legacy it is. Les Arènes child €4/free; h9am-7pm Jul Genest and Arles’ first
(Amphithéâtre; %08 91 70 03 & Aug, shorter hours rest of bishops. You may recog-
70; www.arenes-arles.com; year), are a few minutes’ nise it: Van Gogh and
Rond-Point des Arènes; adult/ stroll away, next to the Gauguin both captured
child €6/free, incl Théâtre quai. Southwest of the the avenues of cypresses
Antique €9/free; h9am-8pm centre is Les Alyscamps on canvas (though only
Jul & Aug, to 7pm May-Jun & (av des Alyscamps; adult/child melancholy old Van
Sep, shorter hours rest of year) €4/free; h9am-7pm May-Sep, Gogh painted the empty
is not as larges as Nîmes’, shorter hours rest of year), a sarcophagi).
but it is spectacularly necropolis founded by
sited and occasionally the Romans and adopted 54 p244, p303, p409

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