After my late afternoon/night walk through Dijon the day
before, I was very happy to not have to get up straight away and make my way
through a busy metro network to catch a lift in a rush. I woke up around 8 and
then after a quick session online and some breakfast, I headed back to the
train station car park. There I met
Guilliame, who I had arranged with on covoiturage the previous night to take me
to Avignon in his car. One of his conditions was that I kept my bag on my lap the
entire journey, ~420 km as he couldn’t fit me in the car otherwise, I soon
found out this was because he had his 2 dogs in the boot. Also sharing the car
was woman in her mid 20’s, who was fast asleep when I got in and slept the
whole time until Guilliame woke her in Lyon, where she alighted and we carried
on our way.
The car trip
was initially done in the fog, with visibility only 30 or 40 metres and the
temperature down around -5, however we still clung to the speed limit of 130
kilometres an hour on the autoroute. Despite their crazy driving in traffic,
I’ve noticed the French on the open road are actually very good at keeping left
even when doing the limit and allowing faster cars a lot more freedom than in
Australia where we clog all the lanes. As we approached Lyon however, the fog
began to lift and suddenly we were above it, looking over white cloud that
filled valleys and seeing the occasional tree protrude as if growing on the
cloud mass. Fortunately for me, who was freezing, the temperature as we arrived
in Lyon cracked 0 degrees and the sun came out and started to warm the frosty
ground.
We stopped a
couple of times during the trip and then as the sun was going down and temperature plunging (from 12 degrees to
6 degrees in an hour), Guilliame pulled into a big shopping centre carpark and
announced that we’d arrived in Avignon. To me it certainly didn’t look like the
photos but after a brief ‘discussion’ (barely spoken a word of English while
using covoiturage) he dropped me a little closer next to a bus stop. I waited
here for over half an hour before a bus arrived and then took that into the
city. Finally I got to the train station in Avignon where I thought I was going
to be dropped off initially and started walking towards the accommodation I had
booked on Airbnb, by this time however my laptop, camera and Samsung had gone
flat and I had to call my Uncle in Switzerland for directions and the house’s
address.
Finally I
arrived around 7:30 pm (been pitch black for over an hour by this time) and was
greeted by Marie (a very crazy cat lady who spoke extremely fast and excitedly
in French) who showed me the house and my room, on the 2nd floor
which was quite nice furnished and large too. After unpacking my laptop and
other things to be put on charge I walked to a small pizzeria in the old part
of town and had the regions pizza (which was topped with potatoes…….). Then it was back home to sleep J
The next
morning, I slept in once again as I had booked 2 nights in Avignon and so knew
that I had the whole day and half of the next to see the main attractions in
Avignon. Once I got up I skipped breakfast and headed up to the Palais des
Papes (a huge structure built over 800 years ago when the hierarchy of the
church moved to Avignon for almost 200 years). During the walk there I passed through ancient
old gates in the battlements of the old city; while electricity and modern
luxuries have been brought in, almost all of the buildings inside of the
battlements are more than a few centuries old. Past old churches, with their
tall spires trying to pierce the few clouds in the sky, and wide open squares
and the Christmas markets where the smell of Vin Chaud, chocolate and marrons
(a type of nut cooked in huge wok-like contraptions) hung in the air. As I rounded
a corner, suddenly a huge 30 or 40 metre high wall built onto a tall rocky
outcrop appeared, I had found the Palais des Papes. I walked towards the wall and then down a
street-width pathway with cobblestone paving and that was carved into the rock,
halfway down this passage I looked up and saw a gigantic flying buttress that
hung above me and attached itself to the side of the castle wall and onto a
small rocky area on the other side of the pathway. Emerging from this pathway,
used by military cavalry and also city traders to access the front of the
Palace, I found myself in a huge rectangular parade ground in front of the
Palace’s main doors.
Just to the
left of the Palace and almost at the same height as the walls sat a large
church with a large golden statue of Mary atop the spire, just next to this and
with a great (but windy) view of Avignon and the Rhone River are the Duke’s
gardens, but more on that soon.
First off I
headed into the castle for a tour (by Audioguide) which took me over an hour and
a half to traverse. It was interesting
to read (in French) all the exhibitions relating to the changes undertaken to
this huge structure, from its construction and expansion by the Popes to its
renovations by French nobility after the Papacy returned to Rome and then its
use as a prison and barracks. During the occupation of the castle by the
military and judicial system, unfortunately the interior was stripped and
whitewashed and so historians lost a lot of valuable insight into the
decoration of the castle, however through paintings, restoration works and
records found in the secret chambers below the treasury room they’ve been able
to provide an accurate image of what the castle may’ve been like under the
Papacy’s occupation. The records found in the secret treasury room, heavily
constructed and with 8 hidden lever operated compartments under the floor, gave
the restoration and tour people huge amounts of information about the castle
itself and the affairs of the church during that time. For instance, they have
a few displays that show the expenses of the church under different Popes as a
pie chart; Pope ‘Innocent’ the 6th spent 40% of the churches money
on a war and defending Avignon.
The entire
palace was absolutely huge, with an entire tower dedicated just to the Pope,
consisting of his bathroom on the bottom floor, then wardrobe on the next, then
study/resting room and then a chapel and above that a parapet lookout. The
palace also has more than 6 chapels and the rear side of the building has 3 floors,
each 52 metres long and 18 metres wide, the top floor was the dining hall with
a huge vaulting ceiling whilst the middle floor would have been a huge church
and then the lowest floor, and most dimly lit in the castle, was where the
administrative hierarchy of the church would have operated from.
After
tagging along with a French tour and seeing the castle, I headed outside and
had lunch in a small restaurant that gave objection to my hoodie but then
pulled out an adapted baby chair for the people after me, not for a baby but
for their dog…… After an assortment of meat and cheese and some white wine, I
headed up to the Gardens which apart from the Pope’s tower are the highest
point in the old city of Avignon. It was blowing a gale and felt like the Antarctic,
even though it was up around 14 or 15 degrees, so I took some photos and then
took shelter on the leeward side of the hill upon which the Palace and
surrounding buildings were founded on and walked down to the famous Pont
d’Avignon. Also known as the Pont de Saint Benezet, a shepherd who was told by
God to go to the city and build a bridge to the other side of the river, the
towns people laughed at him but empowered by god he lifted a 100 kg stone and
threw it onto the banks of the river as a fountain stone.
Solely by
coincidence, only a few years later the Pope and his bishops and advisors would
use the bridge to cross the river as it lead to their weekend retreat, in the
winter they even had servants lay down a layer of ash and sand to stop them
slipping on the ice.
After
walking out on the bridge and hearing about the history of it, and the use of
new technology such as laser point clouds and supercomputers (which they’re
using to recreate the bridge in 3D complete with an accurate climate model), I headed
back through the Christmas markets and had dinner at a small Italian restaurant
before heading back to the house for the 2nd and final night in
Avignon. The next morning I enjoyed a sleep-in till around 10 am before saying
goodbye to my host, who had baked me a cake to eat on the next leg of my
journey (I kind of felt obliged to stay and talk), and then headed to the
station to catch a lift 90 km to Montpellier.
Avignon’s
rating: 4.6/5
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