Walk in and around the Avignon Palace.

Walk in and around the Papal Palace.

Avignon is a city of 100,000 inhabitants on the western edge of Provence – also on the banks of the Rhône river.  I particularly like the human scale of the city centre itself, which is due to the traffic-calmed district. It’s not the old town with a beginning and an end; even I have to walk 40 minutes to get from the beginning to the end, and there are many exciting stimuli along the way. You can easily spend a day just hanging out inside the walls of the former castle; meanwhile, cars don’t run off the road, there’s room for two-wheelers.  By the way, there is a small six-seater minibus cruising around.

If I had to recommend it to tourists, I would say don’t put the Papal Palace Museum first on your list of things to see in this city, but rather go in during the rest of your time. Sure, of course, it’s nice to visit a palace but don’t expect a Papal atmosphere. Rather, expect a variety of historical sketches, grand architecture, shady walks and lots of stairs.

The entrance fee is twelve euros. This is a normal price around here. I was given a small tablet to watch the 3D presentations, which was good because it was easy to imagine what life was like here when the walls were put up, in a visual way, between the dilapidated looking old walls. For this complex is a palace in name and size only, with only traces of its grandeur still visible. To put it simply, I would say that the place has been flattened over the centuries, and a knowledge of the history of the complex makes this perfectly understandable. Sorry, I’m not a history teacher, I’ll give you the broad outline. The history of this, in a nutshell, is that previously the interested parties could not agree on who should sit on the papal throne and where, so there was one pope in Rome and another in Avignon. Once the differences had been resolved, in the following century, Rome became the universally recognised papal seat. After that, the buildings in Avignon lost their purpose, the (very spectacular) constructions carried out by the previous popes were discontinued, but there was no longer any need to preserve even the artistic treasures that had been acquired. Many, many years later it became a barracks. Now, imagine a luxurious royal palace with the discrepancy of a simple military barracks in front of it and you can understand where the former splendour has gone and why I call it a run-down. So it’s a brilliant idea, then, the tablet that comes with the entrance. Because when, over the last two centuries, archaeologists and tourists discovered the site, the experts said that they would not restore the splendour of the papacy, but that they would preserve each wall with the imprint of the age it was in, because the historical memory of each century is equally important.

We are indeed talking about a very good well-built building, there was a quote on one of the walls. « It is the most beautiful and strongest city I have ever visited. When you think of a palace, you don’t quite think of this; it’s more like a simple castle that’s totally walkable. Since I like to go through and see everything in detail, it took me four hours to walk through the whole complex, but for those who don’t want to go through everything in detail, it’s an hour and a half.  In addition to the former churches (which are majestic even in their stripped-down state) and chapels inside the museum, there is also the cathedral outside the palace.

So I’d say it’s worth a look, just don’t make it the first thing you see in Avignon. If you’re in Avignon, go to the Papal Cathedral – at the top of which is the glittering gold-plated statue.  The hill above it is the Papal Garden, not to be confused with the palace garden inside the Papal Palace, which has just been renovated and costs a separate €8 to get there.

So even above the Papal Palace there is a park, which is worth a visit for the panorama. And you can sit down there; because it’s typical of these tourist cities that there are few seats where you can actually sit down because they’re either taken or the few that are available are dirty.

So, once you’re in the park above the city centre, it’s worth taking a break and looking around. It really is an amazing panorama.

Then you can come down from there and wander around the old town. The square in front of the Papal Palace is great. Although, they’ll charge you eight euros for a cheap one of the cheaper beers, but it’s so nice to exist there in the sunshine. I know, it’s kind of clownish to just exist somewhere; you sit out listening to the street musicians, watching the crowds and taking in the buildings. 

If you keep coming down the slope – following the crowds – you’ll come to the square in front of the town hall (this is Place de l’Horloge). There’s the Opera, lots of restaurants – some with stages; good food, always a good atmosphere; it’s a real fairground. 

Continue straight ahead – downhill after the crowd. Rue de la République can be considered the main street of the city. It also functions as a shopping street. It is completely closed during street festivals. If you like shopping, you should definitely walk along here. That’s not why I recommend it, but because you can see beautiful buildings looking left and right upwards. At the very end of this long straight street is the central train station, now being renovated into a very nice building.  By the way, at the end of the street is the prefecture headquarters, which in Hungary we would call the government office. It’s interesting because it has a slightly different style. It’s more of a neoclassical building, as opposed to the long-windowed, limestone beauties of Provence. Now parallel to this main street, but up to the left of it, are also classic Provençal streets. These pedestrianised areas are packed with shops, flea markets, restaurants and romantic squares. A stroll through them will give you an insight into the architecture and characteristics of the place.

The market is also part of this pedestrian area and is worth a visit because its main façade is covered with plants. It is open until 2pm. You have to go in and taste everything, smell all the spice pots. You will be bliss.
Exit the market hall through the back door, turn left and you will find my favourite street. This is a creekside street with the wheels of former mills. It’s a real cobblestone walkway, the kind that isn’t made flat to level; it’s a concrete paved street, I wouldn’t dare roll down it even on a scooter; but it has such a nice vibe that it’s worth the cat-rocks. It’s full of stunts, sit-outs, artists.  Especially in early summer when it’s full of festivals.

Look for the universities roughly behind the Papal Palace and Place de l’Horloge. There’s always a good atmosphere in this area too, but it’s a bit less crowded than the main street, and there are fewer cars and more music. 

Sunsets are good to watch from the terraces of the Papal estate, but before the sun rises, the riverbank is the most beautiful place to see the dawn. Let’s go to the promenade on the far bank, where the campsite is.  In the early morning, you can still see the illuminated Papal grounds and the Pont d’Avignon, one of the most spectacular sights in the city. It’s the crossing that all the isms were swept away by the floods, and then the locals decided not to rebuild it. Some tourists love to walk out onto the remaining half of the bridge. By the way, there’s a street under the Papal Garden that leads out onto what’s left of the bridge, but I think you get a good view from the top and of the river – and from the aforementioned walkway from the campsite.

What else is there to see in Avignon? For example, you can take the trams to the outskirts of town, where you can do some good sport and shopping. Around the city, there are great hikes – for example.  By the way, the TGV train stops on the outskirts of the city, but what did I say, the main station is in the core of the city.
The old town, the one that’s delimited by the old city wall, and there’s a boulevard that runs along it, and a tramway, for example.
So, on this boulevard is the train station (Gare centrale) and right next to it is the bus station (Gare rutiére PMR). It has also been recently renovated, and it’s worth a walk around because it has a very nice atmosphere – like the whole city.