Tuesday, September 8, Drive from Lyon to Provence

Today, we bid adieu to lovely Lyon and "Bonjour" to Provence. The drive today will take 2-3 hours we think (but not sure), but we are not in any hurry.  Our exit from Lyon was effortless, believe it or not.  Most of the time in Europe, driving in cities is next to impossible, but to leave all we had to do was drive a few blocks to the Rhone River, take a right, and just don't make any turns and follow the river.  Even we could do this with no wrong turns!  

Driving south did not yleld any particular highlights, but we did plan a jog east before arriving in Avignon to see Le Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct and bridge that is highly recommended.  We had expected a roadside pullover, take a pic, and keep on driving, but it is really more of an organized national park.  We pulled in, parked, and there were many others today with the same plan, but it was not too overcrowded.  We passed through a visitors' center and continued on to the bridge.  It is massive!  Below is my picture, but it does not do justice to the height of this structure!

This is the view from the bridge, which we thought was rather nice:

Now we were on to Avignon. Of course, we made a few wrong turns trying to find our hotel, including just driving right past it!  Anyway, we got there.  After we checked in, it was time to explore the town.  The thing that makes Avignon famous is that for some time period (1300's to 1400's), this was the home of the Popes, who had abandoned Rome for that time period (mostly).  Anyway, to simplify history, Avignon was the home of the Pope, then it was the home of a dueling Pope (another had been declared in Rome), then it was deserted (and all of its treasures taken to Rome).  But, a wonderful structure, Le Palais du Popes, survives here in Avignon that offers a very educational tour of the mostly undecorated castle (remember, all the good stuff went back to Rome).  We took the self guided tour and enjoyed it very much.  There were cards in every room in multiple languages that told you what you were looking at.  Here is a photo of the exterior of the palace:

After the palace, we walked up to the gardens of the Rocher (Rock) to admire the views.  We then walked down to the Pont D'Avignon (bridge), which is also a major tourist site.  Most of this bridge is gone, but the views from the bridge are nice.

Our next plan was to have some rose wine which we did in the Place de l'Horlodge.  Then we took a walk in the eastern part of Avignon's city center, where we saw some of the university.  Then back to center of town where we had dinner at the restaurant at the Palais de Popes hotel.  Rob had chicken and I had steak.  It was a satisfactory meal, but not worth commenting on.  Then to bed.