• The route to Arles and Manade Jullian

• Arles is located on the Rhone River

• Our first stop in Arles was at the Roman Necropolis, a site that van Gogh painted.

• Stone sarcophagi line the gravel path to the medieval Church of St. Honoratus in Les Alyscamps, a large Roman necropolis outside the old walled city of Arles.

• Romans forbid burials within city limits, so it was common for roads immediately outside a city to be lined with tombs and mausoleums.

• Jerome, our guide in Arles, is holding a copy of a painting by Gauguin of the necropolis.

• Vincent van Gogh, 'L'Allée des Alyscamps' - 1888

• Plane trees, such as these, were supposedly planted by Napoleon's troops to provide shade on their marches.

• There was also a Lee Ufan art installation at the necropolis.

• A Lee Ufan sculpture

• A Lee Ufan sculpture

• The Obélisque d'Arles in the Plaza de la République. The Arles Town Hall is behind the Obélisque. To the left of the plaza is Église Sainte-Anne d'Arles. To the right of the plaza is Saint-Trophime Primatial Catholic Church.

• Saint-Trophime Primatial Catholic Church

• Entrance to Hotel Dieu through which is a courtyard painted by van Gogh

• In the Hotel Dieu courtyard with a copy of van Gogh's painting

• Continuing on

• This is the location of the van Gogh painting 'Terrace of a café at night (Place du Forum)'

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Terrace of a café at night (Place du Forum)' - c. 1888-09-16

• Paela at Café van Gogh

• Continuing on through the streets of Arles

• Gates into the Roman amphitheater in Arles

• Learning about the amphitheater

• As the lighting attests, the Roman amphitheater is still in use today.

• The Roman coliseum in Arles. Today it is used for bullfighting and community events.

• Coliseum detail

• Coliseum detail

• Jerome, our guide, talked about van Gogh and others painting the scene from this overlook.

• This sign identified points of interest that can be seen from this overlook.

• A copy of a painting van Gogh made from this overlook. Jerome's right index finger is pointing at Montmajour Abbey.

• The view today from this overlook. The building in the background is Montmajour Abbey, still visible from this overlook. The Abbey was founded in 948 by Benedictine monks.

• From the overlook, we strolled through a lovely section of Arles to get to our lunch spot.

• We enjoyed lunch at this restaurant. We sat on the balcony overlooking the square.

• Kathryn and Doug followed Julia's suggestion that we have the traditional bull stew with rice. We found the flavor to be rather strong and distinctive.

• At lunch, Julia shared photos of present day events and activities that feature traditional dress.

• This postcard shows a running of the traditional Camargue horses that we learned about later in the day at Manade Jullian.

• The traditional symbol of the Camargue, the name given to the delta that is defined by the two branches of the Rhone River as they flow to the Mediterranean Sea.

• After lunch, we walked along picturesque streets to the van Gogh Foundation Museum.

• While the foundation owns no art, it does host exhibitions that relate to van Gogh and often include paintings by van Gogh. We saw this exhibition of the work of Nicole Eisenman juxtaposed with paintings by van Gogh and other artists. Eisenman selected the paintings that had influenced her work for this exhibition.

• Some fun before departing Arles

• A view of the Rhone River as we depart Arles

• Our next stop was Manade Jullian, a traditional Camargue ranch.

• At Manade Jullian, they raise both Camargue bulls and Camargue horses. Both perform in Provence-style bull fights. The horsewomen and horsemen are all volunteers.

• We rode on this tractor-pulled trailer to view the bulls and horses.

• Our host at Manade Jullian explained how the horses and bulls are trained. Then, some of the training exercises were demonstrated for us.

• Training exercises

• Manade Jullian has produced champion bulls.

• The belled bulls are leaders of the herd. (photo from Julia)

• Camargue horses are born black or dark brown and turn white as they mature. They are related to Lipizzaner horses.

• Up-close and personal with Camargue horses

• We didn't want to get any closer to these bulls!

• We had a picnic dinner at Manade Jullian. (photo from Julia)

• The dinner wine was a special Camargue cuvee.