The Light in Orange

Roland: We had a long day with quite a strenuous ride from Ste Maxime to beautiful Orange, a few clicks north of Avignon in the the heart of the lovely Provence. We had booked a small hotel in the old city core, a few hundred meters away from a popular sightseeing attraction. We arrived at 5 p.m. only to receive the message that the fantastic Roman Theatre was about to be closed in an hour. At 6 p.m., the time when the best light of the day was about to come up! 

So I grabbed a quick shower, threw on my civil clothes, and jumped out of the hotel running towards the theatre in order to spend at least a few minutes in this breathtaking antique masterpiece.

Of course, I was only reminded AFTER paying the entrance fee, that the theatre was about to be closed very soon. I did not loose any time and started exploring. The theater was built in the first century and active for 350 years (with estimated 10,000 seats!), until the Roman Catholic Church decided to shut it down in 391 AD, leading to it's partial destruction with the help of the Barbarians. Another fine example of how selfish interests in the name of God destroys cultural achievements... 

I sprinted up and down the many stairs in quest of finding the best perspective of the theatre, still met another few tourists (for some unknown reason most of them talking into their mobile phones) and witnessed with stunning realisation that the light was about to change into the famous golden Provencal glow. Right on cue came the call for closure. I was raging with anger. It was not even 6 p.m. but the girl at the entrance was too eager to get home. She must have had a really 'hard' day selling tickets. Well, go find me then... I continued to take pictures and made them run after me pretending that I didn't understand French  ;-)

Like with many antique places all over Eurpoe, once again Monty Python's famous phrase "What have the Romans ever done for us?" came to my mind. 

 

At least I got a few glimpses of that amazing light... and of a long way down. Alas, time was up, and I was led outside the facilities. On the outside Sonja already waited for me, and off we were 'hunting' dinner.

In nower days Southern France and the Provence are considered relatively poor areas. The industry blinded by its arrogance, still thinking that true French people would buy French products, is fighting for survival, beaten down by global competition.

We watched quite a few young people loitering in the streets, busy doing nothing, and being vocal about it, and the regional political climate is clearly tending towards the extreme right wings. 

One really starts wondering how the area might have done, had the natives kept a bit of that incredibly awesome Roman entrepreneurship?