Blogs from Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 2

We were a few more days in Tarragona,there is lots to see in this lovely place. The Romans in there days spent a lot of time making this a strong basis for their troops to come from or going to Rome. It was a save place for them. You can see this by the many Roman historical sides. We visited a few of them but in the end they all look the same. We found lot of explanations were in French and difficult to figure out what it all meant. It is amazing what those people in their days established. Whole underground tunnels from one side to the other. Some of the places we visited were close by so not that much walking but we had days that 10 kilometers was a small walk. We will ... read more

So what did I know about Avignon? I could only think of two things: “Sur le Pont D’Avignon, L’on y danse…” and the fact that the Popes moved there for almost 100 years in the 14thcentury (and I had to look that up). Still, it seemed like a good idea to visit this site from Montpellier even though we would be closer when we are in Arles. As we are in Arles only a few days, we booked the train from Montpellier. The walls of Avignon We had recently been to Carcassonne so it was going to take a lot to impress us. There have been walls in Avignon since Roman times. They periodically got torn down and rebuilt further out to increase the size of the protected area. The effectiveness of these walls was questionable. ... read more

For the next week we stayed at a beautiful Villa about 45 minutes from Avignon that we shared with 4 other couples/friends from Canada. The Provence area is one of the most scenic and beautiful parts of France and our group took full advantage of many interesting sites the area had to offer. On a couple of nights, we enjoyed private gourmet meals prepared for us at the Villa by local expert Chefs. Needless to say the meal, enhanced by the wine of the region, the country setting of the Villa and being able to share the experince with good friends, were all the ingredients of magical evenings. The facility was fully equipped, therefore, it also gave everyone time to socialize while preparing a few meals on our own. Most of our group have scattered upon ... read more

We had heard from many other cruisers that we met that we had to spend a few days in Avignon so that was the plan. A few days turned into 9 days, but this was due to the fact that not only were there a few places to check out in Avignon itself, but it served as a great base for day trips to visit other villages/towns allowing us to learn more about the history of this very interesting area of France. When anyone says “Avignon” the first thing that most people picture in their mind is “the bridge” that is seen in many advertisements for this area of France. What we were surprised to see was a very large palace with a large gold statue of the Virgin Mary on top – we actually could ... read more

Provence in a Day Left at 9am in the minivan for the grand tour of “Provence in a Day”. If Peter Maylehad known Julien and his van he could have done it in a day also. But I guess there would have been no movie. We were accompanied by a nice Asian family from New Jersey. “Where were you from before New Jersey” my escort asked? “New York!” they answered… So first stop. Le Pont du Gard. A magnificent looking Roman Bridge and aqueduct dating from around….. oh you know….about 40AD. The stones were all cut by hand and placed together – no mortar. It took 5 years to build the bridge and 15 years for 50km of aqueduct. Amazing construction engineers those Romans but then they had a lot of slaves… Beautiful clear cold water ... read more