Sur la pont d'Avignon

We docked in Avignon at 8am and went on a guided tour at 9 for about 1.5 hours. What a lovely place! It is a walled city which had 4 gates and now there are 8. One of the extra 4 is near the area where the ships dock. That means it's not as far for us tourists to walk into town.
As can be seen by our photos, the weather so far has been great. We expected cool and wet - it's been warm and dry so far.
Avignon, like Salon and Arles has a maze of narrow streets full of shops and cafes. It is also referred to as the 'City of Popes' as from from 1309 several Popes lived here instead of Rome. Pope Clement V was the first and he built the Palace of the Popes. The tour guide took us through the Popes Palace and then we had free time to wander around.
First stop was a sidewalk cafe where we had coffee. Then a walk around the streets and check out the shops. Being Saturday, there are lots of market stalls as well. Janette managed to find a lovely little jewellery shop with jewellery home made by the owner - surprise surprise.
In the main square there was nice music coming from the organ grinder. When I was a boy, the organ grinder always had a dancing monkey - this guy had a sleepy dog and an even sleepier cat.
We have an APT signature experience tonight - we leave for the Pont du Gard at 5pm - more to follow....Read more