Provence & Côte d’Azur, southern France 3 - Avignon

On Day 3 we were in Avignon. Probably Avignon is best known as the former home of the Pope. It was the capital of the papacy from 1309 to 1377 for essentially political reasons. Also, Avignon is famous as a walled city. The city centre of Avignon is entirely enclosed by 4.3 km of the ramparts from the 14th century. Therefore you need to find a gate to enter the old town. Porte St-Lazare was the closest entryway from our Airbnb, which was located on the northeastern edge of the walls. The history of the ramparts goes back to the 1st century when the Roman walls existed 30 to 40 meter inside of the 14th century ramparts. 

Good morning, Avignon's Old Town! The first thing to do was to look for breakfast as usual...

We first went to a bakery but it was not open yet. We walked to a cafe instead. A man was setting a table outside there although we weren't sure whether they were really serving breakfast because we didn't see any fresh croissants on the counter inside. Luckily we found the breakfast menu that was written on the sign in front of a brasserie near the cafe. We both chose a simple French breakfast set - a croissant, orange juice and coffee. Actually I skipped a hot drink. Their croissant wasn't my best but acceptable. Moreover, having a croissant for breakfast casually is something I would like to do while I am in France.

We had a ticket to enter the Palace of the Popes at 9am. On our way to the Palace, we passed by the Basilique Saint-Pierre. We were going to visit the church later.

We started seeing part of a huge building. It was the Palace.

The Palace of the Popes, or The Palais des Papes is the world's largest the largest Gothic palace. Nine popes (seven Popes and two schismatic Popes) resided in Avignon. The construction of the current palace was mainly done under the 3rd and 4th Popes, Benedict XII and Clement VI in the mid 14th century, taking nearly 20 years. The Palace looked really gigantic. I would need backing away further to make it fit better in one photo.

 

Every visitor gets a HistoPad. When you scan a QR code that is posted in a room with it, the digital tablet takes you back to the 14th century and shows you how the room looked like, what kinds of furniture were placed, where the Pope sat down, and etc, along with the story of the room. It was kinda fun. Since most of the rooms we saw looked renovated recently and they were pretty much empty, the tool visually supports visitors' imagination. 

However, instead of a HistoPad, I wished I could see the real 14th century treasures in the Palace in person. At least some rooms had beautiful frescos. 

The Palace self-tour completed quicker than I thought. I felt we didn't see the entire Palace. There must be many rooms that are not open for public there. One of the top of the towers was accessible, where you can overlook the west side of Avignon and the Rhône River. Like Arles, Avignon is on the Rhône River.

Also, the courtyard was below the tower. A stage and seats were set up for something that I don't know.

The Basilica of Notre Dame des Doms, or Avignon Cathedral stood right next to the Palace, where we visited next.

Built in the 12th century and then remodeled in the 15th and 17th centuries, The building of Avignon Cathedral combines Provençal Romanesque (the porch and nave), Gothic (the chapels) and Baroque (the apse and balconies) styles.

On the left of the Cathedral was Jardin des Doms, a 19th century English-style public garden on a hill. It was still in the morning but already pretty hot. We bought a cup of lemonade at the vendor on the foot of the garden hill, got ourselves hydrated and walked up to the garden. 

Honestly the garden itself wasn't impressive. We briefly admired the views of the river and the opposite bank and heading to the next stop.

The cathedral looked nice from the garden.

More tourists were gathering in front of the Palace.

So, we came back to the Basilique Saint-Pierre. Built in 1385, the late Gothic-style church stands behind the Palace and at the center of the walled city. When we got there, the fence outside of the front doors were closed even though one of the door was open. We couldn't enter the church but were able to peak a part of the church's famous mid-16th century carved walnut doors through the fence.

Next stop was Les Halles d'Avignon, the walled city's indoor food market. It was a great place to find local and regional produces and goodies.

Finaciers, éclairs, apple tarts,... French classics! Our lunch time was coming soon, so sadly I didn't try any.

I googled what the most traditional Provencal cheeses are before this trip and interestingly found they all were goat cheeses. In fact there were many goat cheeses at the market. 

Savory quiches and pies... I believe those would make J happy. 

Fish at a fishmonger looked fresh. On the other hand I was surprised at seeing they were not aligned, which probably would't happen in Japan. Is it a French form?

Colorful spices looked artistic.

J found a cute little salmon pie!

There was another fishmonger. Their fish were neatly aligned.

Still we had time until lunch. We strolled on the Rue des Teinturiers, a cobblestone street that follows the narrow Sorgue river in the southeast of the walled city. The street, which began with ruins of burial chapels and a bell tower from the 13th century monastery, had kinda quirky atomospher. The Rue des Teinturiers means the street of dyers. The neighborhood once flourished with a textile industry. The mills around there produced silk and wool in the 15th century and cotton in the 17th and 18th century. The water of the Sorgue river was used for the cleaners and dyers as well as tanners. 23 waterwheels were built by the 19th century. Four of them are still rolling.

Finally it was time to go for lunch. We passed by cute bears smiling in front of a flower shop. 

Arlequin Restaurant serves a French cuisine and changes the menu every month. There were outside tables but we chose to be in the restaurant to stay away from the sun. The restaurant seemed very popular. All tables were taken by 1pm. Glad we had a reservation!   

Fave bean salad with smoked duck and shredded goat cheese was the starter we both had. It was very tasty.

My main dish was sea bass filet with ratatouille. The fish was cooked perfectly. Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal dish, which I wanted to try during the trip. I succeeded to tick it off on my 'must-eat' list. J had the whole sole with wild rice and sea asparagus (also known as salicornia, samphire, pickleweed, or glasswort). I believe he enjoyed his fish very much.

I was looking forward to their dessert but J was too full and needed a walk instead. We wandered in the city center for a while, trying to find a street in the shade.  

I had a chance to enjoy lime gelato before going back to Airbnb. J had nothing. I couldn't believe it! His sole or wine at the lunch must have done something on him.

To be continued...