It’s Sunday, I’m in Orange (the city you understand, not the colour) and it’s Mothers’ Day … again. If I ever went travelling with my Mum again she could clean up quite nicely by ensuring that it was Mothers’ Day each time we visited a country. I’ve seemed to do that inadvertently.
So anyway … I’m in a little town in the south of France called Orange. Now some might say that that’s just taking my interest in the Netherlands a little too far but I’ve actually come here for the theatre, le Théâtre antique d’Orange, to be precise – incidentally, the town of Orange does have close links with the Netherlands besides bearing the name of the national Dutch colour. So, back to the theatre. It is an ancient Roman theatre, well preserved and the only one in Europe with the stage wall still standing. Much reconstruction has been done to ensure the theatre can still be used and nowadays (despite it’s previous incarnation as a venue for theatre, poetry recitals and rock concerts) it is used primarily for the staging of operas. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to see one during my trip here but given the opportunity in the future, I most definitely would jump at it.
I have to say that the theatre is one of the most well organised ‘tourist attractions’ I’ve been to so far. For €8 you have access to the theatre and the museum – together, a minimum of an hour’s viewing pleasure. The theatre comes with an audio guide in your choice of seven languages; French, English, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic and Japanese. Not only does this guide steer you through the site with ease, it also contains fantastic historical information and, if you’re interested in kicking back on the tiered steps for a bit, some great bonus historical information about the history of the Roman empire. I really, really enjoyed my time here and think that it’s the best value for money I’ve had on the trip so far – other than the free museums in London, of course. If you have the chance, make the effort to come to this gorgeous town with it’s impressive links to history. Definitely worth a visit.
