Arles

October 11, 2021

Woke up at 6 this morning and spit in a test tube (for our daily Covid test) and had a very nice buffet breakfast at the hotel (Novotel just outside the old city wall in Avignon). At 8:30 we left in a bus for Arles at the Rhone delta on the Mediterranean Sea. We had a 3 hour guided walking tour of Arles and then a bus ride back to Avignon. We could have stayed in Arles for the afternoon but were tired and pretty much saw it all. After stopping at the hotel, we walked for lunch in Avignon with Steve and Laura and then around a little bit before walking through the train station and back to the hotel for some rest before dinner at the hotel tonight at 7. Because there wasn't a boat for everyone to go back to for lunch between tours we were credited $25 to get our own lunch in town. Forgot to track our Arles walk on the Fitbit/Strava but did remember to track our walk after lunch. Will be trying to track all of our tours. Arles was a very nice tour as it was a town build by Rome halfway between Italy and Spain to protect it's interest and was built to model Rome itself. The ancient town wall is still standing and we toured the amphitheater as well as an ancient Roman theater. They are both still used today. The amphitheater for bullfights and the theater for special events. Also toured Arles itself. A lot of bomb damage during WWII destroyed a lot of the old town and the bridge across the river. AND, tonight at dinner we learned that our luggage will be transferred to the ship, we will be having lunch on the ship and will start sailing that evening. We are off!