I have been staying with Sheila for 1 and a half weeks now and I almost don't want to leave. The accommodation here is more than great. We are supposed to work 5 hours a day, but we are not told when to start or stop. It's all based on trust. Lunch and dinner are prepared together. I can now call myself a salad chef, as I always make the salad and slowly getting the hang of it.
The work here consists mostly of weeding. Last week, we also provided the olive trees with new soil.
On the weekend, we had a full program. Friday evening we went to Avignon, the old city of popes. The entire old town is still surrounded by a well-preserved city wall. The old town is really beautiful and has some nice squares in addition to the Palais des Papes. Saturday morning we took the bus from Avignon to the Pont du Gard, a well-known Roman arch bridge that was part of the Nîmes aqueduct. It's an incredible feeling to be at such an ancient place that is still preserved. The associated museum informed me that an aqueduct is colloquially used for the preserved bridges, but actually refers to the entire path of the water, from the source to the destination. After only a few hours there, we continued by bus to Nîmes, an ancient Roman city. The old town can only be described as beautiful. Everything is very well preserved and the city has created a successful accent with new museum buildings. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to fully enjoy the city because we headed to Arles in the evening.Arles is also an ancient Roman city, located on the Rhône River like Avignon and Lyon. Unfortunately, the old town is not as well preserved and is rather decaying. But there were some painting samples by Vincent van Gogh to see, as he was inspired by the city and its sun, and it is said that 300 of his works were created there.
