Arles, Provence - France

Friday June 6th 2014

Weather - Fine & Warm to Hot, 18-28 C

Map of the Rhone River & our location;

We had a pretty good sleep after our night of celebrationss & showered for breakfast which was served in the lovely dining room at 7.30am. Lot's of choices with fruit, cereals, juices, cheeses, cold meats, pastries etc. Then they do hot food to order. Will try for a photo or 2 tomorrow.

Our selected excursion (Les Baux de Provence) commenced at 9am & it was a simple process to collect a card from the reception desk & walk off the ship to your coach, just a short distance away. The total number of passengers is 145 & they have a choce of 2 or 3 different excursions. Each one has another choice of fast, regular & gentle walkers. Because of the large amount of steep inclines & uneven cobblestones, we chose the gentle group. They go to the same places, just more leisurely which suits old girls like me!

Rice fields are very common here surprisingly;

So are vinyards;

More beautiful views along the way;

This beautiful mountain top village was amazing. It dates back to 6,000 BC & was built on a limestone outcrop.

It had lovely cobblestone streets with some very cute shops, cafe's etc

I purchased this cute bag:

Mike found this for me :)

We stopped for a coffee before heading back to the coach, then off to a family operated olive mill. We had a tour inside & out, then some tasting which was really good. Most of their olive trees are over 300 yrs old & have 3 trunks due to a severe frost(-20) in 1956 which killed all the trees. Then a year later they all began to grow new trunks & are producing good quality olives to this day.

A few ship photos .... more soon