Avignon is a beautiful walled city in Provence. You might know the song Sur le Pont d'Avignon about the famous bridge there. We saw the bridge, but somehow didn't take a single picture of it.
Within minutes of arriving, we found a lovely cathedral courtyard.
And then another courtyard where we counted 21 bells.
You can't miss the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) because it takes up a huge chunk of the city. Although very impressive from the outside, it was rather disappointing when we toured the inside - empty and cold.
Rivi remedied this by putting on a shadow puppet show.
The palace, like many of the ancient structures in Provence, is built on and into the natural rock.
Just beyond the Palace is the Rocher des Doms (Dome of the Rock), a wonderful park that made up for the lack of playgrounds in Provence.
The girls climbed up and around the rocks
and the trees.
Our favorite street, Rue des Teinturiers, is lined with broken water wheels.
The water wheels were used in the process of dying textiles.
Unlike the Palace of Popes, Fort Saint-Andre, was fantastic. It is across the Rhone River in the town Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. The fort has amazing views of the Rhone region and a maze of halls, staircases and turrets to explore.
We loved it.
Because we showed up at lunchtime, the fort was closed. This happens sometimes because a lot of establishments in Provence (and much of Europe) close for one to four hours mid day for lunch.
So we walked through the olive and almond trees
searching for Cicadas.
We found one!
And then another.
I suggested keeping one, but Rivi said absolutely not because it was still alive.
Kyri walking through Villeneuve lez Avignon picking flowers that grow through the cracks in the wall.
Final adventure in Avignon - climbing the escalators near the bus station. It has clearly been overlooked by the city maintenance team for a very long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment