May 15, 2012: I woke up early in the morning to prepare for our trip to the city of Avignon, which is historically known as the city of the Popes during the religious war in France. We will be taking a thirty to forty minute bus ride so we need to leave early that very windy Saturday morning.
When we got to the fortified city of Avignon at around 8:30 am the place started to thicken up with tourists and revelers. Doreen and I decided to check out some information at the Tourism Office then we decided to get some coffee and light breakfast at the piazza in the center of the fortified town.
The sun gloriously came out that day but the mistral was out casting a very windy and cool weather despite of the strong heat of the sun. We were still geared up with a jacket and scarves to warm us up and I wore a bonnet to keep my hair being blown by the heavy and strong wind.
Despite of the windy weather our adventure still goes on. We trekked the streets of the fortified town and located the Palace of the Popes also known as Palais du Papes. It was a big castle at the center of the fortified town. We were lucky to get there early because the front yard was been closed for the ceramic market show.
We took some pictures of the surroundings and the architectural structures around it. We also roam around at the ceramic market and browse the wide array of products exhibited which I heard came from different nooks of the world.
After that we decided to go west of the fortified town to look for the flea market where they show some cooking exhibits. When we get there we were lucky to see a chef explaining how to make presentations out of the squash flower and make it as an entree and apperitif. There were a lot of people watching the cooking show and we got to taste the finish product and chugged some white wine. It was marvelous!
After the cooking show we went back to Palais du Papes and bought some ticket for the entrance. There was also a rose breeding exhibit inside the palace so we were very fortunate to see the garden full of different breeds of roses in different colors, sizes, and presentation.
We toured around the palace and listened to the recorded explanations of each room and chambers we we're roaming in. We saw some painted walls which were exquisitely done but we were prohited to take pictures of it instead we were only allowed to take pictures of the rooms and exhibits but not the paintings.
We got to go up to the rooftop too and see the aerial view of Avignon, seeing all the roofs of the houses and buildings in uniform color of red brick, the famous river of Rhone with ferries taking tourists to the other side of the river, the wide and vast green vineyards of the unfortified city outside the fortified ones, and also the historical toppled bridge of La Pont Sainte-Benezet. It was ver exhilarating!
After roaming around the big and eerie palace we came out and went back to the ceramic market and bought some ceramics for Doreen's lady boss and for my adopted mother Ate Loida.
We went out of the fortified city and went down near the Rhone river and checked out for the historical bridge that was toppled by the big flood in the 1800s. The La Pont Sainte-Benezet was a bridge full of history dated from the religious war. It was the only bridge that connects the fortified city from the unfortified city across the river to the Popes Palace.
We browsed the whole bridge listening to the explanations on the handheld device and also browsing and reading the explanations of the streamers placed in each corner of the brodge. There was a small chapel at the middle and we went down to checked it out.
We also took some picture of the bridge as well as the distance pictures of the palace from the bridge. Then we came down and went to the ferry ride. We crossed the river via the ferry then we walked on the sidewalk at the dike from the other side of the river towards the other bridge that's being used by the vehicles in crossing from both city.
We were so tired already after that so we decided to take a coffee at a nearby bistro then decided to go back to Aix-en-Provence. We went back to the bus stop and took one in going home.
All in all the visit in Avignon was very memorable. I got to know the rich history of the place as well as I get to see the fortified city and the architectural structures inside it. Despite the mistral winds we still manage to plot another memorable experience that day.
I was glad my friend Doreen was very helpful in showing me everything that I didn't know. So I take this opportunity to thank her for all her patience, funny-attitude, and calm personality in entertaining me during my two weeks vacation.
Honestly I really couldn't forget all the experiences I had during this two weeks sojourn. Thanks a lot my friend!
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