Avignon

My last day trip before I leave Montpellier was Avignon. I've heard great things about it and of course, how can you leave South of France without seeing the Pont d'Avignon (It's a famous children's song). Also I've wanted to see the Papal palaces. For those who have forgotten their European history (myself included), the pope resided in Avignon for a period (70 years!) during the 14th century due to unrest and chaos in Rome. And Avignon until then was a very small town so you can imagine the amount of transition it had gone through during those papal years. Of course, the pope moved back to Rome after that and Avignon was once again a quaint little town. That is not to say that it's a sleepy town. It's very rich in art and culture because of the papal influences.

  

Unfortunately,  you are only able to see only a small section of the papal palace so it shouldn't take you more than 2 hours to explore. After that I wandered around Old Town and went to Les Halles which is an indoor marketplace that sells lots of Southern regional foods and fresh produce.

 

 I bought my lunch there and then went to the garden next to the palace where you have a great view of the Pont d'Avignon. I strolled down to the actual bridge itself afterwards (you can also walk on the bridge but it's not worth the money) and did a little bit of shopping on the main road that leads to the station.

If you're able to stay overnight, I heard that there are even more beautiful little villages on the other side of the river and there's lots of restaurants that serve fresh Province-style dishes and traditional style marchés as well. Too bad I had school the next day!  Also I highly recommend that you go during the world famous theater festival in July where there will be plenty of events and plays to catch.