Voyage Overview
Destination Highlight
Arles is a small town with a rich architectural past and exciting contemporary culture. An important Roman and Medieval center, Arles has also served as home and motif to some great modern artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Pablo Picasso. The city's many monuments play an important part in its cultural life. Its famous Arena, built to hold 24,000 spectators, is one of the most ancient in the Roman world and is used today for celebrating traditional, popular festivals. In the picturesque stone setting of ancient Roman Theater, covered with greenery, important shows take place. The city's old hospital, where van Gogh stayed in the late 1880's, is today a cultural center housing an international translation center, a media library, and exhibition rooms. Thanks to the National School of Photography and its international summer photography festival, Arles is known throughout Europe as capital of photography. Mediterranean Arles has many street-side cafes and restaurants, as well as markets with everything from antiques to Provence herbs and spices.
About the Ship
The Avalon Poetry II offers a delightfully intimate cruise setting. Like its sister Suite Ships, the Poetry II features two full decks of Panorama Suites with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows that create river cruising's only Open-Air Balcony. With a spacious 200 square feet, Panorama Suites are more than 30% larger than the industry standard. Stretch out at day's end and wake to the world at your feet with Comfort Collection bed that faces the view. It truly is a view with a room!