Provence Prestige: Nov 20 to 24 in Arles

The 2oth annual Provence Prestige show opens Thursday November 20  at the Palais des Congrès in Arles. This festive holiday-theme market fills a number of vast indoor expo halls with 3500 square meters of holiday goodies, gifts, home decor, food and wine, clothes, accessories, books and much more. And it's all made in Provence by exhibitors who agree to the terms of a special ''locally made'' charter. Some 30,000 visitors and roughly 140 exhibitors are expected.

As in years past there will be Christmas workshops for kids and this year, a carousel in front of the exhibit hall. 

Tickets are 6€ (adults), 3€ (ages 12 to 18 and groups), and free for kids under 12. Tickets for Provence Prestige entitle you to discounted admission at the Musée Départemental de l’Arles Antique (MDAA) and the Musée Réattu but only while Provence Prestige is on. This would be a great chance to see the 50-ton, 31-meter, roughly 2000-year-old Roman barge called Arles Rhone 3 that was pulled from the muddy depths of the Rhone River in 2011 and painstakingly restored. It was put on display in a tailor-built wing of the MDAA last month, along with 450 other artifacts linked to navigation on the Rhone in antiquity.

Provence Prestige show hours are Thursday November 20 to  Monday November 24th, from 10 am to 7 pm, with special late hours (until 11 pm) on Friday November 21. All the info is on the main website here.