orange france | schwingeninswitzerland

Magglio, the Luger and Sneaky Pete took a road trip to the south of France with us. After stopping at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, we headed to Orange, France. It is a town in Provence that is famous for its Roman amphitheater and its triumphal arch (Arc de Triomphe) built by Augustus. It was a cute, convenient place to stay on the way further south.

Signs of the town’s Roman heritage are everywhere.

Just in case you weren’t informed of the city’s Roman heyday, they have these bronze medallions the sidewalks to let you know. The pigeons did not seem suitably impressed with their home. In the photo below, they seem to have been using this alcove for their personal loo for centuries. That is one giant mound of pigeon poo.

The amphitheater is really well-preserved. It is a similar size as the one in Arles, but better preserved. It has wonderful acoustics and is still used for concerts.

We took a nice walk around the amphitheater before having dinner inside it. Sometimes restaurants in amazing locations are gimmicky, overpriced or have bad food. In the amphitheater, we had a wonderful meal in this amazing venue. Amazingly, most of the people there were locals. We couldn’t believe that we were eating inside a Roman amphitheater…very surreal and way cool.

The Luger and Sneaky Pete at the dinner table

After dinner, we took a stroll through town to see the arch of triumph. Having done the research, this is how I explained why it was built. Orange was a major crossroads. People were passing through this town that once ruled over Holland and England. In 25 A.D., in honor of the Gallic Wars, Augustus built this arch in honor of Rome’s victory in the Gallic Wars. Essentially, it was a giant billboard that said “look what we did to these guys, do you want a piece of this?”