Arles is an Unesco World Heritage Site and an old city being of quite an importance during the Roman period from which it has quite a few architectural remains. The city however didn’t feel so polished as the other tourist cities we visited there were quite a few beggars and in general it didn’t feel so safe as the other cities We started our visit in the beautiful city center market square, the Place de la Republique, which had a couple beautiful churches and a nice fountain.
The largest church is the Church of St Trophime which is a former cathedral and was built between the 12th and 15th century. It was built upon the site on an earlier basilica and is now part of the Unesco WHS.
Continuing we go toward the major Roman monuments and first we arrive at the Antique Theater. It looks almost functional – in fact it is functional as they are still holding festivals from time to time in it. We admire a few front stores and then finally we get to the Amphitheater – it is really large and we go partway around it before returning towards the car through some narrow side streets.
We take a slightly different route passing through different narrow alleys and enjoying the less touristy parts of the town but soon we are at the car and it is time to start towards Pont du Gard.
