Four Days in Provence – Avignon with a Day Trip to Arles

We arrived at the train station in Avignon, a short 1 ½ hours from Montpellier, and right across the street were the old city walls.

We walked from the train station to our cute, bright, cozy apartment perfectly situated in a regular neighborhood just outside the historic center. Just one minor problem: the Internet didn’t work and our host was out of touch for three days. Okay, okay, we were only staying four days, but…We simply set up personal hot spots using our phones, slow but we stayed connected.

Exploring Avignon’s Historic Center

Avignon is a pleasure to simply wander, with its charming historic center, surprisingly not overrun with tourists in early June. Highlights for us were the Palais des Papes, the Pont d’Avignon, and Les Halles.

Palais des Papes

The massive Palais des Papes (Popes Palace), surrounded by medieval stone ramparts, was the seat of the Catholic popes from 1309 to 1377. The city continued to be ruled by the popes until 1791 when it then became part of France.

Pont d’Avignon

♪ Sur le pont d’Avignon, on y danse… Avignon, like several other cities in France (and Switzerland) lies on the Rhône river. While writing this post, we learned that this famous bridge of song has an actual name: Pont Saint-Bénézet. The fascinating story behind the bridge can be read here.

Les Halles

We found Avignon’s central covered market, Les Halles, to be far superior to the one in Montpellier. Although we were in Avignon only four days, think we stopped in two or three times. Besides the usual produce, bread, cheese, meats, pastries, etc., we found lots of choices of tasty prepared food that became a few of our meals. We also discovered a new favorite: Picholine olives. We love olives, and as we had never come across these before, we went online to do a bit of research. (This is what we needed those hot spots for!) Turns out these olives can be purchased online at Amazon, including some with a Trader Joe’s label.

Music Festival

Over the weekend that we were in Avignon, there was a music festival going on with both free and paid events. One afternoon, we attended an unusual and enjoyable free concert performed by L’Orchestre Baroque du Conservatoire in the Jardin du Musée Calvet. The concert included ancient instruments and opera. Seemingly the performance told a story, which a narrator read, in French of course, before each piece. Ann, with her limited French, seemed to think at least part of it involved a couple in a garden having a slight disagreement about whether it was time to go inside to eat. Hmm…could be totally off base.

After the concert, we walked past the Palais des Papes towards le pont d’Avignon. En route we passed another free concert entitled “100 Guitars”. Weird! Men and women of all ages were gathered in a large open space with their amplified (?) guitars. We’re guessing the participants must have been given the “music” in advance, as there was a conductor. We stayed for a bit, then moved on, but could still here it from quite a distance. Basically 100 guitars playing a chord on cue. Very strange! Guess that’s musical creativity?

Apparently, Avignon hosts an annual performing arts festival every year for about three weeks in July. It seems that many cities throughout France have all varieties of festivals during the month of July. We had decided to be out of France for July due to heat and crowds.

Day Trip to Arles

Arles is a short 50-minuite train ride from Avignon. Most of us know of the city Arles as it relates to Van Gogh but it was once a provincial capital of Rome.

Here there are a few small murals of Van Gogh’s paintings throughout the old part of the city to help understand where Van Gogh got his inspiration.

Arles, also on the Rhône river, is both picturesque and a bit gritty at the same time.

We spent a pleasant few hours wandering around the historic center. Our stroll included a stop at the hospital where Van Gogh had stayed on two occasions due to poor mental health.  Here we saw the pretty courtyard garden which had inspired some of his paintings.

We walked around the outside of the ancient Arles Amphitheatre – which apparently still hosts plays, concerts, and bullfights. Nearby we could see ruins of a smaller classical theatre. We also saw lots of tour groups, mostly from river cruises. Although Arles has a variety of the usual tourist sights, we were simply visiting for a few hours mostly so Ann could see the city, as Ian had been here before.

Comparing Avignon and Arles

When Ian was in Provence 20 years ago, he liked Arles better but this time he liked Avignon better. The tourism appears to have changed, with more people in Arles and less in Avignon. Arles has more Roman ruins, but Avignon has a better medieval center. Also, the restaurant prices seemed a little lower in Avignon. We both had the impression that Arles is less of a real city than Avignon, at least the parts we saw.

Avignon Wrap-Up

We had chosen to stay in Avignon because it has better rail connections than Arles to the rest of France. Some routes require a change of train at the Avignon TGV station on the outskirts of town. Overall, we liked Avignon, but it is a bit too small for us to consider for an extended stay. Plus although prices seemed similar to Montpellier, there is no beach, and it does get very hot in the summer.

Next Up: Burgundy, specifically Dijon – Our few days here were all about wine and food.

Ian and Ann