#29 The Romans and Van Gogh

November 28, 2021: Arles

J. Depending on who you ask, Arles is known for its amphitheater or for Vincent van Gogh having lived here. I would say: both. On our short walk through Arles, we first passed an old Roman theater, similar to those we had already seen in Lyon or Orange, but of course without a back wall. Then suddenly we stood in front of the amphitheater, which reminded me a lot of the Colosseum, just slightly smaller. I always thought that every Roman theater built in a semicircle was an amphitheater (we mistakenly wrote it like that in this blog as well, but thanks to a vigilant reader's feedback, we were able to correct it). However, an amphitheater is not a semicircular but an oval building, with audience seating on all sides, where gladiator fights traditionally took place, not theater performances. Amphitheaters are not very common, the most famous one being the Colosseum in Rome, but this one in Arles is still very well preserved. It is still used for bullfights (both the classic bullfights that are deadly and the bloodless Camargue-style bullfights, where the bulls are not killed or injured).

Right in front of the amphitheater, we came across the first plaque with a painting by Van Gogh. He lived in Arles for several months and was inspired by the Provencal light. This was the most productive time for him, during which he developed his typical style and began painting his famous starry night skies. It was also in Arles that he cut off part of his left ear. A very famous painting of his, painted in Arles, is "Café Terrace at Night". The cafe that Vincent van Gogh painted here still looks almost the same today.

On the way from Arles further south, we crossed the Camargue. There are supposed to be flamingos and white wild horses there. Unfortunately, we didn't see any flamingos, but we did see white horses. However, they didn't look very wild, they were calmly grazing in a paddock. But it was too cold for us to go deeper into the Carmague National Park and continue to look for wild horses and flamingos, so we preferred to get to Spain faster.

Day 43 - Total tour 3,502 km

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