My friend Katie and I took a short, one-night getaway to explore a new city. We chose to check out Avignon. Avignon is most famous for the Palais des Papes (Popes' Palace), the Pont d'Avignon (Avignon Bridge) and its location in the Provence region of France.
During our two days, we made a point to explore and learn about this unique and beautiful city. The Palais des Papes was a highlight. We learned about the phases of construction of the palace starting in 1335 as well as the 9 popes that took up residence there. 7 of these popes claimed allegiance to Italy, which is as we all know where the Vatican is located today. Yet 2 of the popes residing in Avignon were involved in the Great Western Schism (1378 - 1417) where they claimed Avignon to be the center of the true papacy. During this time, there were two popes, one in Italy and the other in France. Today, the palace is no longer a formal residence of the pope and has turned into a museum as well as a large theatre venue for an annual festival. It is the biggest Gothic palace in all of Europe and approximately the size of 4 Gothic cathedrals. Quite the impressive building!
We were also excited to visit the Pont d'Avignon which we did on day two. "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" is a famous song that talks about dancing on the bridge... we made sure to sing and dance our way along during our audio tour.
Besides these huge landmarks, we also visited the city, walked little winding streets, treated ourselves to a delicious three course dinner with wine, and checked out a couple art museums. I brought back some little lavender souvenirs, including lavender essential oil and a small pillow stuffed with dried lavender. It was a special purchase made while exploring the streets. We came upon a small shop owned by a kind man and he told us about where his lavender came from and that his wife hand-sewed all the little pillows. It was nice to buy from a little local couple, rather than the big, touristy lavender stores.
A couple suggestions for a nice stay:
Stay on a budget: Pop' Hostel. This hostel was really convenient in town, cheap, clean and they let us leave our bags for the day after check out.
Eat: Le Coude a Coude. Inexpensive three course dinner along a small street in the pedestrian area. Everything was made fresh! We found it via TripAdvisor and it did not disappoint. I would love to go again.
Visit: Le Palais des Papes, le Pont d'Avignon
Walk: Rue des Teinturiers. A picturesque, cobblestone street along a small waterway once used for the textile industry. We found a delicious homemade ice cream place here.
Getting there: We travelled to Avignon from Grenoble via Ouibus and back via train. Both were convenient options.
