Place Republique, Arles, France

Rick Steves, the geek-ish stoner travel show host, mentioned Hotel Voltaire on the square of the same name, close to the station & cheap, so I made past the gates of the city down the modern avenue. Each step sent me back another century.
On the second story, my room was blessed with a ceiling fan as the Carmague Summer waved its dry heat. The views shimmered.
It was the light, as Vincent had said, that defined everything. Light was a room of yellow that sat along the bend of the Rhone with Arles inside it. The Roman Coliseum loomed at the apex of several roads, spokes that drew lines toward the center of town. Ruins of theatres and public monuments of Antiquity rest around every turn in the labyrinth of ways, roads, and stairs that lace Arles. Although it truly is an ancient capital, it is contained and contemporary, not sprawling, vague, or thrown-back.