What a day! This morning everyone was suffering from food-related hangovers due to the captain's reception dinner the night before. I was up earliest, updating this thing, but there were definitely stragglers coming in to breakfast this morning.
Our guide of the morning, Mary, met us at the ship. She took us across the busy roads to the still-standing ramparts that surround the city of Avignon. During the middle ages there were only seven doors in the entire circle. Today, there are 32 (and you don't have to wait until sunrise or pay a fee to pass through). The city has kept the walls, especially on the river side because the doors can be sealed during occasional floods.
Avignon was purchased by The Catholic Church in 1309. The newly-elected French Pope Clement V decided to move his operation to Avignon and abandon Rome (there were violent riots in Rome after his election). The land was under Sicilian rule, so they built giant ramparts to "keep out the French" and protect all the cardinals' mansions / bureoucracy. Unlike today, parts of the walls were also protected by a moat. When The Pope moved into town, he bulldozed the old episcopal palace of the bishops of Avignon and began what was at the time Europe's largest construction project. It was built in two phases and when completed it occupied 11,000 square meters (118,000 square feet).
The palace is the largest surviving Gothic palace surviving today. It was the host of seven Popes, and when Rome became fed-up and established their own Pope, Avignon held two more Anti-popes. And so it was.
After the Papacy returned to Rome in 1377, the palace in Avignon was placed under rule by usually the Pope's nephew as "legate", who oversaw the city council until nepotism was abolished in 1693.
Fast forward to the Revolution, when the already-ruined palace was sacked. It was used as a garrison for a while, but it was not vacated until 1906. Now it is a museum and cultural landmark. Still, it's amazing to think about how the Vatican practically bankrupted itself over and over to build a palace (not a place of worship) that was used for only about 70 years.
The palace is the largest surviving Gothic palace surviving today. It was the host of seven Popes, and when Rome became fed-up and established their own Pope, Avignon held two more Anti-popes. And so it was.
After the Papacy returned to Rome in 1377, the palace in Avignon was placed under rule by usually the Pope's nephew as "legate", who oversaw the city council until nepotism was abolished in 1693.
Fast forward to the Revolution, when the already-ruined palace was sacked. It was used as a garrison for a while, but it was not vacated until 1906. Now it is a museum and cultural landmark. Still, it's amazing to think about how the Vatican practically bankrupted itself over and over to build a palace (not a place of worship) that was used for only about 70 years.
The ship in sunlight, an odd shop window in Avignon (the skull on the left is a stapler)
Ramparts of the city
Statue in front of the city theater on the left, front view of the Papal Palace on the right
Palace detail
Facade of the old bank (incidentally the building was for sale)
Papal court and remains of frescoes, ceremonial staircase with plaque commemorating the visit of Louis IV
Entrance to chapel where the new Pope would be crowned.
Notice that all the figurines were beheaded by
Fragments of original stained glass obtained from archeological work, replicas of Pope tombs
The palace is fairly barren today, but some of the smaller rooms sill have their 700-year old frescoes
Wooden palace model
The ornate window is a reproduction of the one through which the Pope would address his subjects
The city from one of the towers. In the right picture you can see a clock tower
that is the only remaining part of the Cardinals' house, which was mostly
torn down during the Revolution.
The ceramic figurines are local collectibles called santons (little saints).
Each are sculpted, painted, and dressed by hand.
Each are sculpted, painted, and dressed by hand.
This day's optional tour was in the nearby town of Les Baux, which has had residents since well before the Middle Ages. The fortress that sits upon a limestone cliff was built during the tenth century. The flat plain on which the fortress sits has a gentle slope, so rainwater was collected in cisterns since there isn't a well. The Lord of Baux were ferocious rulers who would raid the surrounding defenseless villages. One lord preferred to execute unransomed prisoners by making them jump to their death over the fortress ramparts.
When Les Baux was incorporated into France in 1426 the lords were troublesome subjects. The fortress was destroyed in 1483 by the French king. Later, when the city became a center of Protestantism and defied Rome in 1632, Cardinal Richelieu was sent to demolish the castle and the town, and then bill the residents for the cost of the destruction. After that, the town was finished.
Today a small town clings to the lower cliff side but the dead city ruins have been preserved and you can pay a fee to wander around them. Since I only had 35 minutes after our short tour of the town I immediately ran up to the ruins so I could see them. There were some sketchy stairs to climb one of the towers and my hat was almost blown off my head but the views were worth it.
Shops in the winding pedestrian street
Seige equipment at the dead city
The view of olive groves from the top of one of the towers,
depictions of execution
Looking down into today's town
Back in the town streets
After, we took the bus to the bottom of the mountain to an old underground quarry that is under Les Baux (the Carriere des Lumieres). The quarry closed in the 1930s but since the 1970s it has been the site of one of the most interesting art exhibits I've ever seen. Our program guide was very mysterious as she tried to describe the 45-minute long show. I don't know if I'll be able to describe it either. The limestone walls, floor, and ceiling have images projected onto them, set to music. Every year a theme is picked. This year's was "Klimt in Vienna, a Century of Gold and Color". The featured artists were Hans Makart, Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Friedensreich Hunderwasser and their use of color and form. I should note that it wasn't just a slideshow of paintings, there was some superb animation that blended the show together.
I made the apeture on my camera as small as I could make it, set the ISO to about 250, and then just went crazy with long exposure shots. The people who stood still can be seen in the photos but I like that you can see the movement of others because the exhibit creators want their visitors to move around. It was so cool!
Back in town, as we prepared to leave Avignon the captain took note of the beautiful sunset and took the ship up toward the famous broken bridge of Avignon so that everyone could take some nice pictures. The bridge was built between 1171 and 1185. At the time it was the only bridge crossing the Rhone. It was knocked down and rebuilt many times by floods, but when one nearly completely destroyed it in 1668 the townspeople no longer could afford to rebuild, and so it sits.
Tomorrow will be a slower day but I think everyone is ready for a bit of a half-way-point break.
A bientot,
-Dani
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