Saturday 28 June 2014

Avignon – a famous bridge and a palace


Street in Avignon old town

Avignon in Provence lies on the river Rhone. There is a lovely ancient medieval town centre still there.  But Avignon is mostly known for 2 main things – a bridge and a palace.
Palais des Papes, Avignon
 
Palais des Papes – or Papal Palace. 
Avignon was where Popes lived for about 70 years from 1309 to 1377.  There were 7 different Popes – all of them French -  and 2 Anti-Popes based in Avignon.  The Palace of the Popes is said to be the most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. 

 
Sur le Pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le Pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond

The other famous thing about Avignon is its bridge.  We all sang "Sur le pont d'Avignon" at school (click here for a YouTube clip of the song)– but the bridge is actually the St Benezet bridge and it now only goes part way across the river.  The song dates back to the 15th century.  What remains of the bridge is a World Heritage Site.
Pont St Benezet, Avignon
 
The old streets in the walled part of the city are great to visit – but not by car – that is quite hair raising since the streets are very narrow and windy.

1 comment:

  1. Gorgeous pics!! Love all the history of those buildings and structures. Thanks for the tour!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are most welcome. I have currently disabled anonymous comments due to unwanted spam. Cheers