Grand France River Cruise – Avignon

After lunch on the same day as Pont du Gard, we visited Avignon (those of us who hadn’t visited in the morning). The group was getting larger. This time there were five. Chris and Andy, who had been with me in Arles, and Pat and Fred, whose cabin was directly across the corridor from mine. Most of the rest of the group was on the optional tour to Chateauneuf-du-pape, which is a truly delicious collection of wines created not far from Avignon.

One of Avignon’s main claims to fame is that it, not Rome, was the seat of the Papacy from 1309 to 1377. The city walls and the Palace of the Popes were created during this time.

Another one of Avignon’s famous sites is the Pont d’Avignon – actually the Pont Saint-Bénézet. This is the bridge in the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon”, the chorus of which goes: “Sur le Pont d’Avignon; L’on y danse, l’on y danse; Sur le Pont d’Avignon; L’on y danse tous en rond.” I had barely managed to get a quick pic of what was left of this bridge as we returned from Pont du Gard in the morning and rounded a bend in the road. It helped that I was in the front seat right behind the driver.

A stone bridge replaced the original wooden bridge in 1234. It once had 22 arches and spanned the entire river across the island in the middle. Since the bridge tended to collapse each time the Rhone experienced a serious flood, it was abandoned in the mid-17^th century. Four arches and the gatehouse at the Avignon end remain. There is also a 12^th century chapel on the second pier, dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

I snapped another ‘hurried while passing’ shot of the city walls as we returned to the ship. After lunch, to get from where the ship was docked into the walled city of Avignon, we crossed a road next to the quay, and then walked to a pedestrian tunnel to go under the main road around the walls. When we reached the walls, we headed for the gate to one of the main streets.

Avignon had a lot more people in it than in Arles. The sidewalks were narrow, so it was necessary to step out into the street from time to time and hopefully not get clobbered by a motor vehicle. The streets weren’t all that wide either. Fortunately the motor traffic was not terribly heavy, especially when we got into some of the side streets.

The 14^th century Church of Saint Agricol was one of the first sights we came to after a walk around some of the streets and squares. It was the second oldest church in Avignon after the cathedral. Directly across the street from the Palais des Papes was the Hôtel des Monnaies. Built in 1610, this was the papal mint and eventually became a music school.

Next door to the Palais des Papes was the cathedral Notre Dame des Doms. It predates the Palais by two centuries, having been built in the 12^th century. It is also pretty much dwarfed by the palace.

Once we got into the palace, I was mighty glad that we had a local guide. Even with a diagram of the place, I think I would have gotten lost. It was massive. I remember there were audience rooms and private chambers and chapels, but I can’t tell which is what from trying to compare the photos to the floor plan. I know that we entered through the new palace, crossed a courtyard and then entered the old palace. At some point we moved from the old palace to the new and came back out at the new palace. This was after climbing loads of stairs up and down and tromping through mammoth spaces.

My back had bothered me in Arles and earlier in the day at Pont du Gard. But it was absolutely killing me in Avignon. The short version of the story is: 1) cancer; 2) surgery; 3) cancer gone; 4) pain not quite yet. It had been just three months since the surgery, so fortunately I had a collapsible cane with me. But I needed to sit down a lot. On top of that, it was very hot and we needed to wear masks both inside and out. I have to say, bless Chris, Andy, Pat and Fred as all four of them kept looking out for me and made sure I wasn’t falling behind.

After we left the Palais des Papes, we headed for the lovely, much, much smaller, Church of Saint-Pierre with its beautifully carved doors. Like Saint Agricol and the Palais, it was 14^th century. Not far from there was the Synagogue.

We headed back to the main market square and returned to the ship the way we came. Once I refreshed and cooled down, I headed for Happy Hour to join Roberta and Jeff for a cooling drink (a margarita on the rocks) and to hear how their day went. After the Port Talk (when we got the rundown of the schedule for the next day) we joined the rest of our group for dinner.

Next – Bollene & Viviers

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