Arles

I decided to not have a Special Feature Friday this Friday. Due to my daytime job, and because we are moving house soon, I do not get to spend as much time on my blog as I would like to, and instead of a Special Feature Friday I would like to write about a memory we made last summer.

Friends were over with their car, and we decided to go for a daytrip. This time we chose Arles, a city in the Provence of which I heard a lot. It is about an hour away from Marseille and makes from a nice drive on a spring day. We arrived in Arles and found an Provencal market very soon.  It is great to see the items sold by the salesmen. Olives, bread, vegetables, nougat, sausages and meat products. It was wonderful to see all these regional grown and made goods together!

Arles is an ancient city, the area was already inhabited at 800 BC. In 123 BC the Romans arrived and worked on the expansion of the city. Roman influences can still be found today in the shape of an amphitheater, built in 90 BC and a Gallo-Roman theater.

The arcades of the amphitheater against the blue sky. The theater is open for visitors and in summertime it is still used for bull fights. It has an whole history for it's own! The Gallo-Roman theatre can also be visited. Just outside of Arles there is a Roman aqueduct and mill. 

The city center breathes the air of the old Provencal streets, with the typical houses. Decorated with their beautiful doorways, practical wooden shutters and statues of Maria and other saints. Every summer traditional festivals are celebrated. Every 1st Sunday of July "les arlesiennes" will dress up in their traditional costumes and parade trough the city. 

The painter Vincent van Gogh lived in Arles some of the last years in his life. Some of his famous works where painted here, like "Starry Night over the Rhone", "Cafe terrace at night" and "Hospital in Arles". The latter two can still be found and viewed in the city. Above you can find a picture I took of the "Hospital in Arles", where van Gogh stayed for a while.

Arles is certainly worth a visit, and I would advise to visit in spring or Autumn. As summers can get very hot. If you don't want to miss the market it is best to go on a Saturday morning, as markets usually stop early in these parts. If you have the time it is advisable to stay a couple of day's to truly discover Arles. A train goes to Arles from Marseille. Close to Arles you can find the Camargues, a natural parc in between to arms of the Rhone. It is a river delta with wild horses and flamingo's roaming around. About this, I will write more next time!   

Special Feature Friday: Minouc Brocante

Edition 40

I have a thing for vintage and antique's. Everything old has a story, and even though I often do not know that story, I find it fascinating to wonder where an piece has been in it's former lives. 

Minouc Brocante is a shop that sells wonderful vintage items. The shop is run by mother Nienke and daughter Minouc. Many of their family holiday's where spend in France, where they came about the most wonderful treasuries at antique markets and in secondhand shops. 

In Minouc Brocante we can find a great diversity of products. Wonderful tea sets, postcards, tablecloths, candleholders and handmade fabric buttons. The way the items are presented makes them very attractive, and in the photo's it is easy to see their charm and detail.

This wonderful tea cup trio was made between 1966 and 1969. It was made in Germany and marks '100 jahre Bareuther Waldsassen, Bavaria' . The fine gold decoration and the teal give this trio a fresh look. There is a beautiful collection of trio sets to be found in Minouc Brocante, from very elaborate designs to the more fine ones.

These apothecary jars make a great decoration for any kitchen. Besides being a decoration, they can be useful  for storing. More kitchenware is available in Minouc Brocante, including old copper ware.

For anyone in to sewing or quilting I would really suggest to have a look at their collection of fabrics. These vintage french fabrics are difficult to find in any shop but would make for great quilts or bed spreads. 

You can also visit Nienke and Minouc's other shop Minouc where you can find lovely hand made accessories.

Minouc Brocante offers a 10% discount to the readers of this blog with this coupon code: BLOGSPECIAL 

This discount code is valid until the end of September 2014.

Special Feature Friday: Simple is Pretty Shop

Edition 26

Simple is Pretty Shop is a shop that specializes in wool drying balls, lavender sachets and wedding favors. Sandra is a stay at home mom, who always wanted to run her own business. She found it difficult to buy the proper laundry detergents for her son sensitive skin, and as a result Sandra began experimenting laundry solutions. Her goal was to reduce the harsh chemicals in laundry detergent and dryer sheets. Through time and experiments Sandra came up with homemade recipes that work! 

I did not learn about dryer balls until last year, so I will give a quick explanation on them. Dryer balls are made out of 100% wool, they are used in the drying machine to help your laundry dry faster. This reduces the time you need to dry the clothes. It is both good for your electric bill and the environment. Dryer balls can replace laundry sheets and fabric softener, they do not contain chemicals so they are great for people with a sensitive skin. The dryer balls can be used many times. In addition they can also make for great pet toys, if you don't mind to replace them sooner. The dryer balls can be made scented or unscented, the scent lasts a couple of weeks but you can add some essential oil to them to make them smell wonderful again. 

Next to laundry balls you can also find a great selection of lavender sachets in Simple is Pretty Shop. These can be put in drawers and closets, to really insure your clothes smell wonderful without chemicals! Sandra also sells little sachets that can be given away as wedding favors. These sachets with organic lavender will last a long time, and will make sure your guests will think about your wedding for a long time to come! It is also possible to have the lavender in a ring bearers pillow, all for your great day! 

Sandra has been very sweet to give a discount code of 15% of the readers of the blog: SPRING2014
The code is valid until the 15th of May 2014.

Sandra also has a facebook page and a blog with great tips!

A sunny weekend

The weather has been great this weekend! The smell of fresh grass, sea and sunscreen are in the air wherever we go. Today we got up early, or what one would call early for a Sunday morning. We hired some bikes from the bike rentals that are everywhere in town. Marseille has this great system, with a special pass you can hire a bicycle for only 1 euro per week. So we got up and went down to the supermarket, over there we bought ourselves some lunch and installed ourselves in park Borély.

This is a parc is built around a chateau, it was created in the 17th century by a ship owner and merchant called Joseph Borely. Next to the parc you can find a botanical garden, with a nice collection of plants from different parts of the world, there is a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden and even a little bit of desert. A fee has to be payed to get into this garden, but is is affordable and a lovely thing to do on a pretty day, if you are into this kind of thing of course!

Today we only stayed into the public area of the park, where there is a lot of activity. Special carts can be hired to bike around as a family, people are roller skating and biking. Very often people come together to give parties for their child's birthday, they bring a pick-nick and games. It is a great day out for the children!

After the park we went to the beach and talked about opportunities for the future, things we want to do, places we can go. It seemed the perfect day for a discussion of this sort. This week I have seen a lot of people swimming, so I had to quickly feel the water, in my opinion it is still a bit too cold for a swim, but it is warming up, so it will get better soon. It was time to head back, so we got on our bikes again and got home within 15 minutes. I am very glad I finally tried this biking rent system. I was always a bit scared about biking in Marseille, but it is doable, people in cars take distance if they see you. The traffic is still hectic but that is a matter of paying attention. The photo below was taken close to our house, I do not think I could ever get used to how beautiful the sea is here! This picture shows a view on chateau d'if, where the famous book of the Count of Monte Cristo was based on. further in the back you can see îles du Frioul. We have not yet visited îles du frioul but I hope to do so soon!