20. ORANGE Theater & Arch and Lunch at JONQUIERES

Today dawned steel-gray and blustery, spitting rain at breakfast time, so no bike ride. Instead, we decided to drive to my former bike destination, Orange, to see it’s big attraction: the hugest Roman theater and theater wall in captivity. Sounded like a drive-by sight to check out, but ended up a lot different.

The drive up from L’Isle went smoothly. Farm country, mostly vineyards for wine production, and some smaller towns of no particular distinction. We stuck to small roads for fun…to at least simulate the bike-riding experience. Suddenly, we saw this JET sticking out of a traffic roundabout at Orange - later found out it's because these Mirage jets were stationed at a French air base at Orange until 2000.

Mirage jet at traffic roundabout coming into Orange

We made it to Orange, and were pretty impressed with this Roman theater thing! It’s right in the middle of this small town, surrounded by cafes and what appears to be normal old residential neighborhoods, and it is HUGE! We paid the admission, got the pre-recorded tour device to listen to as we walked all over this place, and learned some history. Turns out, the Romans loved theater, and built these things all over their empire, but most theaters didn’t survive after the decline of the Roman culture. They were mostly destroyed when the Romans made Christianity their official religion, as theater was considered heretical. The Dark Ages, and then the Renaissance, followed, where people tore up and carried away the building materials to make new roads, buildings, etc. Anyhow, some way THIS huge theater and it’s big wall survived more than 2300 years, even though serious damage was done over the past 1500 years or so.

See how the old mixes with the new? Garbage tins next to 2300+ year old theater! 

The big wall is a huge sound reflector, and is dozens of feet thick, with enormous stone-built rooms, hallways, and all kinds of spaces back there for raising and lowering curtains, sets, props, etc. There are three doors on the stage for entry and exit of actors during performances, a huge statute of Ceasar (whichever one was in power at the time) looming high above the crowd and the performance, and lots of spaces for sculptures, Roman columns, and whatever else they decorated the stage with back then. Louis the 14th (Sun King?) of France, declared this the best Roman Wall in France! 

Lynn high atop the scarey-seats section of the theater. 

Part of the stage and enormous wall - notice how small the person in red appears

We climbed all over the huge spectator area. Semi-circular seating went up and up and up…the nose-bleed section was where the slaves and lower-caste folks stood to watch. In fact, the seating was strictly limited by social position, with the good seats reserved for the big politicos, business leaders, etc. 

Back of the Theater, an old neighborhood, and a temple excavation from Greek times

SOUND in this place was unbelievable. Even 2000+ years after it was built, the sound of a clap or a loud word reverberates  all over the place. We saw some film of ROCK CONCERTS that have been held there over the years; what an unbelievable venue this place must be for the musicians. They still have full-blown theatrical and opera productions there, too. It’s so cool to see all the modern theater and musical equipment installed all over the ancient stone theater - a perfect example of what we love seeing here. People with this ancient heritage just keep using the ancient stuff, adapting it to today’s needs, and don’t seem to mind. 

Arche de Triomphe - Orange, FR

We got tired of tourist-ing, so drove off in search of Orange's other Roman legacy, its Arche de Triomphe. We found it on the edge of town, MUCH smaller than the one in Paris, but similar in architecture and construction. Very nice ... so we took pics and kept going! LUNCH was on our minds, and we have to find a place to eat before everyone closes at 2:00 p.m.

Did I tell you about that? ALL eating places, with very few exceptions, close between 2:00 and 7:30 p.m. If you want to eat a late lunch, or early dinner, well forget it, pal! We COULD have eaten at one of the cafes overlooking the Roman Theater wall in Orange, but I thought we could get somewhere better fast - and that was a mistake. We ended up in a teeny town named Jonquieres , and found a teeny restaurant just before they closed for the afternoon. We ordered whatever the special menu of the day was, and were so surprised: the meal was exceptional, and included a small carafe of rose wine. Sweet! This town has the same name as the place Lynn lived for a month one summer long ago, studying French in Quebec, so perhaps we were fated to eat here all the time.

Favorite "selfie" of the week! This was such a surprise fun place to explore.

Anyway, that was today. Kicking back to read a book and take a walk later if the rain stops. Ride tomorrow for sure! 

LINK TO all the photos we took so far, if you'd like to see more:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104261232464745572476/ProvencePhotos?authuser=0&feat=directlink