Arles to Avignon

This morning we leave Arles, France and sail up river to Avignon, with a quick stop to pick up some folks that went on an optional tour to Le Baux and Carrieres de Lumieres. We’ll ride there on our bike tour afterwards, so we skipped it.

We got up a bit early and had a snack at the 6 am early bird breakfast. Then Donna and I went for a run. I got 5K going on the other side of the river. The path has farmland on one side about 100 m from the river. When we returned, our boat now had two boats outside of it.

We walked over to the summer park behind the Roman theater that is still used.

We recorded 10 different bird species in eBird.

We got back to the boat by 11 am. They had rearranged the boats so that our boat was on the outside while we were in the park.

We talked with the captain and showed him the weather radar. The forecast had rain in it, but the rain almost encircled Arles about 30+ miles away. It mostly stayed that way the entire day.

I saw a fox come down to the river to drink while we sailed upriver.

We sailed up the river till about 1 pm, and picked up the optional tour folks. Then we had lunch.

After lunch I worked on bird photos, then took a nap as we continued to sail up the river to Avignon.

We arrived in Avignon at 3:30 and set off on our walking tour at 3:45.

The old city walls of Avignon are still mostly intact.

We walked over to the Pope’s Palace and toured inside it. It sprinkled a bit right before we entered the palace.

There was a fire in the palace that destroyed much of the painted plaster in some areas. But the pope’s bedroom and study was in an older part and that was not damaged in the fire. It’s 700 years old. No Photos allowed in that portion.

Our guide demonstrated the acoustics of the Pontifical Chapel by singing a solo, which was empty when we visited. The chapel is bare stone, without any wall hangings or chairs.

You can hear the long reverberation time of the large room. I wonder if singing is a job requirement for the guides. Our guide sang very well.

It was finished sprinkling when we emerged from the palace and went back to the boat for dinner.