Our boat left Avignon at 5 AM (apparently, since I was dead to the world and didn't wake up to check). At any rate, we were in Tarascon (a mere 14 miles south of Avignon) at 8 AM. After a hearty breakfast, we met our guide (Melissa or Melanie??) for a short 12-mile bus trip to Arles, for a walking tour of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Arles, which was the capital of Roman Gaul, has beautifully preserved Roman sites, not least of which is Les Arènes d'Arles, the amphitheatre that could seat 20,000 and which still hosts plays and bullfights.
Our walk also brought us to the Church of St. Trophime with its Romanesque portal. Built between the 12th and 15th centuries, it was the first stop on the Via Tolosana, one of the main pilgrimages through France leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Also in the Place de la Republique is the town hall and the Obelisk.
We also walked past the former Café Van Gogh in the Place du Forum, and visited the grounds of l'Espace Van Gogh, the hospital where Vincent Van Gogh recuperated after he cut off his ear and before he went to the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
I purchased some lavender essential oil at a store the guide recommended.
We got back to the boat for lunch and just in time. It had been raining lightly on our walking tour, but it began pouring as we got off the bus.
We spent part of the afternoon unpacking and checked out the front of the upper deck. We could have walked into the town of Tarascon and visited the 15th century castle, but our energy level and, more importantly, the weather dissuaded us.
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| Tarascon castle |
At 6:30, when the boat was supposed to leave for Avignon again, there were some people who had not returned their boarding passes and an announcement was made. Either they were not back on the boat yet or they had forgotten to return their passes. At any rate, it delayed our departure by fifteen minutes or so. No big deal.
Captain Pierre and the Hotel Manager (Carlos) had a welcome toast in the lounge prior to Alexandra, the Program Director, talking about the next day's events/tours. Then we went down to dinner. We sat with a nice couple (Dave and Leigh Ann) from San Francisco who are now retired and living in Hilton Head. We also sat next to Cathy from Asheville and Janice from Pensacola. We are discovering that the portions are huge and the wine is flowing. I suppose we didn't have to eat three courses, but we did, including a chocolate lava cake. It was Leigh Ann's 65th birthday and they brought another cake to celebrate that.
We asked our waiter as we were leaving dinner if they ever gave tours of the kitchen/galley. He said no, but he went back and asked the chef who agreed to show us. It was quite interesting to see and hard to imagine that they serve 190 meals every night from a decent sized menu, in addition to lunches and breakfasts, with a staff of only twelve. I wish I had taken pictures but I didn't want to push our luck.
We opted not to go to the French cheese presentation after dinner as we were exhausted (and so full that we couldn't even think about looking at cheese without feeling sick).
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