Day 27 - Thursday 26th October 2023

Overnight the ship had left Avignon and we were now docked at Arles. It was another cloudy morning with a mild temperature of 15C.

We had a very pleasant view of the city of Arles. Across the river from the ship we could see the ruins of an ancient stone bridge. Further on was the city with its stone walls, stone buildings and churches.

This morning I ordered the minute steak for breakfast as a change from eggs and omelettes. It took longer than a minute but when it did arrive, it was delicious. Back home, if you order breakfast steak, it's normally pretty ordinary but this was perfect.

This morning we'd decided to do the walking tour of Arles starting at 9am.

There was a ship moored between us and the dock and so we needed to climb up the stairs to our sundeck, across a ramp to their sundeck and down spiral stairs (fairly dicey) and then along various ramps to get ashore. So we'd already had good exercise before reaching dry land.

Our guide informed us that Vincent van Gogh used to live in Arles (even though he was Dutch) and much of her commentary was about him on the tour.

Initially she took us through city streets and plazas. Her effort to try to make it sound attractive wasn't helped by noisy construction work on the streets and buildings.

The first destination was the Roman amphitheatre which is in reasonably good condition considering it is 2000 years old. Most of the external stone arches are intact.

She led us into the amphitheatre and we sat in the grandstand just like audiences would have done over the centuries.

She described how the amphitheatre had been used for various forms of entertainment such as gladiator fights, animal fights and bullfights.

Next she took us to the ruins of the Roman theatre. She explained that a theatre is a semicircle shape whereas an amphitheatre is two theatres joined together to form an oval shaped arena.

Although you could see the semi-circular seating of the grandstand in the theatre, there wasn't much else left standing apart from some stone columns and walls. It wasn't a functioning building like the amphitheatre.

Further on we walked through the botanical gardens to a monument commemorating French soldiers. The garden also has a monument to Vincent van Gogh.

She escorted us through various city streets to the city square which has a tall monument in the middle and various stone buildings on all four sides including a church. We had 20 minutes free time to explore the square. Suzy went shopping instead and bought herself a shirt.

There was a pharmacy nearby and I realised this was my opportunity to get some more Panadol. So I walked up to the counter and said "Bonjour je veux de paracetamol". It worked. The pharmacist did not hesitate. She spun around and placed the packet down on the counter in front of me.

When the guided tour restarted, the guide explained the stone carvings at the entrance to the church. I'd already been inside the church during our free time break.

Next she took us to another plaza that would normally have been crowded with people in the summer.

The final destination of her tour was a building which was originally a hospital but is now a library. Although she gave us 20 minutes to explore it, Suzy and I went out to a nearby plaza to sit in a cafe and enjoy an espresso coffee.

To get back to the ship, our guide showed us through the main square again, into the city hall, down more charming narrow streets with lots of shops, past the ruins of the Roman baths  to reach the river.

Next to the river, there was an elevated stone walkway all the way back to our ship. We reached the ship soon after 12:15pm.

By this time, it was a pleasant 20C.

For lunch in the dining room, I enjoyed an excellent fish and chips, a couple of glasses of red wine, chocolate mouse cake and ice cream. Decadent.

The ship left Arles at 6pm and started sailing north again.

We'd been invited to a special dinner tonight, L'Amour, in an area at the end of the lounge. Everyone gets a turn and tonight was our turn. Surprisingly, there were six or seven empty seats.

It was a special meal prepared by the chefs. There were three starter dishes followed by a beef main course, dessert and finally limoncello.

The entertainment this evening in the lounge at 9:30pm was a combination of name that voice and name that movie.

We were in bed by 11pm.