Tasty Provence

Back to fresh croissants for breakfast. The patisserie had been closed Wednesday but thankfully was open yesterday. Arles was our main destination for the day. It's a bit like Tarragona, an old Roman city with lots of ruins. Arles still use the amphitheatre and arena though. One for concerts and gladiator demonstrations, the other for bull fights and non-lethal bull fighting in which the matador has to retrieve a ribbon from the bull's horns.

Arles was also the location for a period of Vincent Van Gogh's career. He painted 'The Yellow House', 'The Cafe Terrace' and 'Bedroom at Arles' here along with many other works. It's also where he cut off his ear and gave it to a prostitute and was subsequently locked in the madhouse for a while. He's been a bit of a theme for our trip which has been enjoyable.

We saw Arles on foot following a walking trail of some of the locations he painted. Each had a sign with a copy of the painting in a similar position from where he would have painted.

We ran into toilet problems again in Arles. Poor Em, the only public WC was the turkish squat which she refused to use so she had to wait some time to go.

After Arles we went to Les Baux, the site of a medieval hilltop fortress. Most of it is ruins today but they have a bit of a show including firing a full size Trebuchet. The actors seemed quite funny but unfortunately we couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. Somethings we figured out from their actions but they had the crowd in stitches.

Sam does a medieval unit next year and will have to build a trebuchet, we're hoping to improve on the one we made with Em so made some keen observations.

The day got quite warm so we became less enthusiastic about covering all the site but what we saw was quite interesting.

Dinner last night was the highlight of Provence so far though. We fed the kids on the way home (Maccas & wifi – they have a voracious appetite for wifi) so Tan and I could visit one of the village restaurants. There are 3 or 4 here so it was hard to decide, one seemed to have a curry which Tan was craving so that made her mind up.

They are all only tiny with limited menus. Just one waitress and a cook, we sat on dodgy garden furniture in a romantic terrace garden. There was only the choice of a meat, chicken or fish dish. The curry was actually a potato salad. We tried a Pastis aperitif, an aniseed liqueor a bit like Zambucca that's supposed to increase your hunger, and then started with a tapas platter of Provence delicacies. Green & black olive tapenade, cold vegetable soup, ham & melon balls and tuna & zucchini wraps. It was all delicious, even the tapenade though neither of us likes olives.

Tan had chicken and I had the fish for a main. It was the best fish I have ever eaten in my life. Better than the English fish and chips. It would be close to the best meal I have ever had, at least a 9/10. It was a fairly simple meal but had the most beautiful flavours, without a heavy overpowering sauce. We also met the restaurant cat, one large and contented feline.

We're now determined to try a few other restaurants here. Father's day sounds like a good excuse!

It's funny but Provence reminds me a lot of home. I think being rural with lots of road side fruit stalls, some of the views of hills are similar too. Of course our food isn't as delicious and we don't have the old stone buildings or rocky mountains. The Hunter Valley would be another location that has similar conditions to parts of Provence, on one drive it felt like we were heading to Putty, although a lot more populated.

Provence Day 3