Blogs from Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 6

On Sunday, we left Carcassonne for Nimes. When we arrived, we set out to explore the city. Our first stop was the Roman Arena. It is a smaller version of the Colosseum in Rome, but apparently it is the most intact in Europe. The entry fee included an audioguide, which gave information at 19 stations. However, at each point, it explained the history of the arena briefly and then continued with a gladiatorial story, which went on at infinitum. It nearly drove us mad! We then went to La Tour Magna, another Roman monument that gave us great views of the city. The final stop for the afternoon was the Maison Carrée, which is an intact Roman temple, dedicated to Caesar Augustus. That evening we discovered a light and sound show, which included waterworks in time ... read more

It is an absolutely beautiful day in Avignon. We enjoyed the typical european breakfast and rested some more. About 11am we took a taxi to the cIty centre of the old walled city searching for a telecom/phone store to try and buy a sim card for our iPad. We went to 4 stores and no one had one. We gave up the search and walked to the popes palace and gardens. Fantastic. The roman catholic pope resided here from 1309 to 1377 when he returned to Rome. We walked and walked and walked some more through the narrow-streets of Avignon. In the gardens of the pope we found a nice bistro near a fountain and we stopped to have lunch, formage and jambon pizza and salad with shredded carrot and corn and a glass of rose ... read more

After spending two lovely days in Florac we drove to Avignon. I really wasn’t prepared for how spectacular Avignon was. We had a campsite on an isle in the Rhone directly across from the historic Avignon centre. Saturday was our first day of culture, we toured the papal palace and it really was stunning. – it was the home of the popes from 1309 to 1403 don’t you know. At night we ate diner there, and yes I did have to have a go on the big wheel just outside - lovely views even at night. After Avignon we headed towards Montpellier and stopped just outside at Clapiers.... read more

Swiss, Lake Como, Monaco, Nice, Avignon Leaving Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland was an adventure in itself as the lack of sleep and extremely windy roads did not mix well and I was most seriously queesy for most of the first 2-3 hours. I moved myself to the front of the bus to avert being sick. Our next country was Italy! Only for a couple of hours, but we srove to Lake Como to drop off a few busabouters and pick up some more. We had only 20 mins in town to have a quick look at the shoreline and grab a sneaky first gelato before getting back on the bus to head to Nice. Before we arrived in Nice qe had to pass through Monaco, which is still its own country while there is still an heir to ... read more

Provence On leaving Jujols we moved onto Provence and to a small town called Apt. On route we stopped in Carcassonne, an old fortified city. Here we continued the village tour and had a chance to see another example of a walled city after Villefranche de Conflent. This really is a town within the walls with its own castle. Once again much of the city was shut for winter but you could imagine how busy it could be. There are so many shops, restaurants and hotels and this is only the old town, the new town has even more. We did intend to stay here but time allowed for us to get to Avignon for the night. We spent a day here looking through the city, buildings and of course the bridge, Pont Avignon. It was ... read more