Mercure Avignon Cite Papes 3m

... over 1.5 million tourists each year as it is the source of a natural spring. It's wierd seeing a fast flowing river and then walking 50 metres "upstream" and there only being a trickle.. and then a bit further and no water... nothing but a big cliff straight up! <br><br>The town itself is nestled in a valley and is particularly pretty at dusk when rocks take on the colours of the sunset ...

... than the amphitheater, it was a semi-circular shape and only seated 10 000. Not much remains but 2 columns, 6 bits of columns, and piles and piles of rubble with fantastic carvings on them. It&#8217;s amazing to think of a nation who worked so ***********quer other lands. And not just conquer, but build amazing structures, theaters, coliseums, walls, and aqua-ducts. And other ...

... to wander around this town ad see the exact places that are pictured in famous works. It&#8217;s amazing how much closer you can feel to a person just knowing you&#8217;ve been to the same places. But of course, 120 years later things have changed. Buildings are gone, skylines have changed, and 20th century influence is everywhere! Not quite as romantic ...

... avoided freeways and tolls, again, picturing rustic countryside, small villages and lots of photo stops. What we got was semi mountainous terrain, narrow roads, minimal line markings and a distinct lack of guard rails. The road less travelled lasted about 5 minutes before we begged the tom-tom to take us to road tolls and freeways!!!<br> <br>After about 60kms of lovely autobahn (130 speed limit, unless it's raining.. only 110 then) we hit another semi ...

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... which we took with us on our second day when we had booked a boat trip around the Birunji islands with a stop for lunch and a swim at a remote island. As the boat set off the heavens opened and we couldn't see much of the islands (supposedly full of wildlife) through the rain storm. In an attempt to raise our spirits the captain cracked open a few bottles of wine and kept us well topped up, which meant by the time we arrived at our lunch stop both Steve ...

... show which usually cost 10&euro; but was free on this particular night. And on a backpacker budget, free = excellent value. The show was incredibly wierd, i think that it had something to do with the french having a warped sense of humour, we found it a little tacky but still entertaining, but it seemed like the french loved it. Its a hard story to explain, but short version is that these 2 guys in nappies are connected through the ...

Leaving behind the French Riviera early in the morning we headed for Provence, our first stop being Avignon. This village town was once home to the Papal Palace. In 1309, when a French pope was elected, he decided to 'pack up and ship out' of Italy into France. The other highlight here is the medieval bridge, St. Benezet Bridge, which was made famous by a nursery rhyme, "Pont d'Avignon." The bridges construction and location were inspired by a shepherds ...

... looks just like you would expect a town in Provence to look. There are all of these apartment buildings with flower boxes and wooden shutters with old paint and tile roofs. The only tourist stuff I did there was the Palais du Papes and the park above it. The park is really orderly and there are a lot of weird birds that hang about. You can get a good view over the river that goes through town and the various castles on the hills nearby. The Palais du ...