Avignon: Ancient City of Papal Intrique and Contemporary Theatre

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Bonjour!

I am posting this from a great little cybercafé in the backstreets of Avignon, in the heart of the Provençale region in the south-east of France. I'm on day three of my eight-day tour of provence, and I'm having a great time! I am traveling around with my friend Toni, a fellow Sciences Po student from Hong Kong, and Avignon was the first stop on our trip. This afternoon we're moving on to Arles, a bit to the south, and then we'll make our way east to Aix-en-Provence (made famous by Cézanne, among others) before finishing in Marseille, a huge port city on the Mediterranean with the second-largest population in France and a reputation for fun-loving, rough-edged but character-filled people and atmosphere.

Avignon: City of Popes

Avignon is most famous for having been the papal seat of the Roman Empire during the 14th century, when feudal conflicts in Rome drove the Pope to relocate the Holy See to a safer location. He chose Avignon, an ancient city near the junction of the Gardon and Rhone rivers, which had been inhabited since prehistoric times and was a central part of the Roman empire. Avignon is in the Vaucluse region of Provence, supposedly the 'heart' of the region. We arrived Thursday morning on the super-fast TGV train direct from Paris and the first thing we remarked upon was: 'wow, it's freezing!' Although the region is hot and sun-baked during the summer, during the autumn and the winter it is scoured by the cold Mistral wind flowing down from the Maritime Alps to the north, and it is strong!!! But the happy result of the ever-present wind is that it chases all the clouds away, and Provence has 300 days of sun per year. I didn't see a single cloud in the sky until this morning, and they're all gone right now. Brilliantly-blue skies, a landscape filled with lavender and olive-trees and vineyards, a relaxed, easy lifestyle and very friendly locals... I can easily understand why this is such a popular vacation and retirement spot, both for foreigners and the French themselves!

On Thursday we checked into our hotel (RIGHT next to the main square of town, the Place de l'Horloge) and went directly to the Palais des Papes, the gigantic papal fortress built over a span of 20 years by the first two popes who occupied the city. It's absolutely huge and towers over the town, covering something like 50,000 sq. ft. Built in the Gothic style in the early 1300s, the Vieuxpalais is more fortress-like and simplistic, while the Neufpalais, an enlargement added by the extravagent Clement VI; is ornate and features the typical arched windows and ornate masontry you see on cathedrals and such. It's the largest Gothic palace in the world, and although it is largely bare inside today, during the time of the popes it was lavishly decorated and truly a symbol of splendor and wealth. You can take an excellend audioguided tour of the Palace (which we did) and learn all about the histroy of the city and the popes- definitely worth the - euro entrance fee!

One interesting note: Avignon was not part of the French state until 1791, when it was annexed during the French Revolution. Up until that point it was on the extreme frontier of the Roman Empire: on the hillside just across the Rhone river, the French built the city of Villeneuve-les-Avignon to remind the Popes of the French dominance. This merchant town benefitted greatly from the enormous activity of Avignon and is basically a sister-city; although much more humble.

Other highlights of Avignon include a 12th century bridge, the Pont de Bézenet, made famous in the children's song 'On y danse, tous en rond, sur le pont d'Avignon...' (or something like that). Do you know the song? I'm not familiar with it. Only have of the bridge remains today, having been battered over the centuries by the strong currents and floods of the Rhone, but it's extremely picturesque. The best take to take a picture of it (we discovered) is from the traffic-bridge slightly further downstream at sunset, when the dying light of the sun illluminates the bridge, the mighty Rhone, the Palais des Papes rising from the Dom des Rochers on the hilltop of the city, and the mighty fortified walls that still surround the city. It's quite an impressive sight.

Later in the day we visited the Musée du Petit Palais, a museum of 14th-17th century Italian and Avignon-school art which is located in the ancient archbishop's mansion (once inhabited by the Vice-Legats who administered Avignon after the return of the Popes to Rome). This museum has a great collection and the building itself is worth a stop. Great placards in each room teach the visitor about both the architecture AND the art...very helpful! Avignon used to be a dominant center of art and intellectualism thanks to the arrival of the popes, and retains a rich legacy of art museums and a bustling theater culture to this day.

Numerous cathedrals and churches dot the city, so we toured a few of those as well, in addition to taking the time to explore the backstreets where the 'real' Avignonais live. Saturday morning we visited the Musée Calvet, which has a collection of 16th-19th century Northern European art as well as some Italian from the same period, and a collection of painting from Provençal-born artists. I found the Flemish/Dutch exhibition absolutely excellent, and the audio tour was one of the best I've ever heard. This small museum, located in a hotel particulier (provate mansion) on the Rue de Joseph Vernet , is highly recommended- expecially for the nominal entrance fee of 3 euros!

Le Pont du Gard

On Friday afternoon we took a tour of three of the most famous sights in the Avignon region, traveling with a guide (really nice guy named Pascal), two Chinese women, and a Japanese woman.

As I mentioned earlier, Provence has been inhabited for millenia, and the influence of the Romans is very much in evidence today. Oragnce, to the northh, and Arles are two of the cities where the Roman monuments are best-preserved, but the Pont du Gard is definitely the most spectacular sight in Provence. About 25 kilometers to the west of Avignon, it is an aqueduct that was built to carry water from north down to the Roman city of Nimes. Originally 60 kilometers long and constructed in the 1st century, all that remains today is the Pont du Gard which bridges the Gardon River. It is the best-preserved awueduct in the world and is absolutely spectacular. 49 meters high, it is technically not a pont (bridge), but in the 17th century a brigge was added alongside the lowest of its triple-tierd set of arches and tourists flock by the hundreds to traverse this beautiful testiment to the genious of Roman engineering. Pictures will come, I promise!

Les-Baux-de-Provence

Our next stop was the medeival town of Les Baux, which takes its name from the craggy plateau on which it was built. Its heyday was the 11th century when the powerful Baux principalité controlled a network of 50 or so villages in the region, but today it has successfully revitalized itself as a popular tourist stop for the French. It is very beautiful (and tiny- only 400 inhabitants!) and the tiny cafés, creperies, tourist boutiques and houses which perch on its narrow, twisting cobbled streets make it an obligatory stop for all amateur photographers! We visited the tiny Musée des Santons (a sonton is a carved puppet typical of the region which people collect for Christmas creches) and visited the Eglise Saint Vincent, carved into the rocks at the top of the village. You can visit the ruins of the powerful chateau which used to dominate the plateau just above the village, but it costs 8,50 euro and we didn't have time...and there is not much left! It was destroyed by the King of France to put an end ot the feuding between the families in the region.

Les Baux is built in the Alpilles, a small range of rocky outcroppings which feature in some of Van Gogh's paintings from when he passed a year in the mental hospital in neighboring Saint Rémy. Although this region is part of the Les Caux de Provence wine appelation, it is more famous for its olive oil production...sivery-green olive trees cover the lansdcape, and it is absolutely beautiful!

Saint Rémy de Provence

Our last stop was Saint Rémy, a chic little town of 10,000 that draws French movie starts and a few tourists. We stopped just outside its walls to visit the ancient Roman site of Glanum, fom which remain two marvellously-intact monuments: a funeral monument and an arch. The look like they are only 500 years old, but they date the the 3rd century!!! Next we briefly visited the mental hospital where Van Gogh lived for a year, and saw some of the viewpoints where he p
Well, my hour at the cybercafé just ran out, so I'm going to post this and continue my adventures...tune in a couple days from now to hear about Arles and Aix!

Love from Provence,

Robyn

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