Avignon–Wait, haven’t we been here before?

Oh yes, here we are back in Avignon.  We sailed back up the river from Arles to Avignon and tied up at the dock for the night.  We started our cruise in Avignon after spending three days in Avignon.  If we don’t watch out they may start charging us a residents’ tax! 

 

We started with a walking tour of the city.  Popes lived in Avignon for 70 years in the 1300’s before relocating back to the Vatican in Rome. During that time there were 7 Popes. The photo above is a picture of the inside square of the Popes’ Palace. After the Popes’ Palace we got to the good stuff.  The indoor market.  They had every kind of food or drink that you would want.

Cindy at a fresh pasta stand                                        Bill at the candy stand

After  our tour we headed back to the river boat and lunch.  The lunch today was a taste of Provence served on the upper deck of the boat.

Cindy at the welcome sign                                                                 The wine station

      

Bill getting to know the chef better.

After lunch we headed out on an optional tour to Chateauneuf du Pape.  This is a small town where one of the Popes built a summer palace.  When he was there the help established a vineyard. Now the economy of the town revolves around the 30 odd vineyards that are located there.

This is a list of some of the wineries that are in the town.

We did stop at one of the wineries for some wine tasting.

During WWII the Germans occupied this town but before they entered the town they bombed this castle because they thought that the French were using it as a base of operations to defend the town. 

The palace was built in the 1300’s, destroyed and rebuilt in the 1600’s, and destroyed again in 1942. The lower part of the castle survived the latest destruction and is now a wine cellar for one of the vineyards.  Our boat had left Avignon and those on the optional tour were to join up with the boat further up the river.

                       

walking to the river to meet the boat.                          lowering the gang plank so we can board the boat

The boat continued up the river and docked at a small village called Viviers at 10:15 PM for the night.  We were given the option to go on a walking tour of this village by torch light.  Cindy was disappointed when we met the tour guide and she had a big flashlight (torch as the British say) --- no fire to guide the way.

                              

We got back to the boat at 11:30 PM but it was well worth the trek so late at night.

First for the First

Sunday morning we woke up to wet streets, and although the clouds looked threatening, it wasn’t raining. After we checked out of the hotel we headed over to the ship less than a mile away. Thankfully the rain held off until we were onboard. When we walked up to the Reception Desk we were welcomed aboard and told that we were the first to check in and that this was this ship’s first cruise of the season.

Early this morning we left Avignon to sail to Arles. I got up for a 7:30 Qi-Gong class (a type of Asian stretching and exercise) while Bill shaved and dressed. By the time we went to breakfast, the sun was starting to poke through the clouds. In the photo below you can see on the right-hand side the stone tower of a bridge that was bombed during World War II.

Today’s walking tour of 2700-year-old Arles gave us a good perspective of old and new. This Roman bath dates back to the year 4 A.D.

Most of the city was rebuilt after the war, but some ancient structures remain and are continually being restored. The arena, which dates back to Roman times, is still used for bullfights twice a year. Unlike Spanish bullfights, the bulls are not killed here. Rather than stabbing the bull, the object is to grab ribbons from its horns. This is what the inside of the arena looks like today.

Here you can see the contrast between the before-and-after restoration process.

Many of the streets of Arles are cobbled; all are narrow!

           

The current residents of Arles are very proud of how prolific Van Gogh was in the short time he lived here. This courtyard was one of the spots that inspired him while he was living here.

Lost in Translation

 

Please view the following photo and ask yourself if something is lost in translation?

This sign was at the edge of the river that passes under the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard.  So what or who is the help?

Last night we were still trying to get used to the time change.  By night fall we were exhausted.  We had our dinner in the French Laundry.  It was a quick and easy dinner.  Below is a photo of the place.

 

Yea you guessed it, we ate in our room after we did some laundry.  The price was right.  We had some leftover snacks that we brought with us.

Today we took the local bus to Pont du Gard. As I said earlier it is a Roman aqueduct built in 19BC.  The canal is over 30 miles long and brought water to the city of Nimes.  This aqueduct was the largest one ever built by the Romans --- it is 160 feet high and is only 6 feet lower than the Colosseum in Rome!

     

View from under aqueduct           Climbing to the top of the aqueduct                     Tunnels for water

  Water flowed through the top of the aqueduct.  Not bad engineering for over 2000 years ago.

One last photo.

The price of gasoline is about $8.40 a gallon!  Tomorrow we board our ship and head down the river to Arles.

Planes & Trains & Finally Avignon!

We left our house at 5:40 AM Wednesday and made it to Avignon about 6 PM Thursday. We arrived here on the high-speed train from Paris --- what a smooth ride! After checking into our hotel we set out to stretch our legs after all that sitting on planes and trains to get here. We found one of the little eateries recommended in a Rick Steves’ guidebook then fell into bed by 8:30, exhausted!

This hotel, Le Colbert, was also recommended in the guidebook and is really cute, decorated in bright colors with French theater posters on all the walls. It’s located within the old city walls on a typically narrow alley/street lined mostly with other small hotels. Here’s the view from our window.

Our room is on the 3rd floor, at the top of a spiral staircase --- no elevators in these old buildings!

There’s a comfy breakfast room downstairs and a quiet garden tucked away out back.

This morning after breakfast we headed out exploring. We visited old buildings,

saw interesting sculptures,

and ventured onto the remnants of a 13th century bridge.

All that walking around today totaled 7.17 miles on my pedometer, so once again we’re calling it an early night!

They saved the best for last

Before I continue with our trip I have to show you a photo of the swinging bridges the economy tour group had to take!

Just kidding.  They were building this bridge for an adventure movie that they will be filming in the next few months.  No one would tell us the name of the movie but when it comes out you will be able to say you saw it first.

The last part of our tour was to Guanacaste on the Pacific coast.  We stayed in the new JW Marriott right on the beach.

That pool goes right out to the beach.  It is the largest infinity pool in Central America.

We stayed here for two nights.  The rooms were fantastic and the food was great.  We did a little sightseeing but mostly we hung out around the pool, solved the world’s problems and enjoyed the free happy hour!

Too much free happy hour!

We left our nice retreat and headed for our final night’s stay in San Jose. On our way we stopped for one more river cruise.

Nice cruise. Swimming wasn’t so great.

This guy didn’t hear the announcement to keep your hands and feet inside the boat.  I guess he has never been to Disneyland.

Our last night we had a farewell dinner at our hotel in San Jose.  The meal was great, our fellow travelers were fantastic and our tour guide was the best.

Jesus Toledo was our tour guide.  He is the fellow in the middle of the front row.  You can see that our group were all very young… at heart!  ONE GREAT ADVENTURE.