As soon as my wife, Caron, and I alighted from the Eurostar at Avignon TGV Railway Station the heat hit us. It was like stepping from a plane at an airport on one of the Greek Islands but, unlike the summer heat on the islands, there was no cooling sea breeze. As we walked towards our apartment, a temperature gauge above a pharmacy told us it was forty two degrees. I have visited Southern France on many occasions but have never experienced temperatures like these. Indeed, they were slightly down from the previous week, when forty-five was recorded in the area, which I understand is a new record for France. One just had to pace oneself accordingly and ensure a cool bottle of water was to hand.
But what of antiques in the region? Caron and I visited Arles and Nimes. To my great surprise, I found that one could find antiques and curiosities in the area. Arles is a small city, not far from Avignon and much associated with Van Gogh. On a previous visit, we had visited exhibitions and followed the Vincent trail but this time, we were determined to explore the city and find its legendary flea market. This is held on the first Wednesday of every month on the Boulevard des Lices, near the Theatre Romain and the Jardin d’Ete (both of which are within fifteen minutes walk of the railway station). The boulevard is a typical French road but the Flea Market is an oasis of peace and stretches for about a quarter of a mile. The flea market is a plethora of brightly covered aprons that stretch as far as the eye can see; all under the dappled cover of a large number of beautiful trees. It was a feast for the eyes.
I expected to find everything and nothing and this was the case. If I had been looking for a specific item, it is unlikely I would have found it, but there was plenty to choose from and what surprised me was the variety of items on display. There were a few original vintage French street signs sitting next to equally old French movie magazines (Cine Monde, Cine Review and Cahiers du Cinema to name a few). But not everything was old and there were Provencal jewellery and ceramics for sale. As we progressed deeper into the market, the items for sale changed, with a number of Catholic bibles as well as a selection of religious artifacts displayed.
Alberto Anaya from Pixabay
To me, this was the charm of the flea market and it was not long before Caron and I ventured up a small slope that was covered with boxes of this, that and the other. There were ornate wall brackets dating from the nineteenth century next to dusty deeds and the like. All of life was there. However, there were no books to speak of and my hopes of finding an old copy of Rimbaud or a Baudelaire were diminishing fast. Then, in a box a general junk, I found a small prayer book, which appeared to be crammed full of individual prayer sheets dating from the 1850s onwards. The prayer book itself dated from 1916 and was beautiful in its own right but it was the enclosures which really interested me. Then came the hard part as, initially, I could not find the stallholder and, when I did, asking him how much he expected to receive. He took one look at the book, shrugged and asked for five Euros, which I thought was a fair price.
We wandered around for a while longer before making our way towards the river for lunch. Although we purchased little, the flea market was a great experience. Some items were incredibly expensive, whilst others were almost given away. But, most of all, it was so typically French with some of the stalls seemingly abandoned and their owners chatting some yards away. If you go there, expect nothing and everything and you will be richly rewarded. It is unlike any market that I have ever visited before.
Sadly when we visited Nimes no antique markets or shops jumped out at us, although I suspect they were there to be found. Do not let that put you off as Nimes is a beautiful city, known as the Rome of the North. As with Arles, there is a Roman Arena which is used for concerts and the like. There is also Maison Carree (which is not square despite its name) and the Jardins de la Fontaine which, in my view, is the most beautiful park in Southern France. That said, it is one of the steepest I have visited and climbing to the summit in thirty-eight degree heat conjured up thoughts of Mad Dags and Englishmen!
Wolfgang Staudt from Saarbruecken, Germany [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
I believe I know Avignon best of all the places I have been to in Southern France, having first visited in the mid 1970s. It is a beautiful city with well preserved walls surrounding it. Unlike Nimes and Arles, it does not have an arena, but it does have the spectacular Pope’s Palace, about twenty minutes walk from the Railway Station. The Popes lived in Avignon during the fourteenth century because of problems in Rome. Caron and I visited the Popes Palace, for which entrance is very reasonable and it is spectacular to say the least. The ticket also allows you onto the Pont Saint-Benezet, which is perhaps Avignon’s most famous landmark. Only four arches of the mediaeval bridge remain and it is an odd sensation to stand on the very end of the bridge where the flow of the Rhone gives one a feeling of floating.
By Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro, CC BY-SA 3.0,
During my frequent visits to Avignon, I have always kept an eye out for antique and curio shops but they are thin on the ground. The interesting bookshop attached to Les Halles appears to have closed but you can still pick up late nineteenth century paperbacks if you are lucky. I managed to pick up a Zola novel from 1892 for a Euro. However, at the station end of the Rue de la Republique, I found a number of stalls, some of which were selling antiquarian books and the like. I spotted a sixteenth century volume and am still in shock at the price, but there are bargains in the twenty to twenty-five Euro range.
However, Avignon is not renowned for its antique shops. If you want a chic frock or a great pair of sandals then it is your place but you will have your work cut out if you want a bowl from the 1890s. Apart from a 1950s volume of poetry, I did not purchase anything.
In all, if you are on the lookout for antiques and do not want to spend a fortune, then Southern France is probably not the place to find them. But the area is much more than just searching for antiques and it is an experience that is different for everyone. My wife loved the lavender fields and the sunflowers that seemed to look at the trains as they were passing; the stunning light, the heat of summer and the vibrant colours of the area.
It is a dream, but then we all have dreams and what is life without dreams?
Happy Hunting.