We are taking you to the beautiful city of
Arles, in Provence in the south of France. Arles is most famous for its Roman amphitheater,
still intact, and its connections with Van Gogh, who spent one of his final years here
painting 200 canvases. Its real appeal, however, is found in the
lovely pedestrian promenades, the historic landmarks, museums and tranquil plazas, all
of which make Arles one of the most charming places in Europe. There's a lot of these narrow streets in Arles,
there is a small pedestrian zone, there's the various squares and the cafés around
it, of course, and historic sites. And we will be showing you those highlights
coming up right now as we take a walk through Arles. The old town of Arles is comfortably small. It's about a square mile. So it's very easy to see the whole thing on
foot. You might consider spending a couple of days
here. Or you could visit as a daytrip for example
from Avignon which is just 20 miles away and only takes 20 minutes by train to get here. In this program we will show you how you can
do everything in one day but certainly if you want to spend more time you decide for
yourself. To help you plan your visit we will also present
more detailed suggestions about how you could spend a night or two here and still find lots
to do. It's one of those delicious travel dilemmas:
do you take one place and stay there is a home base and travel out on day trips to nearby
towns and attractions, or do you pack your bags and relocate every couple of days in
order to spend more time in each of these lovely places? With Arles we've done it both ways, visiting
as a day trip from Avignon on one occasion and the next visit we spent a couple of nights
in Arles. A good compromise would be to arrive in Arles
first thing in the morning by leaving your Avignon hotel right after breakfast and spend
a full day and evening, walk around all over Arles, enjoy the morning market, especially
if here on a Saturday, that's the best of all. One big day would give you a chance to see
everything we’re including in today's program. This is part of a series we’re presenting
showing how Avignon makes a very good home base for visiting out to other destinations
like Pont du Gard, and St Remy and Nimes along with Aix and Marseille, and especially Arles,
the wonderful city of van Gogh and the ancient Romans, with narrow pedestrian lanes weaving
throughout the center The main attractions are the arena, the pedestrian
zone and a historic museum. We will show you a good walking route on the
map. Of course you can walk anywhere you want,
it’s small enough, but this route will take you right through the center and then back
to the train station, a route just over 2 miles, or about 3 kilometers, you can do in
several hours. But you should also see the history museum
while you're here, with its fine collection from the ancient Roman days, an easy detour. So let's assume you're coming in from Avignon
on a day trip and you want to see everything. Fortunately, the train station is quite close
to the old town. It's about a 400-meter walk in pretty much
a straight line, so you don't need a taxi or bus, just walk on your own two feet, through
the gates in the old wall that goes around Arles. For the next few minutes will present an overview
summary of the various sites of town and then we’ll come back and look at them in more
detail. Five minutes after leaving the train station
you've already arrived at a major site. Start off at the most prominent landmark,
the Roman amphitheater, or arena, called the Arènes d’Arles, one of seven UNESCO World
Heritage Sites in town. With a capacity of 25,000 people, it is a
smaller version of Rome’s Colosseum, completed about ten years earlier. We’ll see more of this a little bit later
in the program. From the Arena, walk two blocks down the Rue
de la Calade to the center of the Old Town, the main square, called the Place de la République,
which contains all the principle structures: city hall, ancient church, obelisk centerpiece
with fountain, flanked by shopping lanes. Later we’ll bring you inside the church
and have a tour of its famous cloister. A few blocks over we get to the other main
square of town, the Place du Forum. It's the site of the original Roman forum
which is still here beneath the pavement. We’ll take you underground later. The main pedestrian shopping lane is just
a few blocks over, rue de la République which is perhaps the most exciting location for
many visitors. It's the place to watch the locals on parade
and spend some money. Well everybody is out until at least 8 PM. The other main site that you must have a look
at is the Espace Van Gogh. It's a former hospital where van Gogh himself
was treated several times while he lived in Arles and now it's an art gallery, it's a
garden, there are restaurants here, and special exhibits, just a block off that main pedestrian
lane. That covers most of the main sites of Arles,
briefly, and if you're heading back now to the train station along the way you can stop
off at one more historic site, the ancient Roman baths of Constantine, which you can
appreciate from the outside, saving time and money. That's free, or you can pay admission and
go inside if you're a real fan of Roman antiquities. They were built in the 4th century at the
peak of the Roman Empire, during the time of Constantine, and is believed to be part
of a much larger Roman palace. One of the reasons the Romans founded Arles
in this location is the Rhône River which was a watery highway for them, and you’ll
have the best river view from these baths. You can see a lot more Roman history in the
Arles museum which has one of the best ancient Roman collections anywhere outside of Italy. We will provide an extended visit later in
the program. On the other hand if you've seen enough of
Arles and your time is tight, then walk back to the train station and depart. You've seen the highlights of the city. However many more enjoyable experiences are
waiting for you in Arles, as we’ll show you right now. If you can arrange your schedule with some
planning, be in Arles on a Saturday morning when the outdoor market is happening. This is one of the largest and most famous
markets in all of France. It is located along two main streets in the
downtown, the Boulevard des Lice and Boulevard Clemencaeu, and the market goes for over 2
kilometers. There's a tremendous variety of foods especially,
of course, as well as clothing, bric-a-brac, some junk and it’s great for people-watching. Every sizable town has a street market at
certain days of the week. In Arles it happens several days and we are
here on a Saturday morning. It's an especially large market. There's all sorts of foods, cheeses, breads,
fruits and vegetables, chicken, everything you can imagine, as well as some clothing,
some accessories, some hardware, an outdoor shopping mall. You might pick up some fresh fruits as a snack. But even if you're not purchasing anything,
it's always a delight to wander through local a food market, especially when you're in Provence,
in such a beautiful outdoor setting with the open air and lots of locals streaming around. There's flowers for sale, colors everywhere. It's just a great spot to visit and to take
a lot of pictures. Olives are the heart of the Mediterranean
cuisine and come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors and textures, and many different
kinds of olive oils and tapenade to go with it. Short note on market etiquette. It's best to not touch the food directly,
but instead point to it and the vendor can hand it over to you. Sometimes get a free sample. The French love their cheese and a lot of
the cheese is not pasteurized, so it's fresh and retains full flavor. Not so fresh that the goat is making cheese
on the spot, but his owner is proud to show him off. Even if you don't have a kitchen and you are
not cooking on vacation it's always a pleasure to look at food in there is some cooked food
you can eat on the spot If you get tired of just looking at the food,
keep on walking along the street, and it turns into a variety market, selling clothing and
furniture, hardware. You can get knives, and pots and pans, and
all sorts of things down the lane under the trees. So keep walking and looking. You'll see a few pieces of furniture for sale,
but if you're looking for the antique market, you've got to come on the first Wednesday
of the month, just one day a month, and there's a specialty in regional antiques. So you'll easily find the market, it's on
the south edge of the old town, particularly along Boulevard Clemenceau. Cross the busy boulevard and plunge back into
the historic center. Primary strategy for sightseeing in Arles
is simply strolling up and down the main lanes to catch their different moods during the
day and night. You're going to see plenty of attractive shops
while walking around including Christian Lacroix, naturally, but this is a special branch because
he was born and raised here. One of the great pleasures in visiting a town
like Arles is simply walking around enjoying these pedestrian liens and doing some window
shopping, do a little browsing. In fact this basic activity of walking is
so interesting in Arles that we're going to spend the next several minutes taking you
on an extensive walking tour through the center of town. It’s most delightful when the evening settles
in and more locals come out for a stroll, and when you've had a light rain shower that
clears up, it leaves a glistening surface on the pavement
There’s the Arena, just another two blocks over -- the ancient Roman Arena is the biggest
feature of town. It's really a remarkably well-preserved structure
and especially lovely to see it at twilight, with the skylight behind, and the spotlights
on the façade. You see the prominence of the arena in this
3-D model of ancient Roman Arles on display at the archaeology Museum and compare the
ancient Roman city with a map of the city today, demonstrating how modern Arles was
shaped by the ancients. Today of course things have changed but it
still has that compact feeling of an ancient settlement which makes it so interesting to
walk around because you have this wonderful density of sites. There's buildings, there are shops, there's
people everywhere, hardly ever a dull moment, especially when you're walking in the very
late afternoon and early twilight On the other hand if you're walking in midday,
say after lunch at about 2 o'clock 3 o'clock, you might find the streets are a lot less
interesting. There’ll be a lot of shops closed for siesta. We’re in the south of France, after all,
and many of the small shops do close down for a few hours for the afternoon break, and
so you'll find a lot less people on the street, less interesting. That might be a good time for you to go to
the archaeology Museum as . We will show you a little bit later on. In the evening the pace is a little bit more
relaxed and you're going to run into some friendly people. We’re on the main downtown shopping street
once again, the rue de la République. It's a true pedestrian zone, no cars on this
particular stretch. And keep your eyes open. You are going to always see some interesting
and quirky things going on with the people around here, and with the dogs
This little rascal was pretty hilarious, so energetic and curious, very nosy. He wants to see what's going on in the shops,
with his indulgent master giving him a lot of freedom. There he goes. Mmm, so many good smells here, got to run,
got short legs, gotta run to keep up, got to run, and oh, what's this? Oh goody, another store. Ooh, snatched away by daddy, okay here we
go, let’s keep going. Hey, hey, hey what's in your bag? Nobody can resist such a friendly little puppy,
everybody so helpful taking care of this little guy. He's probably a regular on the circuit, knows
the street well. It feels like you're in a small town when
you're walking around in central Arles. Many people are locals, they know each other,
they stop and say hello. Population is about 50,000, big enough for
the people who live here to keep it interesting without creating a crowded effect and it always
seems to be a safe place. Most of the shops in town are individually
owned rather than being part of a large chain. It's all in a human scale with a personalized
feeling, and some of the shop interiors are centuries old. We photographed this program during the month
of November, which as it turns out, is a great time to visit the south of France. The weather was cool but not cold, and the
towns and sites were never crowded, but everything was open so you can fit in like a local. It's always a good idea to get with the rhythm
and timing of a local schedule when you're traveling. For example, don't sit down to have dinner
early if you can avoid it, because it's a great time to be out walking around. Shops are open and the locals are out walking,
lighting is perfect, you’ve got that mix of the soft streetlighting and the evening
skylight, so postpone your dinner until about 8 o'clock if you can. And when you pick a little restaurant on a
side lane it probably won't get too crowded, but that depends on the season and the day
of the week. In our case it was November and we were eating
on a weeknight so we had our pick of restaurants, no problem getting a table and excellent service,
and of course, delicious foods, sometimes with interiors dating back several centuries
with that authentic original barrel vaulting. Look for restaurants on the quiet side lanes
rather than the busy plazas because you'll get lower prices, less crowding, better food
and friendly service. The most famous plaza in town with some of
those restaurants is Place du Forum. it's truly one of the most beautiful spots in town
but it does have restaurants and bars that are rather touristic, with a very recognizable
café that was immortalized by van Gogh in one of his most well-known paintings, which
is commonly but incorrectly called the Night Café. The real name of the painting is Café Terrace
At Night. It's a beautiful spot to have a look at, especially
at twilight. You might want to sit down and have a drink,
pretend you’re inside the painting. Van Gogh lived in Arles and nearby St Remy
during the final 2 1/2 years of his life and nearly all of the works in his distinctive
style were created during that time period when he produced over 150 paintings, and yet
none of his original work is on view in Arles. So visiting the van Gogh Café is a nice way
to absorb some of that feeling, and you can also do a self-guided walk through town, looking
at 10 reproductions of his work, displayed outdoors at the sites where they were created. These little lanes are just a couple of blocks
off from the shopping streets, and are especially enjoyable at twilight. These little lanes are just a couple of blocks
away from the shopping streets, and are especially enjoyable at twilight. Walk along enjoy the peace and quiet. And then let's take a turn into the busier
part of town, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock at night. It's very much alive. We’re in the main square the Place de la
République, plenty of shops around it, bars and cafés and restaurants everywhere. And here's a boutique selling the santons. These are the small figurines of Provence
with their native folk costumes. It's a very collectible item. We’re going to show you many more of these
colorful figurines later in the program, vividly depicting various aspects of life in Provence. Just a few blocks over is the Boulevard des
Lice, the main busy street of town and at this hour there are lots of people out. The streets are lit up nicely. We’re in November. It's about 7 PM, so it's pretty dark already,
but we’ve got that lingering effect of the late twilight. It's the same street that was totally closed
to traffic that we saw earlier for the open food market. At night it takes on a totally different character,
lots of traffic going by. It's a wide busy boulevard. There's buses and cars, pedestrians out, and
all of these terrace restaurants that it would be a very nice local kind of place to have
a meal. The Tourist Information Office is also located
on the boulevard, open generally from 9 to 4: 30, a good place to stop in if you want
some brochures about the attractions, the walking tours, hotels and restaurants. And then back into the more pedestrian part
of the old town a few blocks over. We come upon the Hotel de Dieux, which is
also called the Espace van Gogh. It was a hospital 100 years ago, and this
is where van Gogh was brought after he sliced his ear, along with other visits regarding
his mental health. And now the building is a cultural center
and a little shopping mall. We'll bring you back over here during the
daytime a little bit later in the program. And back along these lovely pedestrian shopping
malls as we close out our evening walk through Arles. It's been a pleasure taking you through this
extended walking tour of Arles, something you don't find in guidebooks or most websites
about what to do in Arles. The rest of our movie is going to be more
like a traditional travel guide, with detailed visits to major attractions including the
history museum, main church and cloister, Van Gogh’s former hospital, several plazas,
the Roman amphitheater and additional walking in those little lanes. There is a major history museum in Arles that
is really worth walking to. It takes about 15 or 20 minutes to walk here
from the center of town, and it displays a lot of the treasures from the ancient Roman
period of Arles. And they have got a lot of the original glass
works, the tools, the gold jewelry, the statues, all on display here at the Archaeological
Museum, and some earlier pieces that date back to the Stone Age. We have statues of the various emperors, and
a large 3-D model of Arles in the time of ancient Rome showing how sophisticated the
buildings were. Here's a view of the theater. There is very little left of the ancient Roman
theater, and the theater as we see it today is really a reconstruction. Only the columns in the foreground are original. But the townfolks have actually rebuilt the
theater as you see here, and they have performances. So it is built in the style of the old theater,
and typically the Romans would even build a roof across the theater to protect it from
the weather. The amphitheater is quite original and still
standing as it was in the time of Vespasian, who also built the great Colosseum in Rome. Here's the sarcophagi, or tombs of the Romans
and some early Christians. The stone coffins are richly decorated with
sculpture depicting daily life. And there's a large collection of mosaic floors. This lady riding the bull is called Europa. It's interesting that even 2000 years ago
they talked about Europa or Europe. Well the elevated platforms enable you to
look down on this large collection of floors. These are taken from Roman homes through archaeological
excavations and they reveal brilliant scenes created with tiny pieces of colored stones. There's other statues here, depicting the
emperors, various sea creatures. The Roman portrait bust was really refined
art form in ancient Rome, 2000 years ago. Nereids, the zodiac, the various seasons are
represented. And here's little models of their engineering
feats. They had bridges across the river here, and
apartment houses. The Romans were truly amazing inventors and
the world's most impressive engineers at that time, 2000 years ago
More views of the sarcophagi. There is a major Roman burial grounds in Arles
also. These dramatic displays remind us that Arles
was one of the largest economic centers in the Roman Empire, with the busy commercial
harbor and an extensive urban core. More views of the amphitheater. And they're doing some renovation work on
it. Even in ancient Rome you can see they were
doing some renovating, ongoing maintenance. That's what kept it standing for nearly 2000
years. This could hold 23,000 people. It's really the best-preserved amphitheater
from ancient Rome to be found anywhere in Europe today. Another view of the scale model of the town
itself. And next will take a walk under the ancient
Roman forum. The forum was the center of social life in
ancient Arles and miraculously, a large part of it is still preserved underground. These barrel-vaulted arcades used to be street
level, but now they are slightly underground and beautifully preserved for you to walk
through today as the Cryptoporticus Museum of Arles. The function of these barrel-vaulted spaces
is a little bit uncertain, but it's believed they were used for storage. They were like warehouses, and also provided
the foundation for the main structure of the forum up above. It's a little spooky down there. You walk down below, and they keep it kind
of dark, and it's a little dank down in the basement, but definitely quite fascinating
and worth a visit. This covered gallery consists of three tunnels
connected in a U-shape and it was apparently underneath the main building of the Roman
forum, as you see in this model from the museum, a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting
supports the portico structure above. This kind of covered passageway was typical
in the large Roman palaces and public buildings and yet there's some belief that this Cryptoporticus
may have been originally built by the ancient Greeks who preceded the Romans, in the first
century BC. The rest of the buildings of the ancient forum
up above are long gone and yet this is still the center of town with the City Hall up above
and the Chapel of the Jesuit College, with its Baroque altar and otherwise plain interior. A map from the museum illustrates the location
of the U-shaped Cryptoporticus with the modern Place du Forum on one side and the Place de
la République on the other. The City Hall or Hotel du Ville on the Place
de la République, is the ticket office and entrance for the Cryptoporticus where you
purchase your tickets. Enter the vaulted lobby of the old City Hall
built in 1675 according to plans by the famous architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart who left
his mark all over Paris and Versailles with many famous buildings. Step in and enjoy the public lobby with the
neoclassical architecture and statues such as in the stairway alcove. It is right on the main square in the heart
of town, the Place de la République. When you emerge from City Hall onto this large
plaza you will be facing the most important church in the city, St Trophime. In a moment we’re going inside for an extended
visit. The setting on this place is quite wonderful
with the fountain and obelisk in the center and the traditional buildings all around it. We are right in the middle of downtown Arles,
night and day it's an attractive location. “Well, the main structure on the square
is behind me, it is the church of San Trophime and the façade of this church is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. It's a very important façade, it's from the
Romanesque period, so it dates back to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and what we
have depicted are various scenes from the Bible. In particular, there is the Last Judgment. So we have Christ in the top center, and on
your left side, we have the good souls who are being sent to heaven, and on the right
side, not so lucky. The bad folks on their way down to hell. Along with that, we've got the apostles. You see, along the row, right below the Christ,
we have the apostles. Alongside Christ are the evangelists, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. And there's just a lot going on. There's St. Stephen here. You'll see the gargoyles, the devils bringing
the tormented souls down into hell. So it's just really a remarkable structure
all in all. It's a mix of Romanesque and Gothic, and then
later Gothic, high Gothic, so it's twelfth century right up through the fifteenth century
on the interior. San Trophime. There was an earlier church on the same site
dating back to the fifth century, and even as far back as the year 250. According to legend, Trophimus of Arles became
the first Bishop of the area. And this church was subsequently named after
Trophimus. He became St. Trophime, and his relics were
installed in the new Cathedral here around the year 1152. This area is Gothic, the ambulatory. It's late Gothic, it’s almost a flamboyant
Gothic. You see the curvatures there. That was the late Gothic, it was called flamboyant,
as in flames, the flicker of a flame of a candle, curvatures. It's such a beautiful Chapel. This was added in the fifteenth century, so
the life of the church continued, the construction went on for about 400 years. And yet the different styles blend beautifully
together, it just fits, it's this evolution, progress. The early Romanesque to the latest Gothic. Typical of the Romanesque style, the walls
are quite thick and solid with small windows high up in the nave, above the level of the
aisles. Of course, during the nearly thousand-year
history of this building, there have been many subsequent additions, and there's works
of art that were installed during the Renaissance period. And later on, you've got paintings and tapestries
and sculptures and various really reliquaries, and side chapels and smaller altars, with
magnificent architectural details on the tops of the columns and distributed throughout
the church. Several side chapels are decorated in the
Baroque style from the 17th century with large oil paintings and gilded wooden frames with
the open pediments on top. This is a sarcophagus, an ancient tomb, it
was a coffin, sarcophagus, and now it's used as a baptismal font. It's believed that the apse and transept of
the church were built in the late 11th century, and the nave and belltower were added later,
completed in the second quarter of the 12th century. As you come out of the church have another
look at the façade, which is the only element of the church that’s a UNESCO World Heritage
Site. And then to the right of the church be sure
to find the entrance to the cloister. It's easy to overlook it, but this little
courtyard will lead you into one of the great artistic treasures of Europe. It's like an open-air museum with architecture
and sculpture that spans a 300-year period We’re in the cloister in Arles and it is
really quite a lovely cloister. It's an interesting mix of architectural styles. We have the Gothic on this side. You can see the pointed arches. And the other half of the cloister is actually
earlier, with the Romanesque barrel-vaulting. So it took about 300 years to construct this
one cloister. It's a very calm and peaceful place. Beautiful columns with different capitals
to the columns, a lot of detail. And there are some lovely statues on the corner
columns in the cloister. Cloisters are always rewarding and peaceful
places to visit, there's a meditative and prayerful atmosphere in a cloister like this. Anytime you see a cloister with the columns
and the arcade surrounding an open square, you know that this had been at one time a
residence of the clergy, perhaps a residence of nuns or priests. Somebody associated with the church generally
would be living upstairs, but is rare to find a cloister such as this one that is so intricately
decorated. The top of each column is carved, and some
of the columns are really impressive works of art in themselves. Midway along there's a major column and then
each of the smaller columns have elaborate capitals. And in fact this cloister is generally considered
to be the most important cloister in all of Provence. And it's so easy to overlook it because it
has an unmarked doorway. You’d never even know it's here, unless
you studied up a little bit in your guidebooks, or watching the video, or heard about it somehow. It's the corner columns that are really the
most spectacular of all in the cloister of San Trophime. There is a statue of St. Paul. That's one of the really important art masterpieces
in here. Here’s some of the detailed corner statues
with relief scenes, and there are some other scenes of daily life as well carved into the
galleries of the cloisters. The cloister is open to the public for that
slight admission charge but generally you're not allowed to go into any of the adjoining
rooms, those are private. However in this case we noticed the door was
open and it looked like there were some kind of a public exhibit inside so we were welcome
to come on in and have a look It was a huge display of little figures these
are of the santons, the figurines of Provence, small clay figures that represent daily life
in the region. It's almost like watching a documentary about
how the people lived 100 years ago. Nativity scenes and the creche were the original
subject matter but it expanded well beyond that during the last 800 years of evolution. Now we see the clothing they wore, the foods
they ate, what their dining tables were like, shepherds out with their flock of sheep, a
bawdy party going on. These are animated, colorful and often funny
depictions of life in the South of France. All set in this dramatic barrel vaulted chamber
at the back end of the cloisters, what a surprise. And you see they have expanded out beyond
depicting French subjects into those of the world. Each piece is individually handcrafted, no
two are alike. You'll find them in shops year-round but these
traditional exhibits happen mostly during November, December in the Christmas season. We've just come out of the cloister and church
of St Trophime, and this map will give you some orientation about the center of Arles
for the other landmarks were visiting. Place de la Republic is right in front, a
few blocks over to Place du Forum, main shopping street rue de la Republic, and then we’re
going down to Espace van Gogh, the hospital that artist was treated in several times while
living in Arles. We've seen the Place du Forum at night already
but let's have a look during the daytime. It's just a couple blocks over from Place
de la Republic along shop-lined streets. In a minute arriving at the Place du Forum,
probably the most popular plaza for eating and drinking with its charming bistros and
cafés, but as mentioned previously the beauty of this square attracts the tourists to the
restaurant so if you sit down to enjoy a meal you're paying for the location in your food
bill which might well be worth it to you. In the center stands a statue of Frederick
Mistral, who was the Nobel prize-winning poet, a native of Arles. Behind him is one of the only four-star hotels
in town, the Grand Hotel Nord-Pinus. Called Place du Forum because it's the area
where the ancient Romans had their forum with the Cryptoporticus underground here, the passageway
we visited earlier. And you'll remember this place is the location
of that most famous Café van Gogh that we looked at earlier in the evening. Why not sit on the terrace and have a drink
it's more atmospheric at night but here it is during the daytime. Two blocks away you’ll find the Museum Arletan
founded by Frederick Mistral with that Nobel Prize money. It features Provençal folk art, furniture,
ceramics, costumes, tools and farming implements, depicting life here in the 19th century. It will be reopening in 2019. You don't need to be overly concerned about
historic sites, like museums, ancient Roman remains, or major churches, although we’ve
seen that Arles has those as well. Instead look to the charm of the back streets,
those little lanes which represent the essence of towns in Provence, as we find everywhere
in Arles. You’ve seen a lot of that already here and
we have even more walking exploration ready to share with you. You'll find that most of these buildings are
quite similar to each other and yet this lack of architectural diversity lends a beautiful
harmony to the overall appearance, and there is plenty of variation in detail as you go
past each building, featuring healthy urban mix of residential and retail all in the same
location, a delightful combination that modern city planners are still striving to achieve. We photographed this program during the month
of November, which as it turns out, is a great time to visit the south of France. The weather was cool but not cold and the
towns and sites were never crowded, but everything was open so you can fit in like a local. If you are in Arles during the off-season,
that's from October through April, the atmosphere is extra peaceful. You can enjoy the calm scene without anybody
else in the way as the town comes to life with local people. In the summertime, naturally, there will be
more tourists in the streets, but, oh, you can get up early anytime of the year and find
some tranquility, but in the off-season, it's great night and day. Arles was a fortified town ever since its
Roman origins nearly 2000 years ago, with a wall around it. And here you see the remains of a Roman aqueduct. They brought water in from the distance. And on top of it is the ruins of an old medieval
wall that surrounded the town. Just next to that wall along Boulevard Emile
Combe on Wednesday mornings you'll find another food market. This is different than the big market that
we showed you earlier that takes place on Saturday morning, but it seems even more local
and authentic, a lovely lively market where you can get fruits and vegetables, and you
can have a snack while you're there. They've also got some souvenirs for sale,
some T-shirts and clothing. It's a fleamarket with piles of used goods
that you can rummage through, pick up a bargain. And it's a place to hang out and watch the
locals, a very colorful spot, the morning market in Arles just on the edge of the old
town, even if it's a rainy morning as we had today. There is a school group of kids heading for
class. Bonjour. Even if you're not buying any of the fruits
or vegetables, it's always enjoyable to watch the market. It opens at 8 o'clock in the morning and it
starts shutting down about noon. By 1 o'clock it's all over, so don't get here
too late Herbs and spices are popular here along with
soaps and toiletries made from the abundant lavender that grows in the area. One of the great things that you might want
to purchase while you're in Provence -- a really characteristic item -- is the fabric,
the colorful Provencal fabrics. These are all made here, very nice cotton
material, and it's printed in the neighborhood, in the area around Arles in Provence, and
it has that characteristic, pastel colors, the yellows, the oranges, the greens, the
motifs with the olives. Let's have a quiet, peaceful stroll in the
village atmosphere of Arles in the morning, when life is just getting started. It's about 7:30-8 o'clock in the morning. A couple of the cafés are open, the corner
shop is open, but nothing much else is happening. There's a few people on their way to work,
the town square is fairly quiet at this hour. Then you can just enjoy the peace and quiet
without anybody else in the way. Again, being here in November is extra peaceful. When you come in the summertime, naturally,
there'll be a lot of tourists in the streets any time of day, but if you're up at 7:30-8
in the morning, any time of year, you're going to have a nice quiet, peaceful way to start
your day. Place Voltaire is a charming spot to watch
the day begin, with its little tree-shaded square in the center surrounded by lovely
old buildings. It's more of a local place than a tourist
spot, even though there are a couple of hotels nearby. There are several nice, little two-star hotels
located around the plaza in this part of town with reasonable rates, including the Gauguin,
the Mirador and the Voltaire. There are so many others of these small lanes
and little plazas with very little traffic and great charm that are fun to explore the
you can keep you happily entertained here for a full day or maybe even a couple of days. Many buildings in the town center were constructed
during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but have been beautifully maintained and function
today as apartments and modern shops. Another little bit of a pedestrian lane and
the cat in the standing guard. More views of that Roman amphitheater. During the Middle Ages the amphitheater was
actually used for housing. It's so quiet this dog is wondering who's
coming down his street. [dog barks] Just standing guard, being friendly. Also, during the Middle Ages a wall was built
around Arles to protect it from attack, and provide security, and most of the medieval
wall is still intact, just as many of the buildings from that middle-age period are
still standing as you see here today. The ancient wall encloses the space and it
still protects it from undue modernization, and nothing much seems to have happened to
disturb these old buildings, so the historic center still looks as it did centuries ago. We’re going to be showing you typical residential
area. Right in the old town there is a significant
population, people living here in these buildings that go back through the centuries. They've got their cats and dogs out for a
walk. Kids are out strolling, bicycles. It's a very friendly and safe neighborhood. Now this is really kind of off the beaten
tourist track. We've been walking in those residential lanes
south of the arena, and now heading west a few blocks over to Espace van Gogh. Today it's a cultural center but formerly
was the hospital that took care of van Gogh. Arles is perhaps most famous as the home to
Vincent van Gogh in the final couple years of his life. But unfortunately very little is left of any
buildings or associations. There's no paintings by Van Gogh here, but
the one significant building is Espace van Gogh, which was a hospital that he was treated
at several times. It continued operating as a hospital right
up until the 1970s, and it was empty for a while, but after much work and discussion
and reconstruction, it was turned into this vast cultural space. We happened upon a special exhibit inside
the building. Our visit was during the month of November,
so it's already coming up on the Christmas season and part of that festivities in the
Provence area is the display of the santons. These are the small figurines vividly depicting
colorful people in traditional outfits. These whimsical little statues are unique
to the south of France and can be purchased in many shops. This large building has many other attractions. Around some of the ground floor you've got
shops, and there's cafés and restaurants. This restaurant, Les 2 Suls, is a crêperie
with salad, but on Saturdays they have specialties and today it was his wonderful stew with the
lamb, and peas, and potatoes and carrots, very tasty. Sometimes you get lucky. Back into the courtyard for a brief history
of Arles, from the ancient Romans right through van Gogh. The Romans were here for the duration of the
Roman Empire, right up through the fall of Rome. In fact this was one of the last places where
the Roman Empire was extinguished, so their power lasted through the 450s, 480s. And during that time period it was a real
power center of the Romans because the people in Arles sided with Julius Caesar at the time
of the Civil War in Rome, whereas the people of Marseilles, which was a very important
harbor town as well in those days, sided with Caesar's rival who was Pompey. And Caesar won the Civil War and therefore
Marseilles was stripped of all of its power and everything moved to Arles, so the big
chief in the army. This became also a big retirement center for
the Roman army, for the legionnaires. They put in their twenty years, just like
today, and then they would have a retirement paid for by the government, and many of them
moved from Italy over to his neighborhood, to this region, because it's just so pleasant
living here. So this was a real power center. I mentioned it was a breadbasket with terrific
wheat farming. They had something very special here for grinding
the wheat. The ancient Romans invented a waterwheel system. It's no longer visible. It's gone. But the archaeologists have figured it out. Outside of town, about 10 miles outside of
town in a river gully, they constructed a series of dams and waterwheels for grinding
grain. It was a phenomenal factory system. It was all automated and it was just pumping
out grain 24/7 and that was being bagged up and brought back to the city of Rome and elsewhere. Comes the fall of Rome, the Visigoths come
in. They were followed by the Saracens, who didn't
last very long. It was about AD 700. The Saracens were throughout this area briefly. And then the Franks came in, the French, and
removed the Saracens and took over, and it became a Frankish region, and it became the
capital of Provence, and beyond Provence into parts of Burgundy. So Arles was of the regional capital, most
important city in this whole area. And that continued for several hundred years
until about the 1450s, 1500s, and for some reason the power shifted elsewhere and Arles
became kind of a backwater, and so nothing much happened. And as a result, throughout the next couple
hundred years, there was very little reconstruction, so we have this well-preserved historic town. And then the next major event of course was
van Gogh, the arrival of van Gogh here, the Postimpressionist. So that was the late 1880s or so, and he lived
here for a year. He produced two hundred paintings during that
one year. That was his peak period of creativity. That was towards the end of his life, and
then he went up back up north near Paris, and that's where he later died. His brother Theo was an art dealer in Paris,
and even he couldn't sell any. So Theo kept him going with a small allowance. Imagine, his paintings now would go for a
hundred million dollars. We stayed at the Hotel Calendal right in the
center of town. Arles is not a big city, fortunately. It's a small town, and most of the hotel choices
you'll find here are in small hotels like this that are really charming and totally
European in their ambience and atmosphere. And you'll typically get a breakfast buffet
spread included with your room price. And it's great coffee, cold cuts, cheese,
maybe you'll have some eggs, breads, cereals. It's a good way to start the day, and there's
always, the cozy living room in these hotels, these small European-style hotels in the heart
of town. And the price is really quite reasonable,
especially when you're here in the off-season. And as you see the rooms are very comfortable,
a great place to stay. That wraps up our in-depth look at Arles. But if you'd like to see some more walking
in those alleys, stick around. At the end of the program we have a little
bonus clip for you. Now we are leaving Arles, and we are traveling
through the South of France by train. The train station in Arles is very convenient
to the village. It's located less than half a mile from the
fortified wall of Arles, so probably your hotel is within a one-mile distance from the
train station, which makes it very convenient. You can just walk over here if you're leaving
on a daytrip to explore the nearby areas. Or if you're leaving town, well, you might
want to taxi to bring your suitcases with you over to the train station. And it's a simple train station: just two
tracks and a small reception area. And pretty soon you hop on the train and go. Train is always a very comfortable way to
travel. First class is air-conditioned and it's really
smooth, and you got is beautiful scenery outside the windows. We have many more movies about Provence and
the south of France in our collection including Avignon. We’ll be taking you to the stone village
of Les Baux, have some crepes, down to Nice, the beach, the old town. We’ll see it during the daylight and take
you back there at night. We’ll be visiting historic sites and meeting
the people, Pont du Gard, ancient Roman aqueduct, the quaint village of St Remy will charm you
on market day with street music, you'll see shop dogs and ancient arcades, the daily joy
of life in the streets is one of our specialties. We’ll do some downtown shopping and enjoy
traditional recreation, You can also find Aix en Provence, Cannes
and nearby Antibes along the sunny shores, and Marseilles in our series of travel videos,
all the best of southern France. Look for them in our collection. And now a couple of minutes of just walking
around in the pedestrian streets of Arles, a music video about the little lanes of Arles. And please, if you are enjoying the movie,
make a comment. That really helps us spread the word.
