Day 14 Avignon

Pont St.Benezet (sous le pont),

Today we decided to go to the big city of Avignon. It only took an hour to get to the outskirts of the city, but forever to get inside the wall and get a parking place. We managed to find a spot at Les Halles which is an indoor market that is one of the must-see places in Avignon. Like most markets in France, it's only open until one o'clock. We took a walk on Rocher des Doms, a well-laid out garden on a bluff overlooking the Rhone, Pont St.Benezet (sous le pont), Mount Ventoux, the Luberon hills, and the Alpilles - an exceptional view and well worth the climb to get there. It was a short walk from there to the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) where the Popes resided in the 14th century. Although it was interesting, it was a tedious hour and a half audio tour through the galleries, chambers, chapels, and passages. It also required climbing a million stairs. Exhausted, mostly mentally, we looked for a place to have lunch. Now I'm a big fan of the Rick Steves tour guides, but Sylvia uses it as her bible. So when looking for a place to eat, she started to say "Rick Steves says:" and grumpy ole me says "$#@!, Rick Steves, lets just find someplace ourselves". Great, so I spot this little place called Le Caveau du Theatre (pictured). In we go and have a pleasant meal, and just before dessert, Sylvia pulls out the Rick Steves book and damn if it doesn't have this joint listed - she just smiled - I didn't. After that, we walked over to the Musee Angladon which claimed to have Cezanne, Sisley, Manet, Picasso, and Van Gogh, which it did - one of each and none of which would be considered their better works. Anyhow, it didn't take long to get through the museum before starting back to Lourmarin where we performed the almost daily ritual of wine and Pastis at an outside table at Cafe L'Ormeau. This place must have been a favorite since I later went there for dinner by myself (Sylvia wasn't hungry) and watched the soccer match while chatting with the locals. We of course, couldn't understand a word each of us were saying (Pastis will do that to you).

Avignon Lunch Spot