Avignon & Viviers

March 22:  Avignon

We arrived back in Avignon last evening around 10 pm and we were up and on the shoreline of the Rhone River at 9 am to begin our walking tour.  But the famous "Mistral" - the northern wind which can be very strong and cold - was out in full force today as while the temperature may have registered near 50 degrees, the very brisk wind made it feel more like the low 30s.  We walked along the shore as we were informed about the basic history of Avignon and how they are one of the few ancient towns to still have their medieval wall intact all the way around the city!  Then we reached the famous Pont de Avignon.  At one time this bridge reached all the way across the Rhone with twenty arches but after it was destroyed by floods for the third time in the middle ages it has remained in its current state of only four arches.  It is the subject of a VERY popular children's song which we have heard many, MANY times since arriving.  Kim and I posed for a photo op before we crossed the road and entered the city through medieval gates still intact.

Our excellent guide, Alexa showed us into the city square and pointed out the Avignon clock tower, pictured below.......

The city retains it's medieval flavor and it's typical European flavor.  This balcony caught my eye as just a good photo - it's my journal, so I wanted to post it :)

We then came to the highlight of the day - the papal palace.  In the 1300s there was such turmoil in Rome that the Popes moved their headquarters from the Vatican to Avignon.  The second pope to sit here decided to build the "old palace" and soon after the next pope added the "new palace" to the structure.  The photos do not do it justice - it is massive.  When the video is posted you get some idea when we are in the courtyard and look up at the window where the people received their blessings.  I thought it was cool that we got to walk through a great deal of the palace.  Alexa told us that most cathedrals took 50-60 years to build and this was the size of several cathedrals.....but it was completed in seventeen years - a testament to the power and money of the popes and the Catholic Church at the time.

The tour took us through many rooms including the dining hall.  The photo on the left shows what it looks like today - and you'll note that the walls are bare.  A fire destroyed all the frescos painted on the wall.  But the reproduction on the right shows what the room would have looked like when it was set up for a feast.

For me the highlight of the interior was seeing the pope's bedroom and office which still had the ORIGINAL frescos on the wall and in the office even the ceiling was the original paint/artwork......from the 1300s!  Just thinking that what I was looking at today was what one of the popes of the Catholic Church looked at in the 1300s was just mind-boggling!  As we exited the palace we asked one of our group to take our photo with the wall in the background.

Original frescos still on the wall

Original frescos on the ceiling in Pope's study

Next stop on the walking tour was the market.  The most unique thing about the Avignon market was the live wall on the outside - they were in fact trimming the growing plants as we walked in.  Randy & Karrie posed afterwards.  The photo that follows shows just a couple of the amazing displays of fresh food.

Like yesterday, this was a full day.  We got back to the ship a little after noon.  Had lunch, had a short break and were back off the boat.  Now we were on a bus headed to a winery where we were instructed about the making of wine and how to taste and sample wine.  Pretty interesting.  Of the three wines we tasted I preferred the white.

After the winery we headed to the summer palace of the pope, Chateauneuf de pape.  There are only ruins as the castle was used by the Germans during WW II to store weapons and when the Allies bombed it the entire place blew apart.  Some of the best wine in the world - they say - is grown in this region.  The vineyards were started by the pope and the Church as a means to make money.  What was most amazing and interesting was that the soil is covered with huge "pebbles" they call them from the Rhone River.  These keep the soil underneath moist and cool during the day and hold in the heat of the sun overnight - all good for the growth of the grapes.

March 21 Highlight Video