France
Arles
Roman amphitheatre stones still warm at twilight in the town Van Gogh painted into fever.
The Roman amphitheatre sits right in the city's middle, its limestone tiers still warm from the afternoon sun as the evening crowds fill the cafés pressed against its arches. Arles, in France's Provence, has always drawn people trying to catch the light — Van Gogh painted at a fever pitch here for fifteen months, and every summer the Rencontres photography festival takes over the town. The Rhône runs wide and slow along its western edge, carrying the last light downstream.
Arles was a major Roman city, and its first-century amphitheatre — the most visited monument in town — still stages bullfights and concerts; with the theatre, the baths and the Romanesque church of Saint-Trophime it forms a UNESCO World Heritage listing. Vincent van Gogh lived here from February 1888 to May 1889 and produced some of his most recognisable work; the Fondation Vincent van Gogh shows him beside contemporary artists, and marked panels take you to the spots he painted. LUMA Arles, with its twisting Frank Gehry tower, has made the old railway yards a contemporary-art campus, and the Rencontres d'Arles, held every summer since 1970, fill chapels and warehouses across the city with photography. Saturday morning the Boulevard des Lices becomes one of Provence's largest markets.
Solo
The amphitheatre in early morning, Van Gogh's painted locations mapped across the city, the photography exhibitions in repurposed buildings — Arles rewards the solitary walker who stops to look.
Couple
The Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices fills the morning; the afternoon can be LUMA or the Van Gogh foundation; and the light does something to shared evenings on the Rhône.
- The first-century Roman amphitheatre still hosts events — sit on the same stone where the crowds of Roman Arles watched the games.
- Van Gogh painted here at a fever pitch from 1888 to 1889 — the foundation shows his work and panels mark the places he painted.
- The Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices is one of Provence's largest — the sensory overload starts at the olive stalls.
- The Rencontres d'Arles photography festival packs the town with exhibitions every summer — culture at street level.
Saucisson d'Arles — dry-cured sausage of pork and beef with spice, a local staple since 1655.
Olives, goat's cheese and Camargue rice from the Saturday market along the Boulevard des Lices.
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