southern france-arles and??
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- lvl_13
so what would be some good day trips from arles? we are going to be there for about 4 days. we might even just stay in arles for 1 or 2 nights and then venture somewhere else depending on the level of interest (or lack of) there.
anyone familiar with the area and/or have some coold places to check out?
thanks!
- Greedo0
Avignon is close by, go check out where the antipopes used to hang out...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avi…
Aix and Marseille surely are worth a visit, too... just hope that there isn't some sort of general strike going on at the time.
- lvl_130
ahh, yes, i think i just saw a travel show that talked about avignon. thanks greedo!
antipope hehe
- ukit0
It's a couple hours away but...the area near the Italian border is great (I lived there for 2 years).
Nice and Cannes, and actually Monaco is right there as well.
- pylon0
Go to Nîmes, you won't be sorry. Like Arles it has an old colliseum and many other roman artifacts. It's also got a very vibrant arts community and music scene (Avignon too).
Orange is nice for a day trip. Aix-en-Provence is close as well. Both have stunning roman ruins but not much else, other than a pretty honest slice of provençal life as soon as you're out of the touristy areas.
Nice is a great city. You could spend weeks there. If you've got a car (there's also a train and bus) you can drive to Monte-Carlo (about a half-hour). If you're into driving you can drive from Menton (just outside of Monte-Carlo) up the (D70 or the 922 or something, can't remember off the top of my head) Col de Turini. It's an amazing drive — but you'll need your wits and a car with some guts.
Also, St Paul de Vence is just outside of Nice and has some really great food off the tourist path as well as the Maeght Gallery. Vence is a very old walled medieval city.If you'd rather go East and South, be sure to check out the Camargue (salt marshes with wild horses). Head to Saintes Maries de la Mer, basically a pirates cove and Romani gypsy town at the bottom of the marshes, in the Med. Very cool and it's drivable from Arles, maybe two hours. Worth the trip. Not far from Saintes Maries is Aigues Mortes, another walled town.
Whilst in Arles or Nîmes you should check out the bull-fighting that takes place in the those ancient colleseums. It's really amazing actually.
Ping me if you've got questions.
- Oh yeah, Nîmes is cool too... I enjoyed it more than Orange (bout the same as Avignon). Saw some cool bands there!ismith
- ismith0
If you're not into bull-fighting, you should at least take some time to walk around Nîmes and look at all the bull-fighting boutiques... there is some really interesting stuff that may be better for your stomach then watching the actual event. By interesting stuff I mean vintage picador outfits, antique event posters, and other old bull-fighting memoribilia.
- pylon0
Bah, they only kill the bulls at Pentacost nowadays. The rest of the time they rile them into a red-rage and then poke them with sticks......
Seriously, it does take a bit of a tough stomach but it is an amazing spectacle.
- lvl_130
awesome! thank you so much for the info! we are still kind of back-and-forth about renting a car or just sticking to the train...it seems that both can be great, while at the same time being hectic for different reasons :\ AYE!
as a side question, should we stay in arles more than one night? or should we just go for one night and then hop to some other towns for a day or two?
this will be my first time to france, and i am pretty excited for the whole thing as you can tell :)
- utopian0
Wish I was going, have a great time...
- thanks! it should be a good time. bonus* i get to hang out with this jerk for most of the trip http://www.qbn.com/f…lvl_13
- :D
lvl_13
- pylon0
Honestly, in the South it's best to rent a car. The train / bus coverage is good but scheduled. With the car you can just jam around, stop where ever you want and so on. The scenery is amazing. Rent a convertible if you can — it's worth it for the scenery alone.
You'll be able to stop and check out cute villages and see things you'd never see by train.
The sideroads are tight if you're not used to them but if you're a half-decent driver you'll have to problems. If you've never done a roundabout before, take it slow and you'll be whipping through them in no time. :)
- pylon0
Arles is cool, but if I had to choose between there and Nîmes, I'd take the latter.
Nîmes and Nice (and the drive / train between) would probably offer a pretty good taster's menu of Provence. You'll be back for more, trust me.