Two years ago, I spent a day in Arles with Covid. I missed the ship’s tours, but I did do a good bit of exploring on my own.

Today, I spent the day in Arles without Covid (as far as I know – since I’m feeling perfectly normal, I have no reason to waste a test) and got to enjoy a guided walk through town with Alexia, our guide from yesterday. We started from the dock and walked through Liberation Square and into the old town.

Because it’s Easter Weekend, Arles is having a festival, the Feria des Pascua, complete with bullfights, brass bands, bodegas (bars, not convenience stores), and more; the Ampitheatre (aka the Arena) is the center of the festivities, so we weren’t able to go inside.

The next part of our walk concentrated on van Gogh; we walked past the site of Café Terrace at Night and over to the Hôtel-Dieu, where he was institutionalized for a time.

Arles hosts a huge street market on Saturdays and Diane and I walked over there. It was filled with wonderful smells and colors, cheap clothing, and tons of people – it was also too crowded to take any photos. We’d been warned about pickpockets at the market; they didn’t find us!

We saw a lovely chestnut tree in bloom.

We walked back along the river wall to the ship for lunch, stopping at the train station to pick up tickets for tomorrow (and saving more than 50% compared to the price I found on the official SNCF website!).

After lunch, we boarded a bus to take us to the Carrières des Lumières in an old quarry in Les Baux-en-Provence. It’s an immersive art experience, currently showing Monet and Rousseau. It’s very interesting, but I have to say I prefer it when the paintings aren’t moving.

After visiting the exhibit, we went to Mouries to visit Moulin Saint Michel, an olive mill. The owner met us, explained how olives used to be processed and showed a video with the modern methods, and then we had a tasting of olive oil and tapenade. I would have liked to have brought some olive oil home, but they didn’t sell it in small enough containers to put in our TSA bags.

And then it was back to the ship for the Farewell Dinner and packing.

We’re nearing the end of our cruise; we moored in Avignon last night during dinner and won’t leave until 4am tomorrow (Saturday). This morning, we took the ship’s walking tour into the city – our guide, Alexia, spoke excellent English (she said her mother spoke English to her when she was a child) and showed us some interesting areas of Avignon before taking us to the Palace of the Popes.

Although Alexis pointed out the papalines at a shop in Les Halles, she suggested we wait and buy them at La Tropézienne near the outskirts of the walled city – they were about half the price. We brought them back to the ship and ate half the package – I’ve never had Origan du Comtat (the liqueur in papalines) before, but it was delicious.

After lunch, Diane went kayaking near Pont du Gard; I chose to stay ashore, so she shared a kayak with the guide.