Avignon: centre of the western church

Well it was the centre for a bit, like two hundred years or so. Life for the Pope was a bit (politically) hot in Rome in the 1300s. So what's a Pope to do? Build a new city for yourself and few thousand mates, that's what. Make the walls 10 foot thick. Then wait a couple of hundred years, shift the whole show back to Rome, and have a French revolution. Now all these flash 1300s mansions and palaces are ready for the average punter. It's really beautiful and up market in an otherwise challenging part of France.

Stayed in a campsite just across the river - fifteen minute walk into the old town. Many high end shops and strong tourist focus, though the wider population is quite poor. Had dinner in the city centre on Rue Republic. It is still a beautiful town.Read more