We visited a few more places in our Country Road of France tour -
ARLES: We arrived to Avignon later in the day and the
next morning we travelled to the city of Arles, the ancient capital of Gaul
where Vincent Van Gogh lived for a few years.
Arles goes back to the 6th Century BC when it was a Celto-Liguiran
settlement. It sat on crossroads of land routes linking Spain and Italy. The city also benefitted from the River
Rhone, which runs through the village.
In 855, the kingdom of Provence was constituted when the empire of
Charlemagne was divided up and Arles was finally attached to the Kingdom of
France in 1487.Vincent Van Gogh lived and painted in and around Arles for several years.
While Vincent Van Gogh was there, he painted many town
scenes, which he gave away to pay off debts.
After his death, the villagers were able to sell off his paintings at a
good profit. Van Gogh’
Several locations in and around town that were the subject of Van Gogh paintings are identified. The draw bridge below is an example.
LE PONT DU GARD: One of the most amazing structures built
by the Romans was the aqueduct at Pont du Gard 20 Centuries ago. This aqueduct had 53 arches that spanned the
Gardon River valley at 275 meters long, 49 meters high, 6 meters wide at the
base, 3 meters wide at the top. The aqueduct supplied the Roman town of Nimes
with 20,000 cubic meters of fresh water each day.
This particular arch is the largest arch the Romans ever built, spanning the River Gardon.
LES BAUX DE PROVENCE: In the Middle Ages, the Romans
colonized and constructed a fortified camp at the foot of the Les Baux (“Le
Bo”) Rock. They built fortified castles and because of its location, they had
the advantage of seeing 360 degrees around and as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
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