Avignon

It was 30 degrees when I got up. We were only about 100 miles north, but the air warmed by the Mediterranean wasn’t helping us one bit here.

Although everything seemed fine in Avignon, the news was all about the protests throughout Paris, Marseilles, Toulouse…..the bigger cities. We are really starting to think we are going to have to leave France and find a sneaky easy way out, not through any of the bigger airports. The crowds are in the tens of thousands and include clashes with police. No thanks.

But we have a non-refundable AirBnb for 4 nights, so today was about Avignon. Like all European cities, Avignon has a rich history dating back thousands of years. It is 25 square miles and with a population just under a half million. They have found some prehistoric evidence dating back to 5000 BC. It baffles me that they are able to trace back the name of the city to the 6th century BC, when it was mentioned in a book! What?! It was designated a Roman colony in 121, with the arrival of Christianity around 439. Of course there were many invasions and the city changed hands several times over the centuries and suffered plagues, floods, and population declines like so many other places we have seen.

There are actually walls surrounding the city and most of the tangible history began in the 1300’s when Pope Clement V relocated the Papacy to Avignon instead of Rome. Over the years, several popes were here and thus you see Le Palais des Papes–The Palace of the Popes, featured in the top photo. It is massive and looks amazingly strong and solid. The new-found security requirements of the city became paramount and miles of walls were subsequently built to enclose the area.

From atop the palace, there is a lovely park on the Rhone River, which you may note is where Katie, Todd, and I are standing in Lyon on the main page of the blog. The river is wide and you can see the water moving. There were swans and fountains in the park and as you come around the bend you can hear the chimes and see the golden statue on top of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame des Doms d’Avignon. This church is right next to the Palais des Papes and the entire area is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sorry for the long history lesson zzz…

From here you can see the Rhone River bumping up against the city. The largest ferry I’ve even seen moved through just as we were there.

Though we really are not far from Italy and quite close to southern France, the city looks very different. The streets are narrow and set on angles, like Italy, but the color and style of everything seems unique to France.

There are hills, but not near as many nor as steep as those we climbed in Italy.

The stonework, like everywhere we have been, is remarkable and truly looks like it will stand another thousand years. The cement between the blocks here include stones, even shells, embedded between the huge boulders.

The pressure for action to protect the environment is just as evident here as it was in Italy, with all the rules of recycling and organic fertilizers. A sign was pasted up in the alcove below that when I translated it said The livability of our planet is being destroyed before our eyes by our crazy energy consumption. We must respond.

The food here is more expensive than Italy, which was soooooo cheap. We found an outdoor French restaurant and though it was a bit chilly we splurged and had a really nice dinner of fish and beef for around 36 euros. Our waiter had almost no English, but he motioned us to sit closer to the door and said, “Pleut” which I knew meant rain. Soon a light rain was falling, but it in no way dampened our day in Avignon. <3