4-2-2016: Day 6, Avignon... The Palace of the Popes

Provence is lovely!

We scheduled a day off to just visit Avignon so after a great breakfast we jump in a taxi and head to the old town. Avignon is an ancient city and famous as being the city of the Popes. 

Things have not always been smooth for the Catholic Church and there was split with two groups claiming to have the "real" Pope. Rome was a mess and so the "real" Real Pope moved out of town and headed to Avignon. Avignon was a city of commerce with one of the only bridges over the Rhone for miles. The Pope generates lots of attention and a lot of money and a lot of activity so Avignon is a boom town! The best wall you can imagine is built around the city with all the good stuff you hope to find. Watch towers that look like a chess set.

Inside are shops and in the biggest square is the Palace of the Pope. It is big - the biggest gothic building in the world. Such a calm and peaceful square it is said to be a mess during the Summer with visitors and tourists from all over. So glad we are here now! The Palace is nice and we marvel how the Pope and his staff lived on the collections from the people. The Palace was damaged from folks upset during the rebellion but some paintings and decorations remain. There are some nice views of the Rhone Valley from the hill behind the Palace well worth the walk. 

We're cold and hungry about 5 pm and are looking for a place for dinner before we head back to the hotel. Nothing opens until 7:30 PM, so we figure we'd find a place and hang out until they open. Nothing looks good, just tourist types of places and we continue to search the streets for a worthy place to eat. Nothing, head to the other side of this walled city and there is a very nice hotel with a noteworthy resturant. OOps...No tables until late at night, that's not going to work for us... But, the young man at the desk tells us of a very nice local fish resturant and offers to call ahead for us, and offers up the bar for a snack and a drink while we wait for 7:30 opening. Ahhh, very nice. Warm place to sit and sip on some very nice wine and share a beautiful cheese plate! Oh, did I mention that they had a huge very tempting chocolate egg in the lobby?

Dinner time came and off we head, to La Petite Peshe with a map in hand. With Clyde's fine sense of direction we locate the place...it was well worth the wait and the walk!

What a nice day!