Avignon (September 27-28)

On the way up to Paris from Nice we decided to make a stop in Avignon. As far as we can tell, Avignon is famous for two things: 1) almost being the official home of the (Roman) Catholic Church and 2) having a destroyed bridge that is also the inspiration for a children's song. It turns out one day more or less was a good amount to see both of those things.

After we arrived and got situated we went to the former Palace of the Popes. In the early 14th century, the newly elected pope moved the Papal Residence to Avignon rather than stay amidst the violence in Rome. A number of successive popes decided to stay in Avignon despite constant wooing by Rome. Eventually, the residence was moved back to Rome. However, these events also led to the Papal Schism during which time three men all claimed to be pope. It also led to the creation of the word "antipope," which is pretty awesome.

As for the palace itself, it's big and interesting, but largely empty. It was hard to get a sense of what it was actually like because there wasn't much left of the time it was actually used (which makes sense given it was 600+ years ago). The tower has a very good view of the city and river and you can see why the popes found it an attractive location. You can see the castle in the background of this picture.



Next we went to see the famous Pont D'Avignon. It is famous because it is half a bridge and because a song was written about it. It was not famous to either one of us though as we had never heard of it before we went.



It was inspired by Saint Benezet who was divinely chosen and proved so by lifting a heavy rock (or something). The bridge used to be a full bridge. Then it was not. Then it was again. Then it was not. This repeated a number of times until they finally gave up.

It became additionally famous by this song and frollicky dancing:


Now that will be in your head for at least a week even though you have no idea what the second line is.

We were there on a Sunday night so unfortunately most of the restaurants I had heard about were closed. We ended up in a cute little plaza at a place that served tartines and charcuterie plates.

The following morning we walked along the river and took funny pictures.



We didn't get a chance to do the tourist train that we had heard about. One it was a little pricey for what it was. And two, I decided it went slow enough that we could just walk alongside it and listen to the audio recording if we were really interested. Nevertheless, it's a very cute little train.



Avignon was a very nice little stop over. I found the town to have a very pleasant vibe and would be happy to go back, especially as a base to see other cities in the region. I would avoid Sunday nights however.