After leaving the campsite, we’ve spent the day in Arles, visiting the Roman sites and marvelling at what they built 2000 years ago. By contrast, we also visited Luma, a shiny metallic building that is now a centre of contemporary art. Arles… it’s been a pleasure!
We passed the Roman obelisk and Eglise St Trophime, with its beautiful carvings then, after wandering round a photographic exhibition, headed for the cryptoportiques.
These are underground galleries ventilated by shafts, underneath the site of the Roman Forum, of which very little remains. They were probably used to store grain. The archaeologists who discovered them in the early 1900s must have been amazed. It was fascinating wandering through all the tunnels and arches.
After some lunch in Place du Forum, we made our way to Les Thermes de Constantin, which are Roman baths. Little remains of them, but it was interesting to see the arched vault and the hypocaust, and we were surprised to discover that Romans made concrete.
The Arena, Les Arènes, is much better preserved and very impressive. Apparently, at 136 metres long and 107 metres wide, it was the largest Roman building in Gaul, and 20th largest in the Roman Empire.
We spent quite a while wandering around it, imaging the gladiators and chariot races being watched by 20,000 people. It’s still used for concerts and bull fighting. Although they don’t kill the bull here, it still seems cruel and distasteful to me.
We made our way up to the top of the rows of seats to look down over the arena, and out over the town. The 360 degree panorama from the top was amazing!
The arena is 21 metres high and made up of two levels of 60 semi circular arches. There were 34 rows of stones seats and spectators would have been segregated according to their social status. Circular galleries and and horizontal passageways with alternating stairways meant people from different social classes didn’t mix!
Our next stop was the Roman Theatre. This was much smaller than the arena, with just 2000 seats. It would have been used for cultural events, rather than sporting events. It’s less impressive than the theatre we saw in Orange, but was worth a visit, especially as it was included in our city pass.
On the way in on the shuttle bus from the car park we’d seen Luma, an eye catching metallic building with ‘a twisted façade decorated with stainless steel bricks’. It was designed by Frank Gehry and consists of various multi-purpose public and private spaces, from exhibition halls to work rooms and event venues.
After walking around the landscaped gardens, we headed inside the tower. We did visit some of the exhibitions but a lot of them were too ‘arty’ for us and we didn’t really get the artist’s vision. We were more interested in the design of the building itself.
We loved the double helix staircase and the mirror that rotates slowly above it. Watching our reflection, and that of the surrounding space, as we moved up and down the staircase was fun.
We also enjoyed the indoor and outdoor viewing spaces from where we could see the Roman centre of Arles, the mighty River Rhône, and the Camargue in the distance.
Finally, it was fun sliding down the isometric slides, side by side… better than walking down the stairs or catching the lift, even if I was a bit dizzy when I got to the bottom!
Now we’re on a France Passion site, camping in an orchard. It’s been cooler today but, thankfully, didn’t rain. I hope the rain stays away tomorrow too because we’re planning to explore the Camargue… salt pans, flamingoes, white horses and bulls… fascinating!
Ramblings 
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