Two Days in Provence (my holiday 5)

After leaving Cannes, I drove for about three hours west along the freeway (autoroute) to the beautiful old city of Avignon, in the region of Provence. Avignon is famous for three things: The Palace of the Popes, the bridge, and the theatre festivals that take place during the summer.

In the 1300s, several of the popes, the leaders of the Catholic church, decided to live in Avignon instead of Rome. They built several churches and a huge palace that also served as a fort, or castle. In those days the popes had lots of enemies! I took a tour of the palace and it was quite amazing -- really big.

The front of the Palace of the Popes. It's part a palace and part a castle.

After visiting the palace, I walked over to the famous pont (bridge) of Avignon. About 900 years ago, a shepherd boy came into town and told the mayor that God wanted to build a bridge across the Rhone river, right beside Avignon. No one believed him, but he performed a few miracles and then everyone helped him build the bridge. Only part of the bridge has survived.

The Pont d'Avignon (Bridge of Avignon). Part of it was destroyed, so it does not cross the river.

The bridge is famous because of a famous French song for children. The words are, "Sur le pont, d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse." (On the bridge of Avignon, we all dance, we all dance.) Nowadays, if you want to dance on the bridge it will cost you four Euros! I walked out onto it and decided that I didn't want to dance there because it was too hot and there were too many tourists on it! No one was dancing!

Me on the bridge. It was much too hot to dance, and there were too many tourists!

During the summer, many theatre companies put on plays in Avignon. The colourful posters cover the walls, and actors wander through the streets wearing old costumes.
Some actors walking through the town wearing their old colourful costumes.

The walls of the buildings are covered with these colourful posters that advertise the many plays.

I loved Avignon, and I was glad to be back in Provence, a part of France that I lived in for about a year, "long ago and far away."

In the afternoon I hopped into my car and drove about 80 km to the old beautiful town of Aix en Provence. Aix used to be an important centre in the Roman Empire and there are many Roman ruins nearby. The town is also known as the "City of fountains," as there are dozens of fountains in the old part of Aix.

One of the largest fountains in Aix en Provence, the "city of fountains."

Provence is much more relaxed than the French Riviera. Aix has a large shaded main street known as the Cours Mirabeau. It's wonderful to spend a few hours on a summer afternoon sitting in an outdoor cafe, sipping a coffee or a pastis (alcoholic drink), and watching the people go by.

One of the many fountains in Aix. Some are hundreds of years old.

And another fountain

And another!

I spent a day in Aix, wandering around the old town and trying to find a house where I used to live. It was a great day, and I bought some soap in the market for gifts for my friends (Aix is famous for its soap), but I had to keep looking at my watch. That evening I returned my rented car and took a TGV (train a grande vitesse) train for Paris. The train goes very quickly and took only 3 hours to travel over 500 km. By 10.00 p.m., I had arrived in Paris, my first visit in 32 years!
Mont Ste Victoire (Mountain of the Holy Victory) is just outside of Aix. One of the famous Impressionist painters, Paul Cezanne, lived in Aix and made many paintings of Mont Ste Victoire. (see below)

Mont Ste Victoire, a famous painting by Paul Cezanne. Many painters like Aix en Provence. Apparently the air is very clear and the light is good for painting.
Another painting of Mont Ste Victoire by Paul Cezanne. He painted more than 60 paintings of the mountain!

And another!