Meeting the Boat at Arles

The Avalon Poetry is quite a nice ship, three decks, large lounge and dining areas and will hold about one hundred and fifty passengers, with a mostly Eastern European crew. We think there are around one hundred and twenty guests on board, approximately 70 from the US, 30 Canadians and the balance from Europe, Australia and India.

We started out with welcome aboard cocktails, a safety briefing, a nice dinner with bottomless wine. How can you beat that!  This is a specialty theme cruise for wine lovers so we are looking forward to visit some wine areas and listen to the wine master on board the ship.

Arles is located in Provence region of France and is upstream from where the Rhône meets the Mediterranean. This area of France has a bit of Spanish influence as it was once part of Catalonia. Some of this area is known as the Camargue, where they raise the white Camargue horses as well a fighting bulls.

Arles was a Roman metropolis under Constantine and became the most important Roman city in Gaul, as the Romans knew France as. Therefore, the city was important enough to have a lot of Roman amenities, of which some are intact and still used today.

The arena, built in the same style as the coliseum in Rome, is mostly intact and instead of having gladiators for entertainment, now hosts bullfights and bull games. Traditional bullfights are held twice a year, and bull games are held a minimum of once monthly. In bull games the bull is the hero and if good is held in high esteem. This is a game where one fighting bull is brought into the arena and between 15 to 20 young men then risk being run down and/or gored to remove a small bunch of flowers that has been tied between the bulls horns.

Most of the bottom of the coliseum is still intact, there have been some minor repairs, and a lot of the top half is still there but not in use for seating as when it was built.

The Coliseum at Arles

The bull ring and seating inside the coliseum

An intriguing place to admire is the Hotel de Ville, or city hall. The interior has a large vaulted ceiling which use numerous arches and wall niches to support it. What amazes me is that it is all held together by key stones placed. There is no mortar or other binding agents used to hold this ceiling together, just key stones.

Some place up there one piece holds the rest together

One of the arches

No wine tours today, instead we toured an olive oil farm, where they grow and produce their own oils. Strictly an organic family farm, Moulin de Calanquet, has been in the family for five generations. They grow a variety of olives and make oils of each variety as well as some blends and tapenades. It was interesting to note that pits and all are used to make olive oil, it is the elements in the pit that keeps the oil from spoiling. 

In the olive grove

Olives on the tree

Crushing Equipment

Les Baux-de-Provence is a small village set on top of a rocky outcrop in the Alpilles Mountains. Portions of the old medieval castle remain, but now the village is a commune, about 500 people live here, and tourist attraction. The village consists of very narrow streets, (very windy when we were there), lined with cute little shops, bakeries and cafes. The place is quite charming. 

Walking the streets.

Very Unique Garage

 Access to the village is through a valley, sometimes called the Devils Valley, of limestone rock formations that have been eroded by the weather into weird shapes.

The valley below the village

One of many rock formations along the road

The wine master just came on late this afternoon so we haven’t spent time with her yet. We have our first seminar with her tomorrow morning - chocolate and wine tasting at 10:30 in the morning!!! Yahoo!!!