A Roman aqueduct

Today, we headed north and a little east of Arles to visit the remains of the Roman aqueduct that once supplied water to Arles, the Barbegal aqueduct and mill complex, near Fontvieille

Thiis piece shows a water channel, flipped out of alighnment

This water channel is upright, and overgrown with vegetation

At some point in about the 4th century, the aquaduct fed a complex of 16 water-wheel-powered mills that ground flour to feed Arles.  Water dropped through a chute into the mill complex.

The chute where the water dropped down to the mills

Remains of the mill complex

Close-up of mill remains

This was a very impressive site, although not much restoration has been done.

Today's coffee run

To Aigues-Mortes, of course.  We only have a couple more days in the south, so we opted to drive down to the walled city of Aigues-Mortes this afternoon.  It isn't far, but it feels like we are stepping into another era.

The central gate of the south wall

The south wall, looking west

The south wall, looking east

Selfie by the south wall

We parked south of the south wall, and walked through the central gate, to the Place St. Louis, named for King Louis IX of France.  He built his port here, and launched his crusades from here.

St. Louis

Place St. Louis

Our waiter

The coffee shop

 And here's a poppy in honor of Memorial Day.

A few medieval sites

Today was overcast, and threatened rain, so we didn't want to plan any big excursion.  Instead, we walked to a couple of medieval sites in the SE corner of the old city.

The first site was the Porterie du Grand Couvent (Gateway to the Grand Convent -- 15 to 18th century).  This lovely arch just pops up at the end of a street.

Close-up of the Porterie

I have seen official markers for medieval sites in Arles for the last three years, and I always thought that the graphic logo on the markers represented a green flag.  Today, I looked at it closely, and then saw a nearby gargoyle and decided that it more likely represents a gargoyle.

Official medieval site marker

A close up of the logo

A nearby gargoyle

Passing through the arch, we encountered the Eglise St. Blaise (St. Blaise church, a 17th century structure).

Close-up of just another lovely arch, next to the eglise

Then we walked through and down the ramparts to the Tour de Mourgues, which marks the SE corner of the ramparts and the old city.

The ramparts atop the bedrock

The Tour des Mourgues from the north

Looking up at the Tour

Another trip to the market

We shopped at our last Saturday market of the season this morning.  We went early, but still encountered a lot of serious shoppers.

People who do most of their shopping at the Saturday market bring their own shopping carts.  Some people bring bags or baskets, but the compact shopping cart is definitely the way to go.

And as always, we shopped the fresh seafood.

Bori and a little shark

Squid for dinner

Cycling to Mejanes

For our final bike trip of the season, we drove to Stes.-Maries-de-la-mer and rented bikes to ride north, along the edge of the estuary to Mejanes, in the Camargue.  The route is pretty much due north most of the way.

Our starting and ending point--I'm not sure what the second language is.

Our turning around spot -- the coffee shop at Domaine Paul Ricard in Mejanes

The bike trail/back road

The marsh along the trail

The Camargue is largely marsh and wetlands in the Rhone River delta.  In addition to flamingos, the Camargue is famous for its bulls, its white horses, and rice culture.  We saw all of these along today's route.

Bulls

Bull

White horses in the marsh

Bori with some of the white horses that are ready to promenade at Domaine Paul Ricard

Rice field

Last stop on the circuit

After three years of visiting Arles, I finally made it to L'Espace Van Gogh.  This was the only remaining Van Gogh site on the original circuit that I hadn't seen.  This site housed the hospital that Van Gogh was brought to after he severed his ear. The ear was stiched up here. Later he was locked up here for a while.  The scene painted in the garden reflects the tranquility of the site.

The signage for Le Jardin de L'Hopital D'Arles

The jardin today, at Espace Van Gogh, from about the same angle

Another view of the jardin

Many tourists visit this spot, and the shops here carry a variety of Van Gogh reproductions.

Vincent is everywhere, too bad his paintings didn't sell during his lifetime.

On another souvenir of Arles, I have tried to point out where the apartment we have rented in May for the last 3 years is located.

The big tree in the lower left corner of the photo shades our courtyard.  I've circled the location in red.