FRANCE - Best of Europe 2014 - page 429

ports”). Le Passeport Avantage covers almost all of Arles' sights (€13.50, under 18-€12);
Le Passeport Liberté (€9) lets you choose any five monuments (one must be a museum).
Depending on your interests, the €9 Passeport is probably best.
Start at the Ancient History Museum (closed Tue) for a helpful overview (drivers should
trytodothismuseumontheirwayintoArles),thendiveintothecity-center sights.Remem-
ber, many sights stop selling tickets one hour before closing (both before lunch and at the
end of the day).
▲▲▲ Ancient History Museum
(Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence Antiques)
Begin your town visit here, for Roman Arles 101. Located on the site of the Roman chariot
racecourse (the arc of which is built into the parking lot), this air-conditioned, all-on-one-
floor museum is just west of central Arles along the river. Models and original sculptures
(with almost no posted English translations but a decent handout) re-create the Roman city,
making workaday life and culture easier to imagine.
Cost and Hours: €6, Wed-Mon 10:00-18:00, closed Tue, Presqu'île du Cirque Romain,
tel. [phone], www.arles-antique.cg13.fr . Ask for the English booklet, which provides
a helpful if not in-depth background on the collection.
Getting There: To reach the museum, take the free Envia minibus (stops at the train
station and along Rue du 4 Septembre, then along the river, 3/hour Mon-Sat, none Sun). If
you're coming on foot from the city center (a 20-minute walk), turn left at the river and take
the scruffy riverside path under two bridges to the big, blue, modern building. As you ap-
proach the museum, you'll pass the verdant Hortus Garden—designed to recall the Roman
circus and chariot racecourse that were located here. A taxi ride costs €10 (museum can call
a taxi for your return).
Self-Guided Tour: The collection is housed in one large room separated by dividers
and exhibits. Tour the room moving basically counterclockwise.
A big map of the Roman Arles region greets visitors and shows the key Roman routes
accessible to Arles. You'll then pass a model of a small pre-Roman village (allowing you
to compare pre- and post-Roman life in Arles), and see maps showing Arles' expanding city
limits during its Roman era.
Nextyou'llsee models ofeveryRomanstructurein(andnear)Arles.Thesearethehigh-
lightforme,astheybreathelifeintothebuildings,showingthemastheylooked2,000years
ago. Start with the model of Roman Arles, and imagine the city's splendor. Find the For-
um—still the center of town today, though only two columns survive. Look at the space Ro-
mans devoted to their arena and huge racecourse—a reminder that an emphasis on sports is
not unique to modern civilizations. The model also illustrates how little Arles seems to have