Rose Cantine

If you plan to visit this stunning part of the Provence, make sure you avoid July and August when it’s simply too hot to do anything. Glanum, an excavated Roman city outside St. Rémy, is a must-see in the area, but when it’s hot, there’s absolutely no shade amidst the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter and the Roman baths (no doubt the former residents saw a reason for building that).

You can still see the triumphal arch, the mausoleum, the swimming pool and exercise area, the calidarium and frigidarium, ruins of the Senate house and the forum.

St. Rémy de Provence and Les Baux, two beautiful towns nestled in Les Alpilles, are popular with tourists so make sure you go early in the day or at least during the off season. After the tranquility of Blauzac in Languedoc-Roussillon, it was a shock to see dozens of tour buses crawling up to Les Baux. And because of the heat, I had no desire to walk all the way up to the top of the hill and battle with the other tourists for a good shot of the valley. Maybe some other time.

Arles

I can’t describe how disappointing it was to visit Arles. First, it was very hot. Second, when you emerge from the parking structure just outside the town, you can barely see it because the entire street is covered with souvenir stalls, cafes, and trinket shops. Once inside, the experience improves somewhat, until you get to the Roman arena which is much smaller than the one in Nîmes and crowded with tourists. Most of it is recently renovated too so you don’t see the ancient stone walls. There are other Roman structures in this town, but don’t forget to visit the church of St. Tromphime.

The worst part of Arles is that it is infested with everything connected to Vincent van Gogh. Stumble upon the cafe that Van Gogh painted (the Nightcafe) which happens to be on the Place du Forum, and you find dozens of people taking photos. The cafe itself is indistinguishable from any other cafe you find in the Provence.

Because Arles is a very small town, you simply feel crowded around by too many people taking photographs of everything. And it was much too hot to be walking around anyway.

I wanted to visit Alyscamps (Elisii Campi), the Roman necropolis outside the Arles, but because of the heat, I knew I would never get there on foot without fainting. The name Alyscamps is a corruption of Elisii Campi (that is, Champs-Élysées or Elysian Fields). They were famous in the Middle Ages and are referred to by Ariosto in Orlando Furioso and by Dante in the Inferno (source: Wikipedia). I will make sure I come back in the spring.