Les aventures continuent

After the past few days of sightseeing and day trips, we decided to spend Thursday in town, relaxing and doing some shopping, ostensibly for souvenirs but I ended up with a few things for me. I brought back souvenirs for my friends last time I was here, and I didn't want to bore them with more lavender sachets, so I stuck to finding a few gifts for my mom, dad and aunt, and some neat, useful things for myself, like a bag of dried lavender buds and a Provencal olive oil/vinegar cruet.

It is so good.

Before our shopping spree, we had lunch at a creperie in a small square just behind the Palais des Papes called Le Cloitre ("the cloister"). We each got a big entree salad, mine with goat cheese on toasted baguette slices and John's with potatoes and ham, and shared a savory crepe filled with ratatouille-style veggies. We topped this off with some ice cream down by the souvenir shops--I just had to get lavender ice cream one more time.


After we made our purchases, we dropped them off at the apartment, read for a little while, then went to visit the Calvet Museum, one of Avignon's largest museums. It had a lot of Renaissance and classical art from some of Avignon's most famous painters, as well as a really neat temporary exhibit on Egypt. However, there were cat mummies. That was kind of weird.

We found some cheap and delicious dinner at a place called Illico Pasta, where you can get a drink and big container of pasta for about 5 euros. While we ate I watched the news coverage of the newly elected French president, Francois Hollande, meeting with his new advisers. It's interesting to be here right after an election. Once we had eaten our pasta (three cheese for me, curry for John), we took a walk down the rue des Teinturiers (dyemakers' street), a quaint street full of waterwheels and, at least in the summer, lots of bustling outdoor restaurants and shops. It was pretty quiet as we walked through, as it is a little too early for it to be in full swing.

You can see the statue up top there.

Today, our last full day here in Provence, was spent a private minivan tour of the nearby city of Orange and the Chateauneuf du Pape region of wineries. Only the promise of wine could get me out of bed for a 9am tour. Our guide, Julien, was incredibly nice and very knowledgeable, and our tour companions were equally amiable: a middle-aged New Zealand woman on a world travel adventure and a cute family (mom and two college-aged kids) from Oklahoma. We started off the tour at a first-century triumphal arch at the north end of the city of Orange, which still has all its own original carvings in fantastic condition even though it's been standing for two thousand years. Next, we went to the ancient theatre in Orange, one of only three in the world that still has its stage wall. Though I'd been there before a few years back, I had never listened to the audio tour so I never knew all the history it held. The coolest factoid was that the huge statue of the Roman emperor that stood in a prominent place in the center of the stage wall had interchangeable heads that could be switched out with each change of power!

They age these red wine blends for 12-18 months!

Our next stop was at the remnants of Chateauneuf du Pape, which literally means "the pope's new castle," which was the pope's summer home up in the hills where the weather was cooler than in Avignon. It was built by Pope John XXII, who was the driving force behind promoting the viticulture of the region. Now the broader region that bears the name Chateauneuf du Pape houses the 2nd largest wine production in France, after Bordeaux. After we visited the ruins of the castle itself, we went the nearby winery owned by the Skalli family for a wine-tasting. There we tasted three wines, one white and two reds, and the woman explained how the wines were made and how to taste them. She taught us how to first look at the color of the wine, then how to smell it properly and distinguish all the flavors, then how to take a sip and "chew" on it and aerate it. I had never known the right way to go about it, and it was a lot of fun.

Yes, there are fries in there.

Once the tour was over, we headed to the nearby kebab stand where we ate our first day, as wine-tasting can give you quite an appetite, had a kebab, and promptly took a nap. We are on vacation, after all.


The afternoon was spent in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, the town across the river that housed many of the cardinals during the Avignon papacy. There we visited the Fort St. Andre, a fortress/abbey that served as a French stronghold in the Middle Ages when the Rhone river was the southern border of the kingdom. It is somewhat less touristy that many of the other sites we've visited, but very cool in that you can walk on the ramparts of the fortress and look out over the whole city. After we finished there, we walked to the nearby convent of La Chartreuse, which was adorned with beautiful stone carvings, but didn't go inside because it was closing time.

Walking on the ramparts was the coolest part.

Our last dinner in Avignon was at a restaurant called Le Bercail, which is a terrace on the Barthelasse island from which you can see the Pont St. Benezet and the Palais des Papes. The food was delicious...I had a casserole of eggplant, tomato and goat cheese which I will have to try recreating at home, lamb medallions with garlic sauce and the best french fries I've ever had in my life, followed by the best creme brulee on the planet. I am not kidding. Definitely not a bad way to end a great week. 

Tomorrow, Paris.