In my continuing coverage of the wine regions of France, I’m going to change it up a little bit. There certainly is LOTS of wine produced in Provence, but unlike in Burgundy and Bordeaux, it’s not really the MAIN thing to see and do, just because there is SO MUCH in this large swath of southern France. In this post I’ll cover the main cities along the Rhone river, including of course the amazing Cotes du Rhone and Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine regions, but also some pretty incredible Roman ruins that you really shouldn’t miss.
The towns you could base yourself out of for exploring this part of the region are all adorable, and which one is right for you really depends on what you want to spend most of your time doing. Nimes is a bit of an outlier, in that it’s a bit west of the Rhone and considered by some to not even be technically in “Provence” proper. I especially wouldn’t recommend it for people wanting lots of time in the vineyards, BUT – for Roman sites, it is may be the best option. Not only does it have an amazingly preserved Roman amphitheater (where bullfights are still held) and a completely intact temple, but it is also the closest option to the ridiculously amazing Pont du Gard – the giant Roman bridge for the aqueduct that brought water to Nimes. Spending a blissful afternoon floating down the river under that ancient bridge, or even just sunning on the beach is really worth an afternoon of your time in Provence. Now, I wasn’t able to squeeze in a re-visit to either of these awesome spots on my trip in 2015, but I still have strong and fond memories from my visit back in 2000. Sadly- I don’t have any digital photos, so please excuse these super-low quality photos of snapshots from my album (!!) from back in the day. WOW, how times have changed.
The next best option for Roman sightseeing, with an added bonus of being excellent for art fans and even nature fans, is Arles. This is at the base of the mighty Rhone river (a bit far south, again, from the main wine growing regions), located just north of the AMAZING nature preserve of the Camargue, where pink flamingos and white horses rule the land and lagoons. I’d dreamed of going there, being the horse-lover that I am, so I made it a point to spend a morning driving around the main bay (Etang de Vaccares) down to the salt flats towards the coast. BUT – if you’re not a nature lover, this area is easily skippable (my photos below will try to convince you otherwise! I mean – have YOU seen flamingos fly???). There are lots of other reasons to spend a few nights in Arles though – it is perfectly located to visit some of the cool villages of Provence, like St-Remy-de-Provence and Les Baux. It was also a one-time home to Van Gogh, right before he was put in an asylum in St-Remy, and where he painted many of his most famous works. There’s a museum dedicated to modern art that pays homage to Vincent, and there are even little easels dotted around town that highlight locations where he painted specific paintings. BUT, of course, the biggest draw are the Roman relics in the area. Their amphitheater is actually still in use, amazingly, for the bullfights that are still popular in this part of France. The reason why this amphitheater is in such good shape is that they actually walled in the arches and used it as a little walled-in town during the middle ages. Too cool! Next door is the fairly pitiful remains of a regular theater, but there’s a better one elsewhere (hold tight). There is also a really good museum just out of town about all things ancient and Roman, but I didn’t have time to get there. More than anything, there are squares and cafes galore in this quiet little town that, honestly, is equal parts pretty and dingy. Here are some shots in & around Arles!
Next up, as we head north, is probably the least Roman-focused and most wine-focused potential home base: Avignon. This is probably the most cosmopolitan of all these towns in Provence. Of course it is most famous for the little ditty about the bridge, or maybe as home to the Pope for a while (France & Italy got in a bit of a fight about where the Pope should actually live back in the 1300’s, and in fact there were even two dueling popes for a bit!), but now it really is a cool mix of history and modernity. It still has parts of the old city walls, and much of the center of town is car-free, yet the old food market is completely redone and fresh. It really is central in the region, and in fact is just about as close to Pont du Gard as Nimes is (a half hour). Plus it is serviced by the high-speed train from Paris, making it super easy to reach. Avignon is also the closest home base to the uber famous Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which is not only the name of a specific wine region/appellation, but also a specific winery. It’s also not far from the Cotes du Rhone Wine road, but more on that later. Now, full disclosure again – I skipped over both Avignon and Chateauneuf-du-Pape on my recent tour through the area, so I haven’t actually been there since 1999. Again, full disclosure, my most vivid memory of Avignon was how boring our tour of the Palais du Papes was – but I have had clients in Avignon since who have just adored it, so don’t discount it based on my recent-college-graduate experience! I have all of three photos from 1999 (again- TERRIBLE quality) that I’ll share with you here, and know that it’ll be on my list the next time I get to this area!
Ok, the final town that you may consider for exploring the region is the farthest north along the Rhone, and home (again) to some pretty spectacular Roman ruins. This one is Orange, home to the best preserved Roman theater, I think, in the world. As smart Romans did, the tiered seating was dug out of a hill, so that remains, but what is really special is that the entire back wall basically still stands. I mean, it’s missing most of it’s former opulent decor, but it’s THERE. AND they still do performances there. It is actually a pretty popular venue for everything from opera to rock shows. I am not always the biggest fan of Roman ruins, but this one was really pretty amazing. There’s also a roman “Arc de Triomphe” at the former entrance to town, which actually was used as a model for the later ones that were actually triumphal back in Rome. It is also just a cute little mini version of Arles, AND it is much, much closer to wineries. In this case, the Cotes du Rhone region is all of 20 minutes away. The region is a bit mis-named, as these vineyards aren’t actually ON the Rhone, but actually sprinkled around the mountains of Montmirail. These are some of my favorite go-to red wines, but it turns out they’ve got some decent whites and EVEN some great roses (specifically in Gigondas). I LOVED my drive around the hill-top villages (like Seguret) and up into the hill-top vineyards (like Domaine de Coyeux – traditional- and Domaine de Mourchon – modern- to name two specifically, and to show the range in the area). Plus I had one of the best lunches of my life sitting out in a shady square in Gigondas (with a glass of their rose of course). The proximity alone makes Orange worth a night, though Avignon is only about an hour south. Here are some shots from Orange & the Cotes du Rhone region:
Now, I still haven’t been everywhere in this region. Vaison la Romaine is another town full of Roman ruins on the north end of Cotes du Rhone which I didn’t get to, for example, but these four towns are really the biggies for exploring THIS part of Provence. Keep in mind that they’re all really fairly close to each other (an hour from Orange to Arles, for example), so it’s not like you can’t do ALL of this with a week or so in one of the towns (or a countryside villa, for example!), but keep in mind also that none of them are particularly huge (Avignon being the largest). For a true big city in Provence, you have to go down to Marseille, which I’ll cover in my next post.