Avignon on my own

Breakfast today was French toast (raisin bread).

Raisin bread French toast

A was doing the aqueduct tour. I was to get a taxi. I left after all the tours were gone, and I asked Midge (Artie's wife) if she would like to go along, and she did.

Taking out the garbage

We got a nice taxi driver - he was taking us to the Antiquities of St. Remy when I saw a cemetery that was in St. Remy

Cemetery walls

so we went there and I took some photos. It was a very big municipal cemetery.

St Remy Municipal Cemetery

There were a lot of roundabouts with statues etc in them.

Giratoire du MOULIN

After we saw the Triumphal Arch and the Mausoleum (the Antiquities of St. Remy)

The Mausoleum and the Triumphal Arch Dating from about 20 BC

we went to Les Baux. We passed fields of olive trees on one side

Olive trees

and grape vines on the other. At Les Baux, there were lots and lots of people looking at it. I didn't go in, I just took photos from the car.

Les Baux

Les Baux

View from Les Baux

Desolate rocks

Other side of Les Baux

View from the other side of Les Baux

There was a fancy hotel -Baumaniere- there at the base of the hill.

Baumiere Hotel - a big fancy hotel near Les Baux

We drove

Road with plane trees

Camargue Bull monument, Beaucaire

to Tabescon to see

King Rene's castle

King Rene's castle

and to see St. Marthe's church across the street.

Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon

Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon or Collégiale Royale Sainte-Marthe is a collegiate church in Tarascon, France, dedicated to Saint Martha. It is where, according to a local tradition, the biblical figure Martha is buried. I have compared my photo of 1964 - in those days the church steeple was gone and I don't think it was open.

Then and Now- Collegiate Church of Saint Martha

Tower

Doors

Sainte MARTHE Hotesse du CHRIST

There was a statue of what looked like a six legged turtle with a human face in the median.

La Tarasque, a Medieval Monster

A Tarasque is a dragon with six stubby bear legs, the body of an ox, and the grumpy face of a powerful lion. With its short, fat body, It would almost be cute, until you realize the Tarasque also has a wildly-swinging scorpion tail and thorny turtle shell.

As legend would have it, the Tarasque migrated from Central Turkey and was almost impossible to kill. Knights and Kings chopped with every weapon they could find yet the beast eluded them. Some time around the the 1st century, St. Martha, one of the biblical figures that witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, took care of the problem. She simply charmed the beast and brought it back to Tarascon. Unfortunately, the villagers still feared the monster and killed it, even though it made no attempt to attack or even defend itself.

After the beast was killed, the town’s people felt guilty and named their town after the dragon they had slain.

Castle town

It was now about noon and the driver wanted to know what we would want to do for lunch and Midge said she wanted a place with a bathroom. We were close to the ship so I thought if I let her off at the ship, she could have lunch and a bathroom there and I could take the last few photos in Avignon. But after she got out of the car, I saw that she could not get out on the ship because they were moving them (we were rafted on Tauck's Emerald Princess). The ship people said they would put her in the shade, but she did not get back on until just before I got back. I apologized to Artie, but even though he said not to worry about it, I don't think he has forgiven me. It was hot and she really needed a bathroom.

I did take some photos of the Pope's palace, and of the town and walls of Avignon

Avignon wall

Avignon wall

Avignon Street

Street in Avignon

Flags in Avignon

Pope's Palace

Hotel d'Europe

Restaurant Christian Etienne behind the Pope's Palace

Sign on the Pope's Palace

Pope's Palace

Pope's Palace

Pope's Palace

Window in the Pope's Palace

Wall of Avignon

Pope's Palace rises above the town

Pope's palace

Avignon wall

Bridge at Avignon

Then the driver took me back to the ship. He only charged me €250 and I gave him €20 as a tip as he did a really good job for me. (Although at one point he said he was a racing driver instructor - except for one time when he cut from the fast lane all the way over to the right turn lane, I didn't have a problem with his driving). Incidentally the driver said that just before he picked us up he had taken a pianist from our ship and a lady to the hospital - the pianist with a broken hand and the lady with a heart attack. Dragan said that the pianist had slipped on the stairs and had just sprained his hand catching himself. He was the ship's pianist and not the one from the Jazz group.

I did not have lunch - I downloaded photos and took a nap and then went to Afternoon tea.

Tea in the Lounge

A's afternoon excursion was to the truffle farm and they got back so late that we had the disembarkation lecture at 7:45 after the Jazz concert.

We had dinner. I had

Strawberry-Lime Smoothie

Osso Bucco

"Eclair" Choux pastry , Praline Cream and Hazelnut Ice Cream

a chocolate eclair which they called a Choux pastry. A. had ice cream

Ice Cup Pina Colada

At about 10

Ferris wheel at night

Pope's palace at night

the ship cruised down to the old bridge at Avignon (from the song about the bridge).
It was very dark but I got a few reasonable photos.

Avignon Bridge at night

Avignon Bridge at night

I have a lot of comparison photos to arrange (Then and Now comparisons of 1964 and 2019), which I will add at the end. The only ones I have done so far are the Antiquities of St. Remy. In common with a lot of the other places - in 1964, there was nobody around. Now there is a car park and everything.

The Mausoleum, or Cenotaph of the Julii - Then and Now

This funerary monument dates from 30-20 BCE. Particularly well preserved, it is famous for its unusual structure, unique in Roman architecture: from a rectangular pedestal with four carved faces rises to triumphal arch, on a small round temple housing the effigies of two members of the Gallo Roman family of the Julii, to whom this monument is dedicated. On the left the photo I took in 1964 and on the right the photo I took in 2019

The Triumphal Arch of the Antiquities of St Remy - Then and Now

It has lost the pediment which once crowned the arch. It is decorated with beautiful reliefs illustrating Caesar's conquest of the Gauls, with fruit and foliage, symbolizing plenty, carved under the arch. I couldn't get quite the same angle this time but at the top 1964 and bottom 2019. In the Then photo, there is a boy climbing on the Arch on the right side.