Walking France and Spain, 2024

Another cold and beautiful day and we spent it in Avignon. The weather forecast said rain in the morning in Avignon (even though cloudless here) so we put our little umbrellas in Amr’s bag, but of course it never rained! Got the train and arrived a little after 10. I had feared the station was a bit away from the hub of the town, but was right beside it, and all was easy. Headed straight to tourist information and got a map and advice, and tickets to the 2 main things we wanted to see…the Pope’s Palace and the Bridge - the famous pont d’Avignon from the song!

Avignon is a lovely city, like a larger version of Arles, and busier and with more sightseers and buses coming to the enormous Pope’s Palace. They had moved there from Rome between the 1200s and 1500s I think (I must now read up the finer details that I missed in translation).

Anyway, after a wander through the streets following a walk recommended on the map we went to the Palace, set high and is SO tall it is hard to photograph. Inside we went through enormous rooms, but all bare now, just impressive size, though some still had painting on the walls (but not allowed to photograph those). You get given a tablet to dangle, rather awkwardly, round your neck to scan in the rooms and it comes up with a description…much less simple than reading a sign, but being up to date I guess…so that was fun, and these buildings - there, and the Roman ruins - are giving us very good practice in climbing many stairs, and even our hotel is up 2 floors with steep stone steps, so hopefully we’ll be in good form for walking tomorrow.

We then sat in the main square and had coffee/chocolate, and walked on to the famous bridge which was nearby. I hadn’t realised it was not a functioning bridge, but a relic to visit, but the part still standing is very handsome and restored. Building it was an ongoing process over the centuries and there were many conflicts, even wars, about who owned it and who should collect the taxes for crossing it! Quite a history. We have a photo of us both on the bridge looking towards the Pope’s palace taken by a nice Swiss woman (we have become very wary of anyone touching our phones - actually just Amr’s now, the only one)…

After the bridge we really needed to eat so we then looked for a boulangerie, as we had already, before the palace, been to the wonderful market and bought cheese - for today, and for walking lunches. So we got a crunchy fresh baguette and ate it with some Conte in the park in the sun. Can’t believe I actually want to find a seat in the sun!! And we had fleece and jacket on all day. Quite windy as you can see from my hair standing on end in photos. We stayed there, reading kindles and content, till time for the train back.

….Just back from a superb dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel, that we booked as couldn’t get in yesterday…and tonight was also totally full by the time we left. But first on arrival back from Avignon we sorted out a bit, then had a drink at a nearby bar where the lady there remembered I wanted Campari with orange…nice to be remembered!

Then we went to the restaurant and had such a delicious dinner…shared a salad to start, we both had a fish main - mine was salmon with soy, piquillos, cannelloni type beans, cashews..amazing combination and so good, Amr’s was another fish with equally delicious sauce - with tapenade…and we shared an apple dessert, baked, caramel, ice cream…a half litre of local red wine…all perfect.

And another piece of good news - already the travel insurance has accepted our claim for stolen passport and phone and is paying cost…wow..excellent efficiency, and credit to Amr for getting all the required documents!Read more

I have to add a bit more to finish the day…once Amr returned with the clean clothes, still warm from the dryer, I felt so much better in warm pants and fleece, and we set off to explore a bit. First found out about buses to Montpellier…they seem to go about hourly, so all good there. And we went to the beautiful and of course huge cathedral, St Fulcran, lovely stained glass windows, and we lit a candle for Ira so that she will be skipping by the time we return.

Then we found a bar and had a glass of wine - Languedoc wine, just what we needed, in a nice inside warm space! The music playing there was Killing me Softly…bygone times…Some people sitting outside, but they hadn’t walked for hours on the heights above town today. For Paul’s information, who I think at the moment is swanning with Charlie and Jaimee in Santa Monica, and anyone interested, the vines we have been walking amongst are muscat and sauvignon, and those were the wines, white and red, that we had last night with Martine and Guy.

We are feeling cold, but it is sunny, but we are worried about Rowan and Anne who have just started on the camino from Le Puy which we enjoyed so much in 2015, and not only have they been cold, but with snow and drizzle, but their checked bag did not arrive at CDG and has still not been delivered to them….how ghastly, and neither Qantas/Air France seems to be able to care or solve it…we wait and hope…

Just back from a superb dinner…with a whole bottle of Languedoc wine, 2014, rather than a half litre of the house vin. I had a soup (velouté) of broccoli and minted peas, and Amr had a complicated dish of beans, avocado, humous on bread and a soft boiled egg, both delicious, and for mains Amr had Guinea fowl and I had a scallop, prawn dish with orange…just right.

And I have to add that Amr has given me the stats of the day…we have climbed an altitude gain of 518 metres during the walk and the average temperature was 5°, which is pretty amazing..no wonder we needed our great dinner…Read more

A lot happened today, but it wasn’t walking or picturesque, in fact my legs are suffering from not enough exercise! But we got the 10 am bus from Lodève to Montpellier, it took an hour, stopping and picking up and dropping off people, not an express…a locale…and for the 2 of us, with an extra for day passes on the tram in Montpellier, it cost €6.

The tram pass was necessary as the bus terminates at the end of the tram line 1, which we took when walking out of walking out of Montpellier last week, so we are experts at this line, and caught it back to the stop, Comédie, near our hotel, which is in the centre and also near the railway station. Luckily, at 11.30 our hotel (another Ibis) was able to check us in with room ready, so we dropped our bags, for which we are now responsible until we do our Spanish camino next week, and got back on the tram to the other end of the line where there is a big rather soulless mall, but which has an Apple Store!!

And we bought me an iPhone!!! It is a modest one, as the insurance money is paying for what we still owed of the one stolen (and the one before), and it hasn’t got as good a camera as before, but it is now all downloaded with everything and it feels so good, except I am very scared of carrying it round, and will not have it on me in cities at all…I even felt a bit nervous here in Montpellier, and certainly will leave it safely locked up in Barcelona, Madrid and Paris…but it will be wonderful to be able to take photos on the camino in Spain. Amr may look less anguished, (please note Peter and Simon!) as all photos of him so far have been taken by me on his phone when he is worried that I will drop, break or lose it!!! So now hopefully he will relax…and also getting him to stop for a photo was a problem…

So all that took most of the afternoon. We had to do another trip back to the hotel before sealing the deal with Apple to get Amr’s passport for the tax free receipt, and we stayed in the Apple Store while it downloaded using their strong wifi, meanwhile attending a lesson there on drawing on an iPad, with a special app…So Amr was happy, and I was happy that he was happy, but I kept being distracted when the new phone kept asking questions that I needed help with! But all got completed, even pairing it with my Apple Watch, though I have lost all the wonderful stats of the last week’s walk.

After that we stopped for a coffee/chocolate and pretzels, much needed as we had forgotten to eat…then checked with Orange about getting a SIM for a month, but not worth it was their advice..went back to hotel, drew breath and went to the favourite square to sit and have a drink which we did, but still rather windy and cold for comfort, and we decided to eat at 7 and got into the Italian we had enjoyed last visit, the luckily got in, just, it was soon totally buzzing. The only photos are taken by MY phone, of our spacious room, and Amr eating pizza!Read more