One lovely historical site that we didn't visit last year is very close to Arles, so we headed off for a visit in mid-afternoon. The site, Abbaye de Montmajour, began as a community of monks on a rocky highland above the marshes, north of Arles, in the 10th century. They built a chapel in the 11th century and a church in the mid-12th century. The site was fortified during the Hundred Years' War. Things got kind of crazy along the way, and one point a group of ousted monks came back to pillage the place. Later, it was sold and pieces were removed, but in the mid-19th century it was declared an historic monument and restored.
The movie A Lion in Winter was filmed here. Van Gogh was fascinated by the site, he traveled here to paint the farm lands below it, with Arles in the distance.
Very nice site.
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| The site map |
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| The view back to Arles, much like Van Gogh painted |
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| The tower. It was closing in 30 minutes so I hurried to the top. 125 narrow, winding steps. |
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| A view from atop the tower |
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| Another view from the top of the tower |
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| Bori as viewed from above |
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| View port at the top of the tower |
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