Rambles on the RivieraMansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
General
Rambles on the Riviera
Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Riviera (France) -- Description and travel
It would not be practicable here to catalogue all the monumental
attractions of the Arles of a past day which still remain to remind one
of its greatness. The best that the writer can do is to advise the
traveller to take his ease at his inn, which in this case may be either
the excellent Hôtel du Nord-Pinus--which has a part of the portico of
the ancient forum built into its façade--or across the Place du Forum at
the Hôtel du Forum. From either vantage-ground one will get a good
start, and much assistance from the obliging patrons, and a day, a week,
or a month is not too much to spend in this charming old-time capital.
Among the many sights of Arles three distinct features will particularly
impress the visitor: the proximity of the Rhône, the great arena and its
neighbouring theatre, and the Cathedral of St. Trophime.
It was in the thirteenth century that Arles first came to distinction as
one of the great Latin ports. The Rhône had for ages past bathed its
walls, and what more natural than that the river should be the highway
which should bring the city into intercourse with the outside world?
Soon it became rich and powerful and bid fair to become a ship-owning
community which should rival the coast towns themselves, and its “lion
banners” flew masthead high in all the ports of the Mediterranean.
The navigation of the Rhône at this time presented many difficulties;
the estuary was always shifting, as it does still, though the question
of navigating the river has been solved, or made the easier, by the
engineering skill of the present day.
The cargoes coming by sea were transshipped into a curious sort of craft
known as an _allege_, from which they were distributed to all the towns
along the Rhône. The carrying trade remained, however, in the hands of
the Arlesiens. The great fair of Beaucaire, renowned as it was
throughout all of Europe, contributed not a little to the traffic. For
six weeks in each year it was a great market for all the goods and
stuffs of the universe, and gave such a strong impetus to trade that
the effects were felt throughout the year in all the neighbouring cities
and towns.
The Cathedral of St. Trophime, as regards its portal and cloister, may
well rank first among the architectural delights of its class. The
decorations of its portal present a complicated drama of religious
figures and symbols, at once austere and dignified and yet fantastic in
their design and arrangement. There is nothing like it in all France,
except its near-by neighbour at St. Gilles-du-Rhône, and, in the beauty
and excellence of its carving, it far excels the splendid façades of
Amiens and Reims, even though they are more extensive and more
magnificently disposed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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