Good luck buying a train ticket to Arles, France, a place hard for Anglophones to pronounce. Make a sound at the ticket counter as if clearing your throat from years of Gauloises cigarettes. Or use a ticket machine to avoid speaking.
Arles - embrace the beauty around the town that inspired Vincent van Gogh. Alight at a hideous and inconveniently located train station. After that, it’s all brilliant.
There are wonderful things to see in Arles. The Roman amphitheatre has survived, from its seating to its drains, and is still used for concerts and controversial bullfights. Beside it, the remains of a Roman theatre aren’t as eye-catching, but are still impressive.
The Museum of Ancient Art presents emperors’ busts with knocked-off noses, oil lamps, jewellery and a Greco-Roman barge. Most magnificent are the sarcophagi carved with congregations of figures in togas. You can have your fill of museums in Arles.
Museon Arlaten is a Renaissance mansion that rises from Roman ruins; its spectacular contemporary staircase is backed by a fabulous wall of Christian Lacroix fabrics. Arles drove Vincent van Gogh mad, but inspired him, too. Credit: Getty Images An alternative choice: Musee Reattu, lodged in an old priory, for fine arts, including numerous works by Picasso, who spent time here.
Or the exhibition and arts centre LUMA Arles, which looks like a crushed aluminium tin, the work of Frank Gehry. One critic called the building a crime, but the interior is a knockout. Cafe la Nuit.
