It’s the light. You can feel it, you can see it, you can almost smell it, and if you pass a lavender farm, you know you’re in Provence - the further south you go in France, and especially if you get off a plane in Nice, and walk outside…the light is so bright, it’s almost a glare.
It is this light that had drawn Claude Monet to Antibes, Gauguin to the tropics, Toulouse-Lautrec (from/to Albi), Paul Signac, a pioneer of pointillism, to Collioure near the Spanish border, and Cezanne, that forerunner of cubism, a native of Aix-en-Provence, as was an earlier painter: Granet.
It was the light and vibrant colors that Van Gogh searched for and found in Arles, after growing frustrated with the grey dark skies of Holland and Paris. His style became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888.
Aix-en-Provence is a good place to start to experience the vibe of the south of France. If one place could summarize the experience of Provence, it is Aix. The vibe is young as befits a college town. A Mediterranean climate prevails and the cafés are brimming, notably Les Deux Garçons, founded in 1792. The Hotel it’s in, the Hôtel de Gantés was founded in 1660. The three rooms of the brasserie is a registered historical monument. Located right on the Cours Mirabeau boulevard, Les Deux Garçons has served coffee to the rich and famous, (Emile Zola) to the poor, and the not so impoverished artists and students of the day - Cezanne’s dad was a banker. Its reputation continued into the 20th century hosting Picasso, Cocteau, Hemmingway, anybody who’s anybody….
The Cours Mirabeau is the enchanting main boulevard with two rows of plane trees on either side and three fountains along its length, including a warm water fountain covered in moss (there are thermal springs nearby, used by the Romans - of course), and that monumental beauty at the Rotonde.
Aix is known as the city of a thousand fountains. South of the Cours, the Quartier Mazarin is filled with grandes maisons, but also includes the Musée Granet (where Cezanne took drawing lessons) which also has seven paintings by Cézanne, well worth a look…not to mention a 17th century fountain nearby, the Fontaine des Quatre Dauphins.
We ate at the Comte d’Aix which has particular specialties of the region, on Rue de la Colonnade, #19. Excellent chicken with a lentil stew type of thing , the Provencale cake aux Pruneuax-- the Nougat Glacé, was sinfully delicious with a raspberry coulis to top it off. At 9:30 at night the place was jumping – everybody is out enjoying themselves in restaurant-cafes, the place is overrun with Brits. Every third establishment is a restaurant from the world-famous, to small four-table affairs in back streets. In these snack-bar places, for a few Euros you can get a decent meal that will definitely do you for lunch or even supper. But remember supper starts at 7:30 PM.
If you come upon some curious bronze plaques in the pavement with the letter C on them, then you have found part of the Cezanne walking tour – get your brochure at the Tourism Office – starts at the Rotonde with a statue of the scoundrel himself, and traces his haunts, winding through the historic heart of Aix, including his studio at 9 av Paul Cezanne, his various houses, schools…
At the end of your tour, head for the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, enjoy the 17th century city hall and clock tower whose clock was used to set all other clocks in town; the imposing 18th century former Corn Exchange. Close by find the Marché des Fruits et Legumes, where you can take a load off, sit out at Charly’s and have a nice crème brulée and a café au lait.
In the evening bring your bathing suits to 55 Avenue des Thermes at the Aquabella Hotel and Spa to find the Thermes Sextius, with an open-air warm pool built on Roman bath originals and stay for dinner at one of two restaurants.
The next day, visit a house with a past – set in a large, sumptuous French garden, the Pavillon Vendôme, commissioned in 1665 by the Duke de Vendôme as a place to have, errr, assignations with his mistress, the ‘belle du Canet’., then it passed to a painter, Jean-Baptiste van Loo, who used it as a studio (not a struggling painter in a garret), then it passed to the Secretary of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, then the French Revolution blew everything up and after, the Bishop of Anguilème turned it into a boarding school for girls, currently a museum.
If you are a fan of classical music, be here in late June-July for the Festival d-Aix-en-Provence, for opera.
Did I mention that Cezanne so loved the Montage-de-Sainte-Victoire, east of the city, one of the landmarks of the Pays d’Aix, that he sketched and painted it sixty times (a bit …-retentive, are we??).
If you have followed my stories for a while, you know that we love our vineyards and olive groves. On our trip to Slovenia by car, we stopped at a kiosk on the side of the road to taste the local pressing. The owner had thoughtfully provided some bit of fresh bread and a bowl for dipping to taste. Well, we bought two 500cc metal cans, the oil was so full of flavour. Could not find the brand back in Canada.
On the way to Arles a few miles from Aix, is Chateau Saint Hilaire offering get-it-all-in-one-place – White, Rosé and Red wines and olive oil too, but the capital of really superior Provençal olive oil is Salon-de-Provence with its own variety: Salounenco – green gold, fairly mild and fruity. Visit the Tourist Office and get all the info.
In 2005, the Moulin des Barres in Maussane-Les-Alpilles was voted the best olive oil in the world by the International Olive Oil Council in the “mildly fruity” category. This gold medal is called the Mario Solinas prize for quality.
To Van Gogh Arles seemed exotic, The dialect was different, the people clothed differently and the “enchanting” countryside was especially was rich in light, colours and textures. This was a most prolific period, when he produced over 200 paintings and more than a 100 drawings and watercolours of wheatfields, harvests and landscapes. Interestingly, although surrounded by Roman remains like the Arena (gladiators, bears, Christians – blood sports) the Theatre and substantial treasures like the Thermae (baths) of Constantine right next to the river Rhône, he had little interest in these and, if included, it was mostly as an adjunct to the countryside.
The medieval streets of Arles have now grafted themselves all around the Arena, but clearly Arles is quintessentially a Roman city. Wherever you walk there they are: a column here, a temple there, a stone with a faded carving. The Cryptoporticus is unique – a series of underground short columns and archways meant to support the new construction of the Forum.
The Forum has disappeared except, if you do a bit of search in the square, you’ll find two surviving columns and a bit of building left, believed to have been part of a temple. Near to the Arena, nicely excavated, is the 10,000 seat theatre, where dramas and comedies would be shown in the evening. An aside: the theatre held 10,000; the Arena, 20,000…hmmm, priorities, priorities.
The Arena survived mostly intact because after the fall of Rome, with barbarians roaming the countryside, the Arena was a natural defense. The Arleans (Arleseans??) built houses in the big empty space in the middle and were safe-ish….and, lastly, you understand that no self-respective Roman city (and Arles was one of the oldest) could exist without its Obelisk.
Attribution: Wolfgang Staudt
…and, if you like such things, and Van Gogh did – he painted it, there is the Alyscamps Necropolis to visit in a very graceful setting. In fact, what with the still existent Ramparts, Emperor Constantine’s baths, a Roman Museum, containing, among others, Caesar’s bust, and a well-preserved flat-bed boat with its contents, Arles is worth it JUST for its Roman-ness.
And then, of course, Arles is a medieval city, built hodge-podge and thus a delight to get lost in its labyrinthine streets. You’ll want to visit the cloister of St-Trophime (who?), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Get all your info at the Tourism Office on Bd. de Lices, and then cross the street with your pamphlets and maps and have a café at Grand Café Malarte.
Some six Kms north of Arles are the extensive Ruins of Montmajour Abbey, the frequent subject of our painter, and well worth a stop, and a nice walk as well.
The Fontaine Pradier is at the same spot that a spring existed which was the foundation of the city of Nîmes. A source of water being the defining element of any town. Saturday is market day, bring your appetite – you will not be disappointed.
Arles was the most productive period for painting for Van Gogh – you can visit the Le Café Van Gogh on the Place du Forum, the most visited spot in Arles to guess what he saw in it (of course, THAT café, and its ambience, are long gone).
Unfortunately, no originals remain in Arles, but if you wish to walk in his footsteps, visit Espace Van Gogh which has a small courtyard, recreated according to the original, painted from the balcony of his room in what was then a mental hospital. He was committed by the local gendarmerie after suffering hallucinations and delusions, and cutting off part of his ear.
Anecdote: He painted his doctor: Painting of Docteur Félix Rey and donated it to him, however, the doctor disliked it and used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away. In 2016 it was residing in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts valued at $50,000,000.
It was probably the displaced refugees from Glanum who founded what is now St-Rémy-de-Provence a few miles to the east of Arles. In the Roman era, with the town of Glanum nearby, pilgrims came to the sacred spring of Valetudo, Roman goddess of health, (prior to that, the sacred spring was the property of Glanis, a Celtic god) and in the 11th century, the Christians, naturally, built a priory at the site, which, with the passage of time became a monastery/hospital: Saint-Paul-de-Mausole.
The spring is still there. The French Revolution was not kind to the monks, and the place was purchased by a doctor who continued its vocation. It is still used to treat mental illness.
Van Gogh’s mental illness was progressive, but some of his most distinctive work, including Starry Night and Cypresses was done at the St-Paul asylum, where he checked himself in, stayed for a year, and produced over 150 works. As the hospital was formerly a monastery, the nuns still did most of the caring. Nowadays, the Vincent Van Gogh Promenade starts near the entrance to the alyssum and consists of 21 panels, reproductions of some of the works he painted here, wending its way to the center of St-Rémy, ending at the Van Gogh Center, while passing through the countryside he loved.
One kilometer south, and dated to 2500BC, are the ruins of the Roman town of Glanum, complete with a forum, theaters and the all-essential baths, all around the sacred spring mentioned above. It was important enough that it minted its own coins. The triumphal arch below was built in 10BC to commemorate the Roman victory against the local Celtic tribes. The Via Domitia linking Rome to Spain passed through Glanum (and Nîmes). Close by the impressive mausoleum of the Julii family still stands, though most of the town was destroyed by the invading Alamanni in 260AD, abandoned, and the inhabitants moved north to found St-Rémy.
A few miles south of Glanum, perched on its crag, part of the Alpilles range is Les-Baux-de-Provence, said to be the most frequently visited village in France benighted by 2 million visitors annually (poor folk). The ruined castle is huge, straddling seven hectares and has great views from the ramparts.
Due north of St-Rémy is Avignon, of that song-fame, notable chiefly (other than a nondescript broken bridge) for its ugliest, gothic, papal palace, ten-foot thick walls, more a fortress than a holy place, the one-time home of the ‘French’ popes during the western schism from 1309 to 1417 – when there were, at times, two popes at Rome and Avignon - power politics, tsk, tsk. Of course, Avignon is old and the centre is medieval, much like Nîmes and Arles but bigger. Go in July for its annual performing arts festival when every street can become a stage and while there, take the free ferry over to Ĭle de la Barthelasse, a 1700 acre, sparsely populated island in the Rhône. Visit Les Halles Avignon, a covered produce market and stock up on oysters, lemons (for the oysters, of course), cheese and saucissons, yum, before hoping the ferry – bring a bottle of the local Côte du Rhône with you as well. While on the Ile, stop at La Magie des Pains for a fresh baguette to have with your oysters.
…and, OK, lots of Roman stuff, but this next one is a must-see (well, so was the last one, but…) – the Pont du Gard - a UNESCO World Heritage site, because of its exceptional preservation, historical importance and architectural ingenuity. This aqueduct was built to carry water over 50 Kms to the Roman town of Nemausus (Nîmes). The incredible accuracy of the construction
was such that there was a drop in altitude of only one centimeter for every 186 meters of its length. It took 27 hours for the water of the springs at Ûzes in the north to reach the city and the estimates are that is carried nearly 9,000,000 gallons of water a day. It was in use even in the sixth century. The aqueduct also served as a bridge across the Gardon river, which partly explains its preservation as the local poohbahs in successive centuries, would collect a fee for everyone using the bridge, so its maintenance was important.
The only cost to the Pont du Gard is the 5 Euro Parking fee. Its massive size can be appreciated by the picture above.
On the western side, right nearby, are some especially venerable olive trees, Oliviers Millénaires, which are said to be thousands of years old, and… the oldest olive tree at the town of Vouves on Crete is said to be 3000 years old.
I could go on and talk about Nîmes, which also has a well-preserved Roman Colosseum, or Uzès, another little, little-known gem, close to the Pont du Gard, whose centre is free of traffic, and free (mostly) of tourists or Lourmarin, a few miles north of Aix, designated as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”, but for now this is enough to give you'all a taste.
BTW: Cézanne, that depressive, fore-runner of the cubist school got, at least, some recognition before his passing and had a wide circle of artist friends (and competitors), while Van Gogh, beset by his devils, was never recognized, his brother Theo was his greatest supporter. After his return to Paris he was “cared for” by a homeopathic (grrrr) doctor, to, of course, no effect, and took his own life. His genius had to wait to be recognized.