Unité d’habitation Marseille and Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Unité d’habitation Marseille

   Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation, finished in 1952 and known locally as the Cité Radieuse, or sometimes, less kindly, as the maison du fada, the madman's house, is a long concrete slab on stilts, raised above a park on the Boulevard Michelet. It contains around 330 apartments of different sizes, interlocking in section like pieces of a puzzle, with internal streets, a small hotel, a restaurant and, on the roof, a terrace with a children's pool, a gym and a view over the city and the sea. It was meant as a vertical village, and people still live in it.

   Read the complete Unité d’habitation Marseille write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Unité d’habitation Marseille is where the day begins. Next is Arles.

2. 2. Arles

   Arles is where the Rhône splits in two and the Camargue begins, and for more than two thousand years it has been a city of power, art and sun. The Romans made it one of the great cities of Gaul, building an amphitheatre that still hosts events, a theatre, baths and an underground gallery, the cryptoportiques, and the Roman and Romanesque monuments of Arles are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Romanesque church of Saint-Trophime, with its carved portal and cloister, is one of the finest in Provence.

   Read the complete Arles write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Arles comes up about 98 km into the recorded legs. Next is Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the.

3. 3. Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the

   Orange has one of the best Roman theatres still standing anywhere, and what makes it special is the stage wall. It is a tall, plain facade, thirty-seven metres high and more than a hundred metres long, which in most other theatres has fallen or been taken apart for stone. Here it survives, and Louis XIV is supposed to have called it the finest wall in his kingdom. The theatre was built in the first century, under Augustus or soon after, and a statue of the emperor still stands in the central niche. The nearby triumphal arch, on the edge of town, is also Roman and also in good shape. UNESCO listed the theatre and arch together in 1981.

   Read the complete Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the. Next is back through Arles.

4. 4. back through Arles

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Arles write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Arles, late in the day. Next is Unité d’habitation Marseille.

5. 5. Unité d’habitation Marseille

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Unité d’habitation Marseille write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Unité d’habitation Marseille. That is the ride.