Perched Villages, and More About Van Gogh

The south of France has a number of “perched villages”—settlements on rocky hilltops—and they are extremely picturesque. After our trip to Arles, we headed over to the perched village of Les-Baux-de-Provence, which has had human settlements since at least Roman times. Like many such sites around this area, it was built on a hilltop for a reason: protection against attackers. And at the highest point of the village you can tour the ruins of a fortress.

The village of Les Baux—the “Baux” rhymes with “mow”—is in a region of small mountains called the Alpilles, pronounced al-PEEL. It’s a very scenic region; on the way to Les Baux our bus passed lots of olive groves and vineyards. Along the way we also learned that this region is where the mineral bauxite was first discovered. (“Baux” in French apparently means a prominent cliff, and the mineral was named after that.) And we learned that the town inspired writers ranging from Dante to the French poet and Nobel Prize winner Frederic Mistral. Mistral is a big deal around here; more on him another time.

On top of the hill in Les Baux, you can wander around the old village’s narrow cobblestone streets, which are lined with cafes, museums, and shops, or visit the small 12th-century church, the Eglise St-Vincent. The church is still in use, and in fact there’s quite a demand to get in to its Christmas services. Reservations are required. The old-town Les Baux also offers a lovely view of the fancy homes in the more modern village down below, which has a population of about 450. Quite a few of us in the Penn State group saw homes we would love to own.

After Les Baux, we headed off to the town of St-Rémy, perhaps most famous as the site of St-Paul-de-Mausole, a mental home where Vincent Van Gogh spent a year. Van Gogh lived in Provence for the last two years of his life, and as far as I can tell, he was hospitalized most of that time—first in Arles, as mentioned in a previous post, and then in St-Rémy. In the case of the St-Paul hospital near St-Rémy, he was committed there at his request from May 1889 to May 1890, and during that time he painted some very famous stuff, including Starry Night. Our guide said that many scholars believe that the town pictured in Starry Night is in fact St-Rémy. We toured the grounds of the St-Paul hospital, which dates to the 12th century and which is still in operation today. The area that tourists can visit includes a replica of Van Gogh’s room from when he was a patient there, as well as a gift shop with all kinds of Van Gogh-themed materials: books, posters, postcards, refrigerator magnets, and the like.

A short walk from the St-Paul clinic is a very small village called Glanum, where even more Roman ruins can be found. There’s a triumphal arch at Glanum, but right now it’s being repaired, so it’s totally blanketed in scaffolding—not much to look at. Apparently it was built around 10 B.C., during the reign of Augustus.

Our next day will take us to Orange, site of an incredibly large and well-preserved Roman theatre, as well as Chateauneuf-de-Pape, a wine-making region, and Pont du Gard, a huge ancient Roman aqueduct over the Gardon River. I’ll report on those sites next.

Photos

With the French presidential election on Sunday, political signs for the two candidates could be found everywhere.

The gardens at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, the mental hospital where Vincent Van Gogh spent a year (May 1889 to May 1890). Van Gogh painted a number of his most famous works—including “Starry Night”—while he was here. Saint-Paul-de-Mausole is near the town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

The "perched village" of Les-Baux-de-Provence is a charming little village with cobblestone streets and shops.

The church in the hilltop village of Les-Baux, the Igles St-Vincent, has modernistic stained-glass windows—a gift of the famous Grimaldi family of nearby Monaco.

Arles: Land of the Romans—and Van Gogh

The Romans established quite a few colonies in the south of France during the first century B.C., and there’s plenty of evidence still available today to prove it. Lots of well-preserved Roman ruins have been found throughout Provence: temples, theatres, amphitheatres, public baths, triumphal arches, an aqueduct, and necropolises (cemeteries). They’re constantly finding Roman ruins throughout Provence, even today.

One ancient Roman colony, originally known as Arelate, eventually became the modern-day town of Arles. Even as a Roman settlement 2,000 years ago, it was sizeable: 25,000 people lived here.

More recently, Arles (which I’ve heard pronounced as either “Arl” or “Ar-leh”) is known as the place where Vincent Van Gogh spent a year of his life and painted about 200 paintings. He spent another year of his life not far from here in St-Rémy—more about that later. Our group of Penn State travelers saw the site that inspired his painting “The Yellow House” (1888), but the yellow house itself is no longer standing; that’s because it was in an area that was bombed in World War II—specifically June 1944, during the liberation of Arles.

We also saw the very café that Van Gogh painted in “Café at Night, Place du Forum, Arles” (1888)—it’s still standing. And we saw the hospital/sanitorium where he spent some time after he cut off part of his ear. He didn’t stop painting while hospitalized; in fact, two of his paintings from this period were “The Garden of the Arles Sanitorium” and “Hospital Room at Arles.”

Also in Arles, we saw a 12th century church called Eglise St-Trophime, named for the man who was the first bishop of Arles. The church is one of several UNESCO World Heritage Sites that the Penn State travelers have visited. The church is known for its collection of religious relics, which at one time supposedly included a portion of the skull of St. Stephen.

Arles has several impressive Roman ruins, including an outdoor theatre that dates to the first century B.C. and that held 10,000 spectators in its day. Better yet is the amphitheatre, which was modeled after the Roman coliseum and which seated 25,000 spectators for gladiator fights. It’s almost entirely intact today, which is pretty amazing. Our trip director from Alumni Holidays, Fred Burke, pointed out how its design is essentially identical to our modern-day stadiums; the approach hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years.

The amphitheatre has been used off and on over those 2,000 years, including throughout medieval times and in the 17th century. Today it’s still used on occasion for bullfights—not the Spanish kind, called corridas, but a local version called Camargue games, where the bull isn’;t killed. Instead the bulls have various trinkets dangling from their horns, and the toreadors have to retrieve the trinkets without getting gored.

Day 3 of the Penn State trip also includes a visit to the “perched village” of Les Baux and a stop at a second hospital where Vincent Van Gogh spent a year, near St-Rémy. More on those excursions in future dispatches.

Photos

This archway is on a 12th century church called Eglise St-Trophime. It’s named for the man who was the first bishop of Arles. The church is one of several UNESCO World Heritage Site the Penn State travelers have visited.

A resident of Arles has decorated her windows in a rather entertaining way.

This hotel entrance in Arles is typical of the charm of Provence.

A climb to the top of the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Arles rewards visitors with this view of the city.

The group’s guide shows the Penn State travelers the cafe in Arles where Van Gogh painted “Cafe du Soir.” In the 15 months he lived in Arles, Van Gogh did 300 paintings, but interestingly, the town has none of them today—they're all in museums and private collections elsewhere around the world.

The ancient Roman arena in Arles, Les Arenes, seated 20,000 people when it was built for gladiator fights 2,000 years ago.