IntrepidFromDC

How Arles became a wealthy Roman city...

Museum pics never go over as good as being there but here goes, the Roman Ship is original and breathtaking in person.

A cute vegetable, fromage, wine and beer shop. I tried the French-made NE IPA. It was horrible. Stick to wine and food, Frenchies! 😁🇫🇷

Arrival at Gare Arles, map of town, Rhone River where the French meticulously raised and restored a Roman ship complete with full load of preserved furniture, antiquities, etc from (400 meters?) depth in 2010. At the Roman History Museum I saw it up close (pics in a few) as well as lots of artifacts. There's a brief write up on how Arles was an important Roman port I took a pic of in the museum, and the 20 minute movie showing how they kept a 2,000 year submerged from cracking and disintegrating by injecting the wood with resin and anaerobic bacteria before removing the water from within the wood is awesome.

Arles is charming and amazing! Lots of rich history and culture too. I visited the Roman History Museum after dropping off my carryon at the hotel this morning, then walked around alot and had Cambodian soup with French wine for lunch. Lots of pics, here they come...

As a train approaches the display changes from a sequential list of upcoming trains to the train that is arriving and the stops, so nice. ARLES here I come.

Waiting for the train to Arles. The "e" is soft and the "s" is silent. The coffee shop was all locals so it seemed. I've made a habit to save leftover bread from dinner to feed the birds each morning. Didn't see Tweet Tweet this morning but the "Flying Rats" (that's what Venetians call pigeons) were happy. If you buy a digital ticket you don't have to validate it, although some places may be different. Pictured in the train station is the validation machine, vending machines and signage for trains and track #s.

Tweet Tweet followed me!

20230515_054151.mp4

20230517_175639.mp4

Dinner at Fou De Fafa, #2 rated restaurant in Avignon was wonderful. I don't know how they manage to make olive tapenade work as a sauce for fish, but it was fantastic. Thanks again TripAdvisor. This was the first French Restaurant with a menu in English on the trip.

I'm guessing Happy Hour price for the large.

A food store and my yummy Vietnamese lunch was almost as good as our favorite spot back home.

Dinner at "Arlequin" was excellent. Not quite superb. I saw other things on the menu that looked great, I would eat here if I was in Avignon again. Which is not likely. For me, of the four places I've been so far, only Paris and Lyon are worth multiple visits. But I'm glad I saw Dijon and Avignon.

Yes, the 16-day thing is still happening to my knowledge. But what about the ability to show up earlier than your time?

No, I don't know that. Are you sure, and thanks for posting this! I thought our advantage was the 2-day early opportunity to choose a time, not that we can just belly up and get what we want.

Oops, left out the puppy!

Just walking around...

Dogs and truffles

Not too many bars but they're spaced well. Watched the guy create this sign from scratch while enjoying 4 whiskies, then suggested he should replace all the euro pricing with $ because the pic is going on cruisecritic.

Meandering to the hotel I found a place I remembered from TripAdvisor for lunch. It was good, far from great.

Once again I found a hotel with great basics (bed and shower) thanks to TripAdvisor and great location for $90 or less per night.