Rhone Day 6: St. Remy-de-Provence

For a long time the funerary monument on the left (30-20 BC) was the only visible remains at St. Remy of the Roman town of Glanum. The bottom two layers were buried in the accumulation of centuries and only the columns at the top were visible until excavations began in 1921. The triumphal arch to the right (completely buried before 1921) dates from about 20 AD. Having spent a summer on an excavation in the Negev, I would have enjoyed seeing the excavations of the Roman town nearby, but we didn't have time.

St. Remy has a lovely old city where we had free time for lunch or shopping. Ingrid and I aren't shoppers. We wandered the streets and ended up at a delightful cafe on the edge of the old town with more locals than tourists.

Vincent Van Gogh spent more than a year in the St.-Paul de Mausole sanitarium. Fortunately the doctors here thought painting was excellent therapy. Van Gogh painted 150 masterpieces while he was here where he found inspiration in the scenery. Note the trees and mountains in this picture taken outside the monastery gates.

Then notice the trees and mountains in this Van Gogh reproduction in the garden.

Van Gogh painted a lot of irises while he was here as well.

Here is one of the old wards.

Van Gogh had a private room in the still-functioning men's ward, but this is what it would have looked like.

The place is still a functioning mental hospital with the Van Gogh museum between a men's ward and a women's ward. Several of us agreed as we got back on the bus: if I ever lose my mind, you can send me here.

People are coming earlier and earlier to secure good seats for the early evening recital. An hour wasn't early enough today, but we figured others should have a turn. 

Giacomo Puccini – Overture and Musetta’s Waltz from La Bohème (in honor of our olive oil tasting; Berio has made a special olive oil commemorating Puccini’s love of the stuff)

 

Serge Rachmaninoff – Prelude in C-sharp Minor (in honor of the rocks of Les Baux, a very famous piece by ROCK…maninoff…)

 

*Charles Gounod – Ave Maria (Gounod lived in St. Remy while composing operas)

 

Serge Rachmaninoff – Daisies (in the absence of a piece based on irises, this was a reflection on visiting the asylum where Van Gogh spent time and created extraordinary paintings of nature)

Tomorrow will the the Palace of the Popes at Avignon.