Provence: Avignon, Arles and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

We did two additional day trips from Avignon, to Arles and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. In each case, we visited the city on its weekly market day. Markets in Provence are serious business. They include all sorts of local products (including food, of course), and the market in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is also known for its antiques.

Arles is another city with excellent Roman ruins. The city was an important site in Roman times as it had the first bridge over the Rhone river, and was an important stop on the Via Domitia -- the Roman road that connected Italy and Spain.

The Roman Arena in Arles is so well preserved that it is still in use today (it appeared to be set up for bullfighting when we were there). Although not as large and impressive as the arena in Verona, we especially enjoyed the ability to climb up on the tower for views of the city and the Rhone.

The other famous thing about Arles is that Vincent Van Gogh lived and worked there for about 15 months from 1898-1899. During this time, Van Gogh was extremely productive, creating hundreds of works. We found a couple of the easels that are placed to show scenes that Van Gogh painted, and we stopped in at the Espace Van Gogh cultural center, which is at the site of the mental hospital where he was admitted after the famous ear-cutting incident. The courtyard (which Van Gogh painted) is still extremely lovely and tranquil. You can see why this would be a good place to relax and recover.

One other thing we saw in Arles was a wedding party outside city hall. What made this wedding interesting was it was a Muslim wedding (we saw both Morrocan and  Algerian flags), so we were able to observe a bit of their customs as they celebrated the bride and groom before they went in to the building.

Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a little town that is sometimes known as the Venice of Provence because the Sorgue River divides around the city resulting in little streams of extremely clear water everywhere. It is still famous for its mossy waterwheels, which in the 1800's drove its wool and silk industries, as well as its market, which draws locals and tourists alike. We enjoyed just wandering around the town and grazing at the weekly market.

On our one full day in Avignon, we visited the famous Palace of the Popes. In the early 14th century, the Papacy, which had been driven out of Rome, bought (literally) the small city of Avignon, and established itself there. As a result, Avignon was Vatican territory, while on the other side of the Rhone River was French territory. Over the next 100 years (1309-1403), seven Popes were based in what became a much larger city dominated by the Pope's palace. For a period after that, during what is known as the Great Schism, there were actually two Popes, one based in Rome, and the other in Avignon. Ultimately, the Papacy reunified and returned to Rome.

The Palace of the Popes is impressively huge.

When we were there, there was an art exhibition by a Korean artist who covered the floor of one room with slate pieces (as seen in the photo on the left above). Although much of the art was difficult to interpret, it was an interesting addition to the ancient building.

Although still impressive, the Palace of the Popes was even more impressive when the Popes actually lived there as most of the walls were covered with paintings and designs in bright colors. You can still see what it used to look like in a couple of the building's chapels.

The other major site in Avignon is the Pont St. Benezet, which was originally built between 1171 and 1185. During the middle ages, this was one of only three bridges crossing the Rhone River, and was important for pilgrims, merchants and armies. After the Papacy purchased Avignon, the bridge connected Vatican territory with the territory of France.

Although the bridge was damaged multiple times by storms, it was always rebuilt, until 1688 when an icy flood knocked out all but four of the original 22 arches of the bridge. For the last almost 350 years, the "bridge" has just been a jetty over the river.

As much as we enjoyed the sites in Provence, the real star was the food. We ate multiple fantastic meals at very reasonable prices. Shana and I continue to debate if we prefer French food or Italian food. Although we are currently leaning toward French food, we agree that more research is never a bad idea.

That concludes our brief trip to southern France. We will have more from our next trip to the US and Mexico soon.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana