Tom
After a lovely breakfast under the sycamores at Mas Valentine, we began our excursion to Avignon to see the Chateau Neuf du Pape, the home of the French popes during the Great Schism in the 14th century. The impressively thick-walled battlements, originally surrounded by moats and a slope ending at the Rhone River, encircled the Pope’s Palace in Avignon.
Benedict, one of the first of the French popes was a monk, so his papal residence was somewhat austere and plain. Clement the 6th, however, an aristocrat from a monied family, added on with flourishes, palacial spaces, and ornate artwork befitting his heritage, as well as an edifice three times the size of Benedict’s.
Unfortunately, after the papacy was re-established in Rome, the building was turned into a soldiers’ barracks, and much of the original grandeur was lost due to inattention, looting of objects, and general lack of respect. We were able to see some of the remnants of the glory of its day, but much of what we saw were largely plain stone walls, tall and lofty but barren.
Our guide Anna is very knowledgeable and has the history of the pope’s palace and surrounding area at her fingertips. She spoke English well, having started in grade school, and has been in the tourism industry for about 20 years, learning Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian through stints around the world. She also is an accomplised driver and handled the Mercedes van in many tight places and roundabouts both in Avignon and Aix en Provence.
Lunch in Avigon was not the short stop we had anticipated, so we had little time to view the main center of Aix before our tour of the Cezanne studio, which made us 15 minutes late and without the allotted time we hoped to enjoy. By that time we were pretty ready to head home, and the almost two hour drive was broken up by some traffic delays, a game of 20 questions, tidibits regarding her life and ours, French politics, and the lack of good health care under Macron.
We are fortunate we have her again tomorrow for another 8 hour day!
Nice job Tom. I have to admit, I feel extremely uncultured with all of this. Some history I remember, but I could never take over writing a day. Nice to have a picture of all of you !!! Enjoy – what a wonderful trip.
Oh, sure you could.
Love the hot tub!! Just what you need after a long day of “touristing”!! Aren’t the guides amazing? Their knowledge base is ridiculous and, as you are experiencing, the language bank they have is also ridiculous. We didn’t meet one though, that didn’t love what they were doing. So far, it sounds like you’ve found some real gems! Did you see the Bridge to Nowhere?
Yes, we saw the bridge. Anna, our guide, said the last king was too cheap to rebuild it.