A weekend in Provence October 22-24, 2010

After our visit to Monte Carlo, we drove along the coast through Nice, lunched at Antibes on the beach, then to Cannes where we rejoined the autoroute to Avignon. The countryside was far more mountainous than we had expected...where were all the fields of lavender and sunflowers that I associate with Provence?!?
We spent two nights at the quaint Hotel d'Europe in the Place Crillon, established in 1799. http://www.heurope.com/















Our room looked out onto the front courtyard














A Sunday morning bird bath!



















Narrow streets within the walls of old Avignon



















The old plane trees in the Place de l'Horloge














The entry to a restaurant inside a pretty courtyard














There are the colours of Provence!



















City Hall in the Place de l'Horloge














An old-fashioned merry-go-round, typical of small towns in Europe














Now, forgive my ignorance of French geography, but I only just realised that the Rhone River flows right through Avignon lending its name to the famous Cotes du Rhone wines of the area!














The Palais des Papes and the huge courtyard (le cours d'Honneu), built during the 14th century and intended as a fortified palace for the pope. Seven French-born Popes invested huge sums of money in building and decorating this, the largest Gothic palace in the world.































Roman ruins














OK everyone sing along now:
Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse,
Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse tout en rond!

Below is the famous Pont St-Benezet, originally a 900 m wooden structure. All but four of its 22 spans were washed away in the mid 1600's.
















The famous bridge is only half there at present: it is believed to have been started in 1177 when Benezet, a pastor from Ardeche, was told in three visions to span the Rhone at any cost! Originally, the bridge straddled the island of Barthelasse, the largest island in a European river!














Getting back to wine country...not only did we discover on this trip that the Cote-du-Rhone wines were so close to Barcelona (four hours' drive), but Pat's favourite, Chateauneuf-du-Pape is located a mere 12 km to the north of Avignon! Guess where we headed after breakfast and a visit to a local wine shop for some good advice! Below are some of the Domaines/Caves we visited...there are dozens more in a small radius around the small village of CDP. Wines produced in the following villages can also be labelled as CDP wines: Caderousse, Jonquieres, Courthezon, Bedarrides and Sorgues. Likely there are "no bad wines"!


























































Scenes from the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape




















The Church














Pat went in for a haircut "chez Philippe", cheaper than in Spain!




















The ruins of the "Chateau neuf du Pape" (the Pope's new castle)














A view of the village, Rhone River and surrounding countryside of CDP














The wine we brought back home is wonderful and is aging in our cellar below the house, aka The Garage!
No more travelling for awhile...back again soon! Hasta luego!