After four wonderful days in Paris, we were up at a good time next day for our train trip to Avignon in the south of France. It wasn’t a long trip – only about two and three quarter hours – and the first class seating was very comfortable.
When we arrived in Avignon, I realised for the first time that we were not actually in tourist land anymore. I had chosen the Grande Hotel just outside the city wall and I was aware that just a little further on in that direction away from the wall was actually quite a rough residential area.
I thought I was well organised and led everyone to the bus stop rather than to the cab rank. In my best French, I asked the bus driver whether his bus went to our stop and was assured it did.
I then spent the next 20 minutes or so absolutely convinced that we were heading in the wrong direction. Nothing looked like the old city of Avignon and we seemed to be going through the new city instead.
To make matters worse, all our suitcases kept falling over in the luggage rack and wheeling off down the aisle so I had to do a pretty major balancing act just to keep everything together.
Eventually the bus driver stopped and pointed down an alleyway. He told me that the Grande Hotel was on the other side. To be honest, I felt like we would be ambushed walking down that alleyway but sure enough, at the end, the whole outlook changed. We could see the city wall and our hotel was only a few metres away. Relief!
The Grande Hotel was one of the most spacious and comfortable hotels we stayed in on our trip. We had two, two bedroom apartments and they each came with two bathrooms, a lounge area upstairs and downstairs and a balcony. We were able to totally spread out and get some space after 4 nights of staying in our Paris hotel.
beautiful avignon
Once we were settled, we headed out to the old town. It was a very pleasant walk down streets lined with shops and restaurants and soon we were in the Place de Horloge which is full of restaurants with lots of outdoor seating.
It was in fact hard to choose which restaurant to have lunch at but we were starving by now so chose a restaurant with our favourite – pizza!
It was quite late in the afternoon and really we shouldn’t have eaten so much because it put our meals out of synch but it was totally delightful sitting outside in the square in the sunshine eating pizza and drinking wine.
palais des papes
After lunch, we walked a few minutes further to the Pope’s Palace, or the Palais des Papes. It is interesting to note that the seat of western Christianity moved from Rome to this palace in 1309 when violence was erupting in Rome following the election of Pope Clement V in 1305. It wasn’t until 1377 that the papal residence returned to Rome.
The Palace itself is quite a barren, although totally intriguing, construction. The white stone has a real majesty about it and it truly feels ancient. The palace is actually a top ten attraction of France as it is used for conferences and exhibitions as well as for a centre of research. We took our time wandering through, absorbing the atmosphere and reading about the history. I think if you just charge through this place, it will feel disappointing and meaningless.
When we left the palace, we took a walk through the charming narrow streets before heading through the Rocher des Doms, the beautiful garden through which you walk to the historic Pont d’Avignon, or by its real name, Pont Saint-Benezet.
We all loved the narrow streets with their cream stone terraces and wondered how poor the people who lived in them would actually be. Certainly, they would cost a small fortune to maintain and most of the houses throughout the old part of Provence did not look well-maintained.
The walk up into the gardens was long and steep and in the hot weather, was quite exhausting. It was further than we thought down to the Pont, or bridge, from the nursery rhyme. But we persevered down the hill and across the ancient walkways and eventually came to the drawbridge.
pont d’avignon
The river was beautiful, clear and sparkling. The bridge was interesting but only went halfway across the river – which was actually okay because it would have been a long walk to the other side!
The bridge is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco and actually attracts more than 30,000 people a year. It was part of an important pilgrimage route in the middle ages and of course, was very important once the pope settled into the palace.
The bridge has had a long history of collapses after initially having three quarters destroyed by the siege of Louis XIII. Lack of maintenance, flooding and the plague all contributed towards the collapse of parts of the bridge although the part remaining is safe to walk across today.
It seemed like a very long walk in the heat back to the main road, Cours Jean Jaures, leading back through the city gates to our hotel. Nick was on a mission to buy a coat and wanted to shop, Karl wanted a beer and the rest of us just wanted everyone to agree! In the end, we split up and Sam and I headed back to our hotel to rest while everyone else did their own thing.
The shops were actually pretty good for a small town in Provence. There were many of the typical chain stores and boutiques that you’d find in most cities although by this time of day they were starting to close. The restaurants and bars all stayed open and had some pretty good food, if you didn’t mind the waiters and managers all trying to beckon you into their restaurant, just as they do in most tourist places in Europe.
eating out in avignon
That night, we headed back to the square and ate inside in a restaurant called Le Forum. The Tripadvisor reviews for this restaurant are pretty poor but we really liked the food and, especially the waiter. He spoke very little English but he was delightfully playful. We ate there on the first night when, due to our late lunch, Nick was in no mood for dinner. He ordered the Carbonara and ate very little. The waiter was very disturbed that Nick didn’t like the food and offered to replace it with something else.
The next evening we returned to the same restaurant and the waiter remembered us. He flatly refused to let Nick order the Carbonara again as he hadn’t eaten it the day before! He also brought out a huge stein of beer for Nick – and a tiny beer for Karl. It was all a lot of fun, especially as he didn’t speak English so we had to try to communicate with my little bit of French and his Provencal accent.
Sam and I had traditional provencal food at this restaurant and it was absolutely beautiful. I can’t remember the name but it was very tender lamb in a rich, provencal sauce, almost like a stew. Totally delicious and far above the rating given online. I’m sure there were other, more high end restaurants on the Place de Horloge but we were very happy with the atmosphere and food of Le Forum.
After a very busy day of travel across France, lots of walking and sightseeing and way too much food, we were grateful for our comfortable hotel before a major day out travelling with a guide throughout Provence.