Sur la Pont Avignon

The town of Avignon is mainly known for its bridge and the nursery rhyme/song we have all known since childhood.  But that is not the most interesting thing about the town.  Of far more historical significance is the Palais des Papes or Pope's Palace, one of the largest medieval gothic buildings in Europe and the centre of Christianity in the 14th century. 

Palais des Papes

Six popes ruled from the Pope's Palace, and each added something to the construction, making it often a disjointed and unwieldy design.  From 1309 to 1364, this building was being constructed, torn down and reconstructed, although the bulk of the edifice was actually done in a short 20 year time span.  Finally, in 1364, it was decided to move the papacy back to Rome although this move was fraught with politics and controversy and really wasn't finalized until 6 years later.

A model of the final design (?) - over 15000 meters squared

What a lot of people don't realize was that at one time there were actually 2 Popes - the Pope and the Antipope.  Although the papacy had been moved to Rome, the Pope in Avignon refused to resign and both ruled for some time.  Finally, the cardinals were fed up and fired both, appointing a 3rd Pope.  An amazing part of history of the Catholic church.

The square outside the Pope's Palace is bustling with tourists, and a lovely place to stop and listen to the many street musicians who take up residence there. 

The door into the Pope's Palace remains from ancient times.  The main doors were for the knights (or perhaps Swiss guard) and their horses, and the carriages of the Bishops, while the smaller door was used for the common folk entering and leaving the doors of the palace.

Over 10 km of ancient stone walls surround the city

Another interesting sight in Avignon is the more than 10 kms of thick stone walls built during the 13th century and surrounding the city.  Many of these walls were constructed on the rock itself, and narrow arches allow modern day traffic through.

Sometimes its difficult to see where man took over from nature in fortifying the Palace

One of the narrow entrances to the city

If there was any doubt as to the religious nature of the Palace, it is put aside by the many statues adorning the edifice.  An enormous gold Christ wearing his crown of thorns sits on one of the steeples, while a depiction of the crucified Christ surrounded by angles adorns a portico.

During the French Revolution the Palace came under seige.  Not only did the revolutionaries chop off the heads of the ruling class, but the 21 saints adorning these doorways into the chapel also had their heads removed.

This guy was spared.  This angel looked so real, right down to the feathers sticking out of his gilded wings, I almost stopped to say 'Bonjour'.

The side of this building has no windows.  Here's Ken trying to figure out what's real and what's not.  Hint -  the entire thing is one giant art piece.

And finally, here is a view of the city from the bridge.  Actually named the Pont St. Benezet, the Avignon bridge is now only four Roman arches spanning part of the River Rhone.  Constantly rebuilt during the 11th and 12th centuries, it kept falling apart as the River has an extremely fast current.  Now when you walk out onto it, it's crumbling rock and cement surrounded by construction cages.   The most interesting part was the ancient drawbridge which could be raised to block traffic into the town.  I could almost hear the hoof beats and the clatter of wagons seeking access to the town and the hospital just beyond it's gates.

Sur la pont, Avignon

Grotte des Demoiselles

By far, one of the most spectacular stops on our travels was Grotte des Demoiselles, a large cave located just down the road in the village or commune of Saint-Bauzille de Putois.  We have visited a number of caves on our travels so were expecting the usual array of stalactites and stalagmites that had formed to look like something else - a candlestick, a wedding cake, a scene from the last supper, etc.  Driving up, up, way up, to the entrance, little did we expect what we'd find inside the mountain.

A fairly inauspicious start - just a short climb to the entrance

Up, up we go - a funicular to the caverns

After paying our 8.5 Euros, our guide led us on to a funicular to ascend yet further up the inside of the mountain.  We were a little non-plussed to see another car descending the tunnel towards us, but they had a switching track in the middle, so we lived through our first challenge.

Ok. A little awe-inspiring

Arriving at the top (or so we thought) we found wide stone staircases and readied ourselves for an easy climb, snapping pictures along the way.

A nice gentle climb - who says caving is hard

Easy climb over - a staircase straight down to ...

We rounded a corner, and our easy climb was over.  Although our guide only spoke French, his sound effects of a long, low whistle followed by the gestures and sounds of a bomb exploding was pretty clear.  It was a long way down (60 meters) and we were to watch our step or face sure and sudden death.

OK.  A lot awe-inspiring

Wandering through narrow passages, with the wet sounds of stalactites dripping onto  stalagmites on the cave floor meters below, I was reminded of one of the original Star Wars movies when the Millenium Falcon (OK, geek moment) took refuge from the storm troopers by hiding in a cave in an asteroid field.  All of a sudden, Harrison Ford says "this ain't no cave" or something equally profound, and they got the h.. out of there.  Switch to scene of Falcon flying out of the snapping jaws of a giant beast.

Inside the belly of the beast - where is Harrison Ford when you need him?

No this isn't snow - although it is damp and glittery like a beacon in the dark

A school of giant jellyfish floating all around us

Stomach-churning descent half over, we came into a large cavern known as the 'cathedral', complete with spooky church organ music piped all around us.  Our guide would occasionally stop and accompany the background music  by rhythmically pounding on formations that played like organ pipes, and others that sounded like drums.

About halfway down - yes we did descend those stairs - ve-e-ry carefully

As we descended very carefully on stone stairs made slick with moisture, we occasionally caught sight of the narrow paths and thin iron bars bolted into the cavern walls and used by the original explorers.  I think if we could have seen the bottom we would have spied some bones in among the stalagmites.  They did, in fact, display the skeleton of a bear who was one of the original explorers of the cave.

Natural monument to Madonna and child

Wow!

Winding through the narrow openings between the caverns, we were constantly awe-struck by what met our eyes.  At times I would stop for a picture and lose the group around the next corner for a minute or two.  All alone in the massive cavern, I got a sense of what the first adventurers to stumble on this wonder of nature felt - awe mixed with a healthy dose of fear.

Wow again!

A waterfall of jellyfish

An explosion of luminescent white

Ken looking a little worried about the next part of the descent

Which end is up?  Not sure.

After about 1-1/2 to 2 hours inside, it was both a shock to the systems and a relief to come back out into the sunshine of the beautiful French countryside.  We felt a little whimpy, however, when we noticed the rock climbers experiencing the mountain from the outside.

While we used the stairs - others choose a more direct route

Back into the sun - happy to see the village below

A peaceful end to a totally spectacular day

 The Grotte des Demoiselles is not an experience we will soon forget.  Highly recommended on the tour list - just make sure enjoy the local wines after the tour and not before.

Montoulieu - Land of Vineyards, Roses and Roman Ruins

After the noise and commotion of Montpellier, we were fortunate to be able to move into Danielle's winter home in Montoulieu - Gite de la Bergerie. A Bergerie is a sheep barn, however in this case it has been converted into a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on the mountainside overlooking the vineyards, the village and a roman ruin.  It is just one of the lovely rental accommodations on Danielle and Phillipe's estate (see www.masdepradines.fr).

La Bergerie - Our New Home

Our large private swimming pool

Danielle and Phillipe produce a lovely trio of wines - red, rose and white - which are unfortunately only available locally.  We have tried them all ... several times, and it's a three-way tie for our favorite. It seems that 2013 was a particularly good year, however, and it edges out the other years by a whisker.  We are sorry that we will be taking a train to our next stop in Valencia, and cannot fit a case of wine in our luggage.

Lovely rose gardens surrounding the house

Although a tiny village, Montoulieu has proven to be a nice central location for visiting the larger centres of Nimes, Avignon, and yes, even Montpellier.  Within a few minutes drive we find the lovely old villages of Ganges, Laroque, St Bauzille de Putois, Saint Hippolyte du Fort and a little further afield, Arles Domessargues, Montignargues, and many other "something, something...argues".  Each village has it's own character and charm and there is even one called the 'ancient village'.

An outdoor kitchen provides shade

Just down the road is the Grotte de Moiselles, which is the most impressive underground cavern we have ever visited.  Both the countryside villages and the Grotte deserve their own blog, and we will be posting these soon.

So is the countryside of southern France where we want to retire.  We don't know, but it is certainly worth a visit longer than the ten days we've had here.

Hope you enjoy some of our many photos.

Roman Ruin high on the hill - for the serious hiker.

The Village of Montoulieu - just a short walk in the country.

The village

A few of the village residents

A dead vineyard

Kilometers and Kilometers of live vineyards

Looks like the start of a bumper crop

Montpellier - A Nice Place to Visit, But ...

Beautiful old buildings at La Comedie

The fountain in the Place de la Comedie

Seashell corners make it easier for horse and carriage to turn

Following the advice of Pierre, a friendly French man we met in the pool while visiting Phuket, Thailand, we decided to make our home in the old, walking town of Montpellier, France for the month of May.  It's lovely, Pierre said, with many shops and restaurants, and within driving distance of places like Nice, Avignon, Monaco and Cannes. Pierre was right, up to a point.

Our first introduction to old town Montpellier was when we arrived from Barcelona after a lovely drive through vineyards and the eastern Pyrenees and beautiful poppy fields that seem to stretch on forever.  The drive took us a little longer than we had planned, however.  We had been driving for about an hour when we realized the Mediterranean was on the wrong side of the car.  Turning around, we made it to Montpellier without further incident, and carefully followed our landlady's instructions to find the parking just outside Place du la Comedie - the main square of old town (remember it's a walking city).   Missing the turn into the tunnel, we thought we'd just loop around and try again. Two hours later, having looped around on every street in Montpellier old and new, plus a few that have probably remained undiscovered for a century or two, we pulled into a giant parkade and decided to try it on foot.

A two story carousel

Fresh produce - tomato and artichoke

Outdoor restaurants line the streets

The "new" seeming out of place at one end of the square

The humorous - Snoop Chien poster found at the end of a narrow street

Fortunately, a young lady who overheard us hissing at each other in frustration bravely approached to see if she could help.  She phoned our landlady, Daniele, and a rapid exchange in French ensued, accompanied with some smiles and chuckles at the plight of the directionally challenged Canadian couple.  We finally set off in the right direction to meet up with Daniele who guided us to our  beautiful 15th century apartment with its high ceilings, huge carved mirrors, and a fireplace in every room.

Although Pierre's description of  the many shops and cafe's, fresh produce, lovely parks and beautiful sights was spot on, what we weren't prepared for was the crowded and noisy streets at all hours of the day, and the cost of eating in one of the many lovely outdoor restaurants.  Fortunately the grocery stores had lots of fresh produce and baked goods, and the wine is inexpensive, so we didn't suffer too much.

Montpellier has a population of around 250,000, and about a third of those are university students.  As 'old town' is right in the centre of it all with a bar or restaurant every few feet, this tends to be where the students hang out.  And they do.  Long after the shops have closed and the shop owners and their customers have gone home, the students are still there.  The narrow streets act like an echo chamber as the high-spirited, and somewhat inebriated youth wander the streets yelling and kicking beer bottles and peeing on the walls and in the doorways.  Although Ken and I were immune in the large, sound proofed back bedroom of our apartment, my poor sister Pat's bedroom was above the street.  I would have been pouring buckets of water onto the heads of the miscreant youths, but she is a much kinder and gentler soul.

Tiring of the people and the noise - you couldn't walk out of the apartment most days without dodging the crowds -  we contacted Daniele to see if we could move to one of her other properties.  She owns a vineyard and several country homes and gites. Daniele was nice enough to let us move to her winter home mid-month as she was moving to her summer home.  More on this later.

Ken, the ultimate people watcher, wasn't too enthusiastic about the move as he loved Montpellier, but he was outvoted and the move was on.

The crowded streets

Would I go back to Montpellier.  It is a lovely city interspersed with beautiful parks where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and listen to the many street musicians who dot the square every day.  But I fear that if the powers that be don't take steps to curtail the noise and filthy habits (peeing in the streets - really??) of the younger population, it will lose its tourist appeal and a good part of its economy.  Definitely not the retirement spot for me.

Note - Montpellier is not the place for driving a car.  We had picked up a car in Barcelona as we wanted to see the French countryside.  The first time we ventured out of the city, it took us an hour and a half to find out parking garage, even though we got within a few blocks a dozen times.  The second time, it took two hours, and at one time we were in the pedestrian part of the city weaving behind people sitting at the cafes with inches to spare, about a block and a half away from where we wanted to be.  Montpellier is narrow streets, one way roads, roads that get blocked off at different times of day, and roads that spoke out in all directions so you can't tell what is a right turn versus a bear right, versus a veer to your right.  Combine that with excitable French drivers and we were getting home each night close to tears and not speaking to each other. After several days we finally found a general store and sprung for a European GPS (as opposed to the phone GPS which caused the right turn problems noted) - best $79 ever spent and much cheaper than relationship counseling all around.

Keep watching our blog for adventures from the French countryside.