Saturday, October 18
Paula: Our last day in Provence was again cool and cloudy
but without rain. After completing our packing, we said goodbye to Dema
ine
de la Tourette, our home for the past two weeks, and to our great hosts,
Philippe and Beatrice Saltiel. We also had sad goodbyes for our adopted pets,
especially our little kitten Zeus who lived with us for much of our two weeks
here.
We then headed back toward St. Remy. We had hoped to hike between
Les Baux and St. Remy yesterday but the rain made that impossible. While we
didn't have time for the hike today, we wanted to visit Glanum before driving
to Montpellier to catch a train to Barcelona. Glanum is an archeological site
in St. Remy that was discovered in 1921. This site 
was
originally settled in the 7th and 6th centuries BC around a spring. The site
was influenced by the Greeks in the 1st century BC (resulting in many Greek-styled
buildings) and then by the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. The site is
in a low area between two hills, and after it was abandoned it quickly became
buried in silt and was not rediscovered until the 20th century! This explains
why Van Gogh, when he was staying at the asylum located immediately beside
the site, never painted it. We especially enjoyed exploring Glanum because
it sits quietly in the countryside and there were few visitors. We were able
to identify the forum, temples, baths, homes and the market pla
ce.
Two large structures, an arch and a funerary monument are also near the site.
These were tall enough to be the only visible signs of the ancient community
before the excavations in the 1920s.
We
also again enjoyed walking through the olive groves that were the subjects
of so many of Van Gogh's paintings. During the past week, the olives have
really started to ripen and turn black. The harvest should be beginning soon…
We returned to a café we had enjoyed earlier in the week in St. Remy for lunch, and then drove to Montpellier to catch a train to Barcelona. The 4-5 hour train ride was pleasant and we studied and prepared for our arrival in Spain.
Tomorrow we're looking forward to our first day exploring the city of Barcelona. David and Katie are looking forward to using their Spanish to guide us around!
Distance Walked: 1.39 miles
