Today we visited Villeneuve-les-Avignon, the small town just across the Rhone River from Avignon. We took the local bus there which cost us 1.40Euro each, and about a 6 minute ride. We have been using lots of busses so far, some for an hour and it was 1.50Euro each, can't quite figure out the pricing. Huge difference here in the amount of people using the buses from Nice, in Nice we often had to stand as the buses were packed, here they have never been full.
It was market day today, and it was a pretty big market for this size of town. We had lots on our plans and since most everything in the market is food we just did a quick walk through while looking for the tourist information building. Once again we got a great map and we are off.
We started with a visit the Abbey Saint Andre, which of course is on top of a hill. It was a nice walk up here, nice small picturesque cobblestone streets. The Abbey from the 10th Century but rebuilt in the 17and 18th century. Beautiful gardens and terraces that are still looked after by a family. Lots of beautiful views.
Next we moved on to Fort Saint Andre. Lots of Saint Andre things today, Andre is getting a big head. This Fort was built in 14th century to protect the Abbey and the town of St Andre. The walls intact on one side and you are able to walk along the rampart for a section. More beautiful views again across to Avignon, and the Abbey.
On to La Chartreuse with was a monastery founded in 1356 by the Pope Innocence VI. It is one of the biggest monasteries in the Carthusian order. One thing that was very interesting was how food and papers were passed through little windows to the monks that were off centre so the monks could not be seen. The cemetery held 800 monks, no tombstones or markings of who was there except for plain crosses.
Worked our way back down the hill to town for lunch at a small Tunisian snack bar, nice to sit down for a bit and pass time while the attractions/churches closes from 1PM to 2PM.
Next we visited the cathedral in town and then the Museum Pierre de Luxemburg. We were followed by someone as we moved through the different floors in the museum. Most famous was an ivory carved Madonna from the 14th century and a painting of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary. Actually our friend that was following us told us people come to the museum just to see this painting and he went on to describe the painting in details for us which was very interesting. There are probably only a dozen or so paintings in the museum and a couple of pieces of furniture, so not a long stop, though of course we had to climb 3 flights of stairs to see everything.
We had purchased a ticket so we could see the 5 main things in town, so we are now off to the 5th Tower Philippe Le Bel. This tower was at the end of where the Avignon Bridge was built to on the side where the bridge no longer exists. The tower was built in the 13th century, and they used lots of stairs, and sadly no elevator, so off we go climbing again. To get to this tower we walked down into town, then up to a garden for some views, down to the tower again.
We are now only 2KM away from Avignon so we decide to walk home rather than bus, it was probably the hottest day we have had since we've been here, around 22 degrees and sunny, but a nice walk along the 2 bridges to get home. Decide we deserve a drink after all this walking, drop off things at the apartment and head out. Work our way to the little bar/restaurant at the back of the Popes gardens that our guide the other day told us about, the most reasonable prices for beverages we have seen so far, we will be back.
Back to the apartment, rest up then out again to find some live music in a square that is not too far from our apartment. It is a really small square, no chairs or tables available at the bar that is putting on the show, but the music is good and fun to watch for a bit. It was all Spanish music, part of the Andalusian festival.
Home again and plans being made for tomorrow. I fear there will be lots of walking again, but no bus tomorrow, we're back on trains.
Steps today 22,000 or 14KM, drum roll 51 floors climbed , do many up and down stairs today to get those many floors.
Crossing the 2nd arm of the Rhone river with a view of the tower that we will climb at the end of the day from the bus
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