Le Cloitre Saint Trophime

When we bought our tickets to the Amphitheater yesterday, they had a deal where for 4 more euros, you could get a pass to see 4 historic sites and one museum, so we bought it.  All of the historic sites are World Heritage sites.  After the Gyro trip yesterday, we were too late to hit all the sites, so we did today.  It was a nice walk around town and some sites we might not otherwise see.  The first stop was a historic Cloister called Le Cloitre Saint Trophime.  It was in very good shape.

Some beautiful arches

Courtyard in the middle of the complex

View from the second deck of the courtyard and tower complex behind

 

 

After the Cloister, we visited a museum next door.

A better week on Fitbit

I received last weeks Fitbit report and it was better than the week before.  I was happy to see I did average over 20,000 steps for the week.

Gyrodream (aka Segway) tour

We went on a great tour on Segway scooters.  Technically, we were told they are called Gyrodream machines, and that company bought Segway last year.  It took about 10 minutes of orientation and we were off with the guide.  It was just Anne, the guide and me.  It was supposed to be a one hour tour and he took us for nearly two hours.   He was a very nice retired military man and was clearly doing this to keep busy.  He knew the area and history very well and it was a very pleasant tour.

The electric scooter.  Seemed hard for a few minutes, but once you got

used to it, it's very easy to use.  Will go 20 mph, but they had ours set

to a maximum of 10 mph.

Roman Amphitheater

The town has wonderfully kept Roman ruins including an amphitheater.  We toured the ruins and many of them were well kept.

View from the tower in the ruins to a church next door

Original Roman Arches

 

 

One thing we saw that we were very interested in was a bull race.  It is similar to a bull fight, but the bull is not harmed.  They tie ribbons on his horns and the participants try to get the ribbons off.  Anne and I have never had an interest in a traditional bull fight, but wanted to see this.  Unfortunately, it does not start until next week.  These are held in the amphitheater.

 



Our favorite lunch

Anne and I have been quite fortunate to travel a fair amount and eat at many fine places, but honestly our favorite lunch is a picnic at market day in Europe.  Anne likes to pick fresh veggies, olives, salami, cheese, fruits, etc. and we eat off of them for a couple days.  Today was a great market day with many fine choices.  We even found a 1 euro plastic tray at the market to prepare and take our lunch down to a bench on and eat.  Bon Appetit!

Baguette, tomato, basil, olives, cherrys, cheese, salami and fruit, on a park bench.  Not to

mention a glass of red wine for Mark and Pellegrino for Anne.  Now that's lunch.

Market day in Arles

We got up early and traveled to Arles to make sure we were here in time for Market day.  In Europe, most cities big and small have one day a week where vendors set up booths for a market.  In some cities we have stayed in, this has been going on in the same square for over 800 years, on the same day of the week.  Anne and I always enjoy this.  Looking at all the fresh food items and buying food for a lunch.  To this day, many locals buy many of their staples and vegetables at the market day each week.  It was clear that we have hit peak of tomato, cherry and strawberry season.  Some views from this morning.

Wonderful fields of sun flowers on the drive in

The main attraction at market day is food, but other vendors set up also.

Who needs Nordstroms, when you have 1 euro piles of ladies underwear....

Lots of tomatoes and other veggies

Paella is a Spanish rice and seafood dish, often made and sold during

market day.  We have had it before and it's good, but with all the other

stuff, we held firm for our picnic lunch.

Lots of local strawberrys

Look at the huge pile of garlic.  This couple is buying a large

handful from the vendor

Plenty of seafood, including fresh sardines

Tomatoes, one of the major Italian food groups

Olives, another of the major Italian food groups

A closeup shot of the olive, one shot of the

olives is never enough

The roasted chicken vendor.  Notice the potatoes at the bottom.

The drippings from the chicken drip on them all day.

Salami, the final Italian food group.

A quiet evening in Avignon

We are only in Avignon for one night and head to Arles this morning.  We had a nice evening, pretty much just walking around and grabbed a bite of dinner.  It was a great evening.

View of the castle and walls of the city from a historic bridge

Avignon is in the heart of Provence, known for fresh foods