Leaving Monte Carlo after only one evening, we headed west along the Riviera passing Nice, Cannes & St. Tropez, then turned north entering the Rhone Valley and into Provence.  Our hotel is in Beaucaire, but we spent most of the day visiting Arles.

This town is now most famous for Van Gogh’s stay here for 2 years – his most prolific time and when most of his most popular paintings where made.  He wanted to come to Provence to get some sun, and they’ve got plenty of that here. We are suffering now from too much heat!

Arles is just the right size to wander about for an afternoon, not too touristy. The girls did some shopping and we also picked up some medicine for Holden.  He has caught something and has been feeling sick for the past couple of days. We decided to spend two days in Beaucaire, which serves as a good central point for us to see some other locations around here tomorrow.

Streets of Arles along the Rhone.

Location and approximate view of where Van Gogh’s “Yellow House” once stood.  It was damaged during WWII and is no longer there.  We ate lunch at the Creperie where the building once stood.  The other buildings (behind, to the left) and the railway bridge are still there, making it easy to see what Van Gogh saw when he painted this in 1888.

Typical street view

Josie and Brenda shopping. All those table linens from Provence you can spend big $$ on at Williams-Sonoma — they are selling on the street here for next to nothing.

Pretty alley

Roman coliseum built in the 100’s.  Not only is it still standing, but it is still used – every Wednesday and Friday they do Bullfights.  We were surprised to learn that this region is still big on bullfighting – we’re not all that far away from the Spanish border, but I never knew this sport was also popular in southern France.

Outside Arles in one of the many sunflower fields.  There are also fields of lavender and grapes everywhere.  The colors here are bold – blues, yellows and greens.  Purples when the sun sets.  Arles is where Van Gogh painted his famous sunflower paintings (as decoration for his Yellow House in the above photo.)

This is the treasure we brought home from Arles. It’s a cast iron kitchen hook in the shape of a bull’s head.