Europe Continued: Avignon Day One - The City

Lou Mistrau Bar and Restaurant at the Place de l'Horloge

After we got situated in the hotel we wanted to take the rest of the afternoon/evening to walk around the city of Avignon. We were very fortunate to have a beautiful day - and so it was quite pleasant. We walked about ten minutes from our hotel to the Place de l'Horloge in centre-ville where there were many restaurants and several historical buildings. We decided to sit in the outside area of the Lou Mistrau Restaurant. We were ready for our first taste of Provençal food!


Felipe ordered the duck confit - and enjoyed it too!


I ordered the Daube de Boeuf - a traditional Provençal beef stew. It was delicious!


Click here for a recipe from Saveur - it's delicious!

After lunch we walked around the town a bit, taking in a few of the sights. The Place de l'Horloge had a beautiful old building which housed a theater, and a double decker carousel in front of it.


Along our walk we also saw some of the typical painted window façades in Avignon. Every year Avignon has a film festival and many of these window paintings are of dramatic characters. It was a lovely surprise to see bits of art here and there.






For the afternoon we decided we'd go to the Palais des Papes (Papal Palace) which is one of Avignon's main attractions. Contrstuction of the Palais was begun in 1252, and was the seat of the papacy until the 14th century (the popes moved back to Rome in 1377). It's one of the most important Medieval Gothic buildings in Europe.


Of course, being in the presence of such an impressive and historical building, we wanted to see the inside. Admission was surprisingly cheap for such a large and historic monument - it cost only 10.50€ to get in, and admission price included the audio guide - which was tremendously helpful in explaining history of the different rooms.


Even the entry to the palais was beautiful - the ceiling above the admissions booth.


A beautiful stained glass window in one of the chapels.




The Cloister.


Felipe listening to the audio guide in the Grand Tinel (dining hall). This room was more than impressive. I can only imagine what the hall looked like in it's glory days. The palais website describes: "The decor was destroyed by fire in 1413, as were the frescoes of religious subjects which once adorned the walls." The audio guide described that all the major banquets would happen in this room - with tables lining each of the walls, and people were served massive banquets. An interesting fact - only the Pope and the Master Carver were allowed to have a knife...


Listening to the history, while looking out on the Avignon countryside. Just wonderful.


Here is Felipe in the large "kitchen" adjoining the Grand Tinel. It was amazing to hear of the size of the feasts they would prepare in this small room!


This here was the view looking out over the Cour d’Honneur (Courtyard of Honor) - where the crowds would gather when addressed by the Pope. He would stand at the window of Indulgence and look down upon the people to give his blessing.


The Great Chapel was enormous - 52 meters long, 15 meters wide and 20 meters tall, and was where all the major pontifical ceremonies took place. Here they were cleaning it up...it's not often that you see people vacuuming dust off of the floor of a medieval chapel!



Our tour ended there, it was surprisingly not as long as one would expect. There are many smaller areas that are closed off to the public, and if you hit many of the main points only, the tour only takes about an hour and a half. I would love to have taken many more photos to show, but there are several areas where the friezes and paintings on the wall prohibit the taking of photographs - so as to preserve them.

One more photo taken later of the Palais at night.


After the palace, we went back to the hotel for a bit of rest...and then, poor Felipe - I dragged him out of the hotel room because I didn't want to miss the sunset over the river! Our hotel was only about a 15 minute walk to the bridge that crosses the Rhone river, and so we walked there just in time!


A view of the Palace from the river. In the foreground you can see the ramparts that still surround the city.




Behind us you can see the Pont d'Avignon which used to span the entire river, but over the centuries has been reduced from 22 arches down to only 4 remaining.


We walked back to our hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to a terrific little restaurant that is frequented by many locals (and probably tourists alike) called La Fourchette. It was an amazing dinner! God I love the food in France, and Provençal food just kept getting better and better. Felipe had the Daube de beouf (I passed since I had it for lunch).


A postcard from the restaurant.

Entree - Heirloom tomato and mozzerella salad dressed with basil coulis, balsamic vinegar and black salt.


Main - Salmon with braised leeks in a saffron sauce.


Dessert - A Cheese plate - so good that I couldn't help but dive in before I remembered to take a photo.


What a day it was. Amazing sites, amazing food and amazing drink. I couldn't wait for what would come the next day. Saturday we planned on taking an 8-hour, daylong tour around Provence to become more acquainted with the wines that the area is well known for - Châteauneuf-du-Pape . Look for that post next!