9 July: Carpentras and Avignon
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 9, 9 July: First half of the day was spent exploring a small town called Carpentras. Initially, we had intention to explore Carpentras, but we missed our bus... Oh well, since we were already there with 2 hours to spare, why not... Nothing spectacular, but we felt comfortable during our stroll around the central area.
The whole town was very artistic... Lots of graffiti on the walls and oil paintings hanged along the streets.
Highlight of the day: Fortified city of Avignon!!! As its name suggests, the whole city is surrounded by rock fortress! Very cool!!!
July was the month of the Avignon Festival, so there were many posters illustrating different art expressions of various genres pasted or pined onto the walls/poles/lamps/trees/any possible visible objects.
St Pierre, a minor church that was of Gothic architectural construction
Walking past a rock-strewn opening to reach the most significant attraction of Avignon...
As usual, street musicians were a common sight...
After reaching the end of the rocky terrain, we were greeted by the most prominent prospect of Avignon: Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes)! Built during the 14th century by successive popes of the period, the palace was once the residence of the popes. I found it strange that the Popes had their own palace (akin to that of a king)... Hmm...
Standing next to the palace is the cathedral, Notre Dame des Doms.
The famous 'broken' bridge: Pont d'Avignon... An interesting thing about the bridge is the well-known children folk song that accompanies with it: Sur le pont d'Avignon (on the bridge of Avignon). I even bought a postcard with the lyrics of the song, but it's all in French!
Since this was the last main attraction that we visited in Avignon, we had several shots of different poses taken at the bridge. ^^
Personal opinion on Avignon: Definitely worth a visit to the city! I like the way that the whole town is enveloped by a fortress that stands very intact till today! Not only am I impressed by its traditional fortress, Avignon is definitely the most artistic city that I've been to so far. There were so many musicals, mimic shows and theatre works that were playing during the week that we were there. It was a pity that they were all in French and we hence had to give them a miss. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful and small city! One day should be sufficient to finish covering the place.
Next up: SAULT (The second last pit stop and last French town in our itinerary)
--Mary HAD a little lamb--
2:49 am
Next up: SAULT (The second last pit stop and last French town in our itinerary)