Wednesday May 14, 2014 - Arles - Aigues Mortes and Abbaye Saint Roman - Day 14

We woke up at our usual time with the sun and had breakfast with and American couple who are not living in Cannes.  They have been there for 12 years and they can't speak French (tsk-tsk-tsk!).  I would be fluent by now!

Since it was market day, we decided to skip Arles for now.  Philippe and Sylvie had recommended that we go to see Paradou.  Enroute we passed a few huge castles and stopped to admire them.  Wouldn't that be fun living in a castle or chateau in France? 

One of several chateaus be passed enroute to Paradou

We passed this old aqueduct enroute south.  They had cut a hole in it for the highway - geeez!

 

Paradou was quaint but there wasn't a lot to see.  An old town.

We continued on south to the sea - the Mediterranean Sea.  We passed lots of farms and stables with tons of the white horses that are famous in this area - the Camargue.

Philippe and Sylvie had recommended that we go to Saintes Maries de la Mer.  It was a beautiful sea town with several of the typical buildings with slant roofs.  The church in town was impressive.  There were TONS of seafood restaurants on the pedestrian walks but we weren't quite hungry for a big lunch yet, so we walked around and then headed to Aigues-Mortes.

The Mediterranean at Saintes Maries de la Mer

Very quiet on the beach.  We saw several "gypsy" vans parked at the beach

A bull statue at the bull ring in Saintes Maries de la Mer

Typical beach city - with seafood restaurants galore and shops of every kind - Fun walking around.

The eglise in Saintes Maria de la Mer

Then a somewhat short drive to Aigue-Mortes - FABULOUS place.  Completely walled in city with pedestrian streets inside.  The city was founded in 1240 by Louis IX, who later became Saint Louis.  It is near several salt flats.  We bought tickets for the Constance Tower that was built by Louis IX in 1248.  We walked on the ramparts and thoroughly enjoyed this location.

The walled city of Aigues-Mortes - Fabulous!

One of the gates into the old city of Aigues-Mortes

Typical street scene in Aigues-Mortes

The church on one of the squares in Aigues-Mortes

 

We went to a square and found a restaurant that had both paella and marmite de peche.  We ordered both and they immediately moved us to a much larger table.  We weren't sure why.  I asked the waiter in French if the plates were each for one person and he responded "Yes".  But when the dishes came, I told him in French that we had enough food for "dix personnes" - 10 people - he laughed and laughed and laughed.  Nevertheless, we had a 2+ hour lunch with a bottle of wine and savored every bite.  Aigues-Mortes is probably a place to come back to!

The marmite de peches - it was devine!  We both ate from it and the paella!  Yum.

(At this point, I don't want to guess how much weight each of us has gained!!!!)

Another of the gates in Aigues-Mortes

Panoramic view of Aigues-Mortes from outside the south gate

:Panoramic view of Aigues-Mortes from the Constance Tower

The south middle gate at Aigues-Mortes

Beautiful ramparts at Aigues-Mortes

The Constance Tower built in 1248 by Louis IX (Saint Louis)

View of the inner city of Aigues-Mortes from the Constance Tower

View of the river in Aigues-Mortes from the Constance Tower

Salt flats in the distance outside the walls of Aigues-Mortes

The inner city on the left and the ramparts on the right with the river outside.  The sea in the distance

Lots of tourists roaming around Aigues-Mortes

We then drove to the outskirts of Beaucaire, to the Abbaye de St Roman.  It was here that troglodytes settled here in the 5th century and remained until the 15th century.  Troglodytes were cave-dwelling hermits - these were monks - and they carved the caves out of stone.  Amazing that they made this structure so many centuries ago.

And of course the tour started with a LONG UPHILL walk to the top of the hill - UGH!

The entry hall - all carved out of rock by the troglodytes

More rooms carved in the rock for dwellings for the troglodytes

These were graves dug into the rock

A huge portal cut into the stone - it was all magnificent

Rooms carved out of stone - how did they do this so long ago?

A lower room with more graves at the Abbaye de Saint Roman

The rock as seen from the outside perimeter - this was truly amazing!

 

The walk back down the mountain was much easier!  We headed back to Modene to our B&B.  We had a bottle of wine to unwind by the pool and watch the sunset start.  Today is Philippe's birthday so he and Sylvie are going out to celebrate.  We headed into Bedoin and looked for a place to eat.  We just want something light tonight if possible.  We parked and found a place that had an interesting menu - I walked in and the owner came out and announced - "CLOSED - ONLY FRIENDS EATING!".  Oh, okay - so we left and went down the street looking for another place. 

 

Most places were closed - I guess it was off-season.  We ended up at Pasta e Basta - we had to wait for someone to leave but ordered pasta dinners and it was good - not too heavy like many of our other meals.  Of course, we had another bottle of the local wine too!  It was all too good.

 

We headed back to Modene, parked the car, and went to bed.  Another action-packed day.