Avignon

When planning our holiday, we laboured over the choice between Avignon and Aix. A return to Avignon confirmed that our difficulty in choosing was justified. Avignon is on the banks of the Rhône river and is sprinkled with buildings and monuments ranging from the new to the old, the very old, and the ageless.

We noticed a new modern art addition to the main town square.

Quite inconguous but somehow in typical French fashion, it seemed to fit perfectly!

So too did the modern dancing by the local
lads in the ancient square.

The city is well known for its ''Palais des Papes'', where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries. Ramparts, built by the popes still encircle Avignon and they are one of the finest examples of medieval fortification in existence. They were erected to keep the plague and invaders out during the turbulent middle ages, when Avignon belonged to the papacy.

A popular attraction is the Le Pont Saint-Benezet, a ruined bridge not far from the Palais des Papes. The bridge was also built in the Middle Ages, but soon became unsafe and following numerous floods, mostly derelict. Originally, the bridge had 22 arches but only 4 of the 22 arches now remain.

It would have been a beautiful site!