As we all know the Pope is from Rome. But it was not always that way! After conflict between Italian and French factions of the church, in 1309 the Pope decided to leave Rome and set up here in Avignon, France. Popes continued to be based there for about 100 years, through all sorts of turmoil, until eventually power returned to Rome.
The Popes built an immense palace, which still towers over the square in Avignon. The cost must have been staggering. Avignon is of course also home to the famous Pont de Avignon, known to us since childhood for the French song about dancing on it. Today the bridge is a stub sticking out into the Rhone, with just four of the original twenty-two arches remaining. The rest tended to collapse during flooding, so the bridge was eventually abandoned in the mid 1600s. It remains an important landmark however.
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| Someone punched a handy hole in the old city walls. |
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| The Palace of the Popes, and the square where we lunched. |
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| The gardens beside the palace. Those popes knew how to relax. |
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| The view down onto the bridge "Pont de Avignon". |
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| These children were enjoying their open-air dance/exercise class. |
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| There is a performance space set up inside the palace. |
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| The stonework is in very good condition! |
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| The rooms are huge with a very high stud. |
With many other tourists and one or two unruly school groups we toured the palace, through the numerous huge rooms with such high studs that heating must have been a problem! The "chapel" is the size of a large church. They must have considered themselves extremely important. The popes took everything when they left so the palace is largely empty now, apart from information panels and some exhibits.
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| Sue on the battlements, with the golden Madonna beyond. |
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| The street around the back of the palace. |
From the palace it is a five minute walk to the "Pont de Avignon". It too is popular with tourists, so it's hard to get a clear photo with several people walking in front of you! Most of it was washed away in floods, so that all that remains is about 20% of the original.
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| The gatehouse which controlled access to the bridge. |
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| Returning to the city along the bridge, with the palace beyond. |
It was satisfying to stand upon the Pont de Avignon, once such a far-away place for us. We refrained from dancing on it, but we probably should have.
