Avignon By Day

We arrived in the beautiful Avignon and were welcomed by this dead catfish outside our balcony.  Check out how big it is!

We weren't sure if it was a cat fish, so when I googles pictures of catfish - this is what we got...... ⬇ LOL

Right near where the ship was docked, there was a lovely ferris wheel that lit up at night.  It was only a short walk into the town centre and was surrounded by a  massive wall.  We weren't sure whether it was to keep the tourists out, but there were some little doorways where the bricks had been removed, so we found our way in.

Jenny had been here about 20 years ago and all that she remembered was a wide street with lovely big trees along the side.  It could have been this street, but she wasn't sure.

The buildings here are just beautiful.  This is the Hotel de Ville - The Town Hall.  Not to be confused with a hotel that you can stay in, which is apparently what some people did.... walked in with their suitcases and asked for a room.  An easy mistake.

Merry-go-round horses always look so sad..... I bet they're wishing they were in  a movie with Julie Andrews where they magically ride off the 'go-round' and hop through a field.

And check out this beautiful theatre.  Once you've seen architecture like this, it makes you cry when you see ugly, new, modern buildings.

So Avignon, for those of you who don't know was where the Pope moved to when Rome was not a safe place to be back in 1400s.  Feeling threatened by the troubled and violent political situation in Rome, the French Pope, Clement V, who died in 1314, accepted the invitation of Philip the Fair to move the papal court to Avignon in 1309.  The Papal Palace housed 7 subsequent popes and it wasn't until 1376 when Pope Gregory IX decided to return to Rome - then he died 2 years later.

During the French Revolution, the palace was stormed and ransacked.  It was then used as a prison and a barracks.  Now they hold festival concerts inside.

There is a real gypsy culture here in the South of France.  These chaps played for hours and this lady sat there and watched them.... but it turns out that she was actually with them and was selling their CDs.  I thought she was just a diehard fan!

This was one of the skinniest buildings that we had seen, and it was even more amazing when you see that it has two front doors!  I'd love to see how the inside is configured.

The great wall around the city

Jenny, breaking either in or out.  I love these doorways.