Day 33: Bellegarde to Gordes

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Rising early it was off to Avignon to visit the Pont Du Saint Benezet and the Popes Palace and I did not even know the popes had a residence in Avignon back in 1200 but there you have it, they did and ran the Roman Catholic Church from there for around 200 years. It was a stunning place to visit and the centre of Avignon is a walled city to protect it from the Rhône River when it floods, which if you look at history is quite often. The bridge, or what remains of the bridge is very cool and again dates back to the 12th century and if the legend is correct is was a bloke called Benezet, a poor farmer from the hills that thought god had spoken to him and told him to build the bridge. He went to the town and told the church there that god had told him to build this bridge and quite rightly was laughed at, the towns people said well if god told you to build the bridge then you should lay the first stone, they pointed to a huge boulder weighing many tons and said start with this puppy, Benezet supposedly said ok and picked the thing right up and laid the first stone, the priests were so impressed that they decided to build the bridge and later Benezet was made into a saint, a great story eh. Anyway finishing there we headed off again, by the way I would love to return and spend a lot more time there as the city and surrounds is steeped in history and some very cool architecture. Arriving at the Pont Du Gard, our next stop was great, the two levelled aqua duct was built by the Romans a very long time ago and is a must see when in this region. The whole setup is great with the river to swim in and acres of parkland to wander around it that is your bag. Heading off to Gordes, reported to be the prettiest village in France and I can see why, perched high on the hills overlooking the valley it was worth the visit. Camping overnight in the car park around 1.5km from the village was great and nice flat spots are to be found.

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