It didn't just rain overnight, there was thunder and lightening. It was still raining when I woke up at 7:30am. However, by the time I had finished getting up and having a leisurely breakfast it had stopped and it remained fine the rest of the day.
I opted for the buffet breakfast at the hotel as I wasn't sure if the weather would stay fine. It wasn't worth the money. I was the last person to come in and so they didn't bother replenishing anything, even though I was there at 8:30am and they serve breakfast until 10am. There were no glasses left for the fruit juice, no pain au chocolat just croissants and only some elderly scrambled eggs but no bacon. I won't bother with it tomorrow. A disappointment for what has otherwise been a very comfortable hotel.
After breakfast my first stop was the Cryptoportico. This is under the current town hall. When they were constructing the new town hall (just recently - about 200 years ago) they found the remains of the Roman forum in what is now their basement level. Below that was the basement of the Forum itself. Three sides of it are still there - two long sides and one end. It is basically just vaulted arches with the random junk that gets left behind when someone moves out - in this case chunks of broken marble statues which they would burn for the lime. Mostly it was just an open space, but one side had bricked in arches that merchants could use for storage. It was only dimly lit and I was the only person there so there was no sound except for my footsteps and the dripping of water in spots where all the rain from last night was seeping through the walls and roof. It was amazing but a bit creepy. You wouldn't want to be claustrophobic.
Just as I was leaving a bus load of German tourist showed up. I was so glad I turned up early. They would have completely spoilt the mood.
The next stop on my all things Roman tour was the remains of the Baths of Constantine. About 1/3 of these have been uncovered. The rest was either cannibalised for bricks and marble or incorporated into other buildings. When it was rediscovered in the 16th century they first thought it must have been a palace because what remained was so imposing. Nope, it was just the public baths. Roman construction is certainly built to last. Or perhaps that is confirmation bias, since anything that wasn't sturdily built will have long since disintegrated. Below is a cat have a wash at the baths. It wouldn't let me pat it.
Final stop before lunch was the amphitheatre. Again, a lot had been demolished but it is still a very impressive structure. They've also restored a lot of it and hold events there. Imagine going to a concert at that stadium? You could clamber around most of it, not like the Colosseum in Rome. However, unlike the one in Rome, you couldn't go to the parts underground.
For lunch I decided to go to a place I'd noticed last night. I was sure I could retrace my steps. Arles isn't that big. About 1/2 an hour later I stumbled across it. Arles might not be big but the streets curve any which way. When I got there the restaurant owner was explaining to an American couple that they don't open for Sunday lunch but she recommended somewhere else. I just followed the couple so I could blame the navigation errors on someone else.
I didn't like the place they went to but selected a restaurant nearby called La Pergula, which turned out to be an excellent choice. I had the menu du jour and for entree had a plate of local charcuterie with plenty of fresh bread and some pickles.
For main course I had the bull stew which must have been cooked with a strong red wine as the sauce was delicious. The meat was full of flavour but very tender. For dessert I thought about having the cheese plate, as I'd seen a tempting gelateria on my travels, but decided I could always have two desserts so I had the caramalised apple and pears with breton biscuits and a scoop of thyme ice cream. I finished with a coffee but didn't bother with the wafer as I would have exploded.
The restaurant was in a very odd building. The part I was in seemed to be an alleyway between two buildings that had been roofed over as there were rough stone walls on either side and flagstones on the ground. There were small rooms to either side of my passageway and at least two kitchens, as the waiter got the main courses from one place (a hatch in the side of my passageway) but would go to somewhere behind me to fetch the coffee and dessert. The dirty dishes were taken away to somewhere off one of the side rooms. A complete rabbit warren.
While I was having my lunch a young Japanese man came in with an elderly couple (his parents). They just marched in and Father used the loo, then Mother, then Father again and then they marched out again. About 10 minutes later the young man was back, looking around with a worried look on his face. He appeared to have misplaced his parents.
After my leisurely lunch I went to sit in the remains of the Roman theatre, where I must confess I just sat in the sun for a while digesting. Next stop was the church and cloister of St Trophime followed by a stop at the gelateria. However, they didn't have any flavours that tempted me so I settled for just ambling around the streets looking at all the amazing buildings. Imagine having this as your front door.
When I went out for dinner I had planned on just have a light meal - perhaps a galette. However, the first place I'm came across that looked tempting was an upmarket restaurant. Even though it was only 8pm - about the start of dinner time here - it was already full. This was either a good sign (it's popular) or else a bad sign (it is full of tourists). It turned out both things were true - lots of tourists but it's a popular restaurant because it is very good.
for entree I had what was described on the menu as a red pepper creme brulee. Fortunately it turned out to be a custard-like dish strongly flavoured with roasted red peppers and topped with a twist of fried chorizo and, oddly, a puck of puff pastry. For main I had duck risotto. In addition to chunks of duck, it had peas, pearl onions and plenty of cream and cheese. If asked, I would of said the meat was some form of poultry but I wouldn't have necessary guessed duck. Still it was tasty. For dessert I had the cafe gourmand as I didn't want to have to choose between the desserts on offer. With this dish you get an espresso coffee and mini serves of their desserts of the day. I had shot glasses of a rich, dense chocolate mousse topped with raspberry couli (delicious), another of creme fraiche (or else a very mild goat's cheese) topped with a salted caramel sauce (interesting) and another of fresh mango with crushed biscuits and cream (the mango wasn't very tasty - where had they got it from at this time of year?). The coffee, sadly, was horrid but that was the only sour note in the entire meal.
There were two Englishmen sitting at the table behind me. One was telling the other about a trip he'd taken to the US. He had used the Greyhound buses to get around and was saying how the bus drivers would drive for up to 4 hours at a time without a break! The storyteller was convinced they must take uppers or some such in order to maintain their concentration to drive for such a long period of time. I can only hope he doesn't visit Australia and try taking the bus from Melbourne to Sydney. He'll get a very nasty shock.
A good day! Roman ruins, a cat, good food and decent weather (after a bad start).
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of the red pepper creme brulee.