May Day in Avignon

After Aix and Luberon, I had learned to reset my expectations for France.  Maybe as a result, I rather like Avignon. In fact, it seems more Italian to me, not because it was the Holy See (central governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church) in the 1300's, but more because it seems to be living in the shadows of its former splendor.

1. Avignon has all their city wall, over 4 km long!

2. Every other directional sign seems to be pointing to a theater.  Their summer theater festival must be some event.

3. The Avignon Papal Palace is impressive in size. The tumultuous history has left it barren, but the museum does a good job with the exhibits. I found it rather poignant -- the changing fortunes of places.

4. Even though we are in town over the May Day holiday, the place is not overrun with tourists; with healthy number of tourists, French and international, alternating between lively and atmospheric.

Arriving in Avignon by non-TGV train or bus, you'll first see the city wall, town gates, and the construction of the new tram line.


Oh, and if you arrive on the tourist train.....uh....


Our first evening in Avignon we walked up to the viewpoint above the Palace of the Popes to admire the Rhone River below and the famous Pont du Avignon (at left). That's an island in the Rhone, not the far bank.


Our apartment is near les Halles d'Avignon, the indoor market, and we buy some tomatoes there.


Most of the City Museums are free. We were introduced the painter Joseph Vernet(1714-1789) from Avignon.


The local Lapidary Museum was very good.


Our apartment was also close to the Palace of the Popes so we found ourselves walking to that area quite often; here, one night.


And a later evening shot of the Pont.


We were also right around the corner from the Synagogue and walked by it all.the.time.


There was a union parade on May Day, a national holiday in France; their Labor Day.


We started a self-guided city walk, but it was interrupted by rain.




View from our apartment window.


So after lunch we visited the Palace of the Popes. Barren, as Sun-Ling said, but nonetheless pretty cool. It's a bunch of connected stone towers with some tremendously large rooms inside.




The Pope, the head of the Catholic church Pope, lived here for about 100 years, so the treasury was large and secure. Here's one of many money boxes.


This is the Banquet Hall. The Pope plus all the top apparatus of the Catholic Church lived here.


The Palace Chapel is bigger than the town Cathedral.


Here is the Pope's Tower - his apartments and such. It's under renovation.


Some awesome views from the Palace towers.




And finally the Audience Hall. Has that guy found an Energy Spot?


We then visit the Pont Du Avignon. Drawbridge.


Looking back from the bridge to the Cathedral.




We walked across a modern bridge to get a view back to Old Avignon and ran into an Ultimate Frisbee game.


View back to the famous bridge (which no longer crosses the Rhone) and the Palace of the Popes and the Cathedral.






Looking down river we see a river cruise boat or three.


We finish our walking tour which encircled the area around our apartment. Here are some scenes.










Once again an iron belfry.






The City Archives building with very cool 360 pano of Avignon.


One of the many theaters in town.

Underestimating Pont du Gard

While in Avignon, we had to take a look at The Bridge, meaning the Pont du Gard, not the Pont of Avignon.  How long could that take?!  We were feeling rather smart that we figured out same bus line could take us out to Uzes.  If we go on Wednesday morning, we could even check off the Uzes market (though bigger one on Saturday).

Now that I have adjusted to the minute size of Provencal towns,  Uzes is a rather likable medieval town.  Since we had plenty of time before the bus left for Pont du Gard, we went down to the river to look at a part of the Nimes aqueduct which channeled water from Uzes to Nimes (of which Pont du Gard is a part).  It was enchanting.  Too bad we had a bus catch....

Pont du Gard is the second (to Rome Colosseum)  highest Roman monument that is still standing.  It looked exactly as I expected.  We crossed it back and forth, went down to the river, went up to various viewpoints.  We still had more time to kill, so we decided to follow a trail that one of the GPS maps indicated archaeological ruins.  Of course, we ended up following the still clearly discernible aqueduct, but had to quit in order to catch our bus.  The total volume of stone and brick we saw in the few kilometers we followed rivals any Roman site outside Rome/Naples areas.  There was just enough time to follow more of the aqueduct.  Why didn't any of the guidebooks tell us?!  Now we have to come back and walk more.

[Last year we visited Segovia, Spain and its famous aqueduct.]

The Uzès Wednesday Market was small and intimate, and we enjoyed walking around the town.




Old town intersection with blue shutters.


There were more than several cool medieval and renaissance towers.




The Cathedral's tower.


I liked the Uzès cathedral, Cathédrale Saint-Théodorit d'Uzès, interior.


We walked down to the river that is the source for the Nimes Aqueduct.




This structure is at the start of the water course. Some hikers were taking a lunch break


We had to end the beautiful walk and head back to the bus stop.


On the way we startled this snake who released the rat it was swallowing and headed into a hole in the wall.


Just about the nicest lavoir (clothes washing fountain) we have ever seen.


We hop on the bus to Pont du Gard. The famous aqueduct is just minutes from the bus stop.


On the way up to the right bank Point de Vue, you can see the water course on the top row of arches.


The bridge is a very impression engineering achievement. View from right bank.


We walked over it and viewed it top and bottom and from left and right banks. Another right bank view.






From one of the left bank viewpoints a bit upriver.


Once we had enough of viewing the Pont du Gard, we followed the trail of the aqueduct ruins for about 3 kms in the direction towards Uzes. Here, the aqueduct was either at ground level, or just above, and equally impressive. The total length of the aqueduct was 50 kilometers.

More Roman sites in Orange

While in Avignon, we made a day trip to Orange to see the very unique Roman theater, still complete with its stage wall.  In addition to some temple foundations next to the theater, there is magnificent triumph arch to the north.

Orange, is also home of the House of Orange thoughthere is hardly anything to show for it. As John is a William and Mary graduate, he pointed out that the college is 1/2 named after William of Orange.

The town center has a more forlorn look, uncommon in Europe.  We had noticed while coming into town there are several shiny new shopping centers with megastores on the outskirts.  We later learned Orange has an air force base -- such is the fate of modern development.

I'm roaming around on the highest point in Orange, just above the Roman Theater (not in view).


And a view to Mont Ventoux.


A view of the Ancient Roman Theater of Orange from high above the last row.


And another view.


And a side view. It's one massive structure.


After getting a map from the Tourist Office and a baguette from the Casino supermarket, we head north to the impressive Roman Triumphal Arch, set in a roundabout some 600 meters north of city center. 2000 years old! We seen more than several triumphal arches in our travels and this one is the best by far.


The northside with naval battles at top left.




Full view if the north face.


Sun-Ling reflects on the south face before we head to the bus stop.


City center of Orange.


Notice the belfry of the Hotel de Ville is an iron grille; better to let the Mistral winds pass through than stone.


And finally some le trompe-l'œil fun near the bus stop.