Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sunday. Tickets cost €0.80. Free minibuses called Starlets circle the old city every 25
minutes (7.10am to 7.15pm Monday to Saturday).
Bicycle Europbike ( 06 38 14 49 50; www.europbike-provence.net ) Rents bikes and
runs tours.
Taxi Call
04 90 96 90 03.
Train From the train station (av Paulin Talabot) are services to Nîmes (€7.50, 30
minutes), Marseille (€13, 45 minutes) and Avignon (€7, 20 minutes). The closest TGV
stations are in Avignon and Nîmes.
Camargue Countryside
Just south of Arles, Provence's rolling landscapes yield to the flat, marshy wilds of the
Camargue, famous for teeming birdlife - roughly 500 species. Allow ample time to bird-
watch: grey herons, little egrets, shelducks, avocets, oystercatchers and yellow-legged
gulls are among the species to spot. King of all is the pink flamingo, which enjoys the ex-
pansive wetlands' mild winters.
Equally famous are the Camargue's small white horses; their mellow disposition makes
horseback riding the ideal way to explore the region's patchwork of salt pans and rice
fields, and meadows dotted with grazing bulls. Bring binoculars and mosquito repellent.
Enclosed by the Petit Rhône and Grand Rhône rivers, most of the Camargue wetlands
fall within the 850-sq-km Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue ( www.parc-camar-
gue.fr ) , established in 1970 to preserve the area's fragile ecosystems while sustaining loc-
al agriculture. Get information at the Musée de la Camargue ( Click here ) .
On the periphery, the 600-sq-km lagoon Étang de Vaccarès and nearby peninsulas and
islands form the Réserve Nationale de Camargue ( www.reserve-camargue.org ) , a nature
reserve founded in 1927, with an information centre at La Capelière ( Click here ) .
The Camargue's two largest towns are the seaside pilgrim's outpost Stes-Maries de la
Mer and, to the northwest, the walled town of Aigues Mortes.
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