www.arlestourisme.com. An outpost of civilization on the edge of the shimmering Camarguais marshes, Arles is a delightful base for exploring the Rhône delta. The Greeks founded a trading post here which the Romans linked to the sea with a canal. Caesar’s Sixth Legion installed plumbing, a forum, temples and theatres, and commissioned a splendid amphitheatre from T. Crispius Reburrus (also responsible for the arena at Nîmes). Ideally placed on the Rome-Spain Aurelian Way, convenient for the Mediterranean trade, Arles prospered as a leading market place for exotic goods, silks and spices from the Orient, local oils and wines. It continued to hold its own well into the Middle Ages before its influence declined.

In the 19thC, Van Gogh came here to paint, and the Proven√笵cal poet and novelist Frédéric Mistral created a revival of interest in local traditions with his Félib-rige society and MuseonArlaten (see page 332). Mistral’s statue contemplates place du Forum, the café-lined heart of Arles, where famous toreadors stay in Room 10 of the Hôtel Nord-Pinus the night before corridas. Picasso, Hemingway and Churchill also slept in the prestigious suite with its grand wrought-iron balcony fit for heroes.

Arles offers a terrific variety of sights. Les Arènes is Arles’ 1stC amphitheatre: two storeys of arches enclose the 20,000-seat stadium, where an attic gallery once held a further 5,000 fun-loving legionnaires for demonstrations of gladiatorial combat and wild animal baiting, as suggested by the high walls and boar’s tusks unearthed in the pens beneath the arena. The three medieval donjons helped transform the arena into an emergency fortress where the townsfolk could take shelter in times of trouble. The Tour de Roland played a similar role overlooking the Théâtre Antique, rue du Cloître. Plundered for its stone over the centuries, the Roman theatre has only two tall marble pillars left from the triple tier which once graced the 102-m stage, and chunks of masonry lie about in piles. Festival goers still pack the spacious semi-circle of seats (which once would have reached up to the height of the tower) during the July festival season.

Recently, Arles’ rich haul of Roman antiquities has been swept out of the higgledy-piggledy old churches in the town centre and amassed in a gleaming new Musé de I’Arles et de la Provence Antiques (south of the A7). It is not to be missed, with marvellous mosaics and carvings, including a marble statue of Emperor Augustus pillaged from the Théâtre Antique, displayed alongside the finest collection of early Christian tombs outside the Vatican.

Back in the heart of Arles, the twin poles of the Old Town are pretty, leafy place du Forum and place de la République, overlooked by the Eglise de Saint-Trophime. One of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in Provence, its famous 12thC fa√笵cade is adorned with carved scenes from the Last Judgement, and the high, narrow nave is hung with tapestries. In the north aisle, a stunning 4thC sarcophagus depicting the Parting of the Red Sea is used as an altar. Just south of the church, there is an entrance to the elegant cloister.

Founded in 1896, the Museon Arlaten, 29 rue de la République, is endearingly fusty. Housed in a well-worn 16thC hôtel, room after room of crafts and costumes, painted tiles and trinkets reveal the minutiae of Provencal life, watched over by a staff of silent arlésiennes in traditional dress (closed Mon off season). Down by the Rhône, the Musée Réattu, 10 rue du Grand-Prieuré, occupies a 15thC priory. Jacques Réattu’s classical canvases preface a far more interesting selection of artworks, many of them inspired by the local scenery, such as Théodore Rousseau’s hazy watercolours, and André Marchand’s swift crayon sketches of flamingoes and bulls. Among the contemporary exhibits, pride of place goes to a collection of 57 Picasso sketches donated by the artist and completed in less than five weeks between 1970 and 1971.

Van Gogh spent the last 29 months of his life in Arles and the sanitorium at Saint-Rémy. None of his paintings (he completed a staggering 600 canvases during this time, including The Sunflowers) remain in Arles, but the tourist office provides a map to 30 sites where he painted in the region. One is the old Roman and medieval burial ground of Les Alyscamps (south-east of the town centre), where stone sarcophagi still line the avenue of trees leading to a ruined Romanesque church.

Arles has several other diversions beyond the official trail. It is a shopping Mecca with Provencal crafts from clay santons to printed fabrics on sale at every turn, though they are not inexpensive. The busy Saturday market on boulevard des Lices draws a huge crowd of local farmers and black-clad gypsies. Major corridas take place in the Roman arena at Easter, May 1, mid-August and during the mid-September Rice Festival.