AVIGNON

Avignon was our final destination in France, and we actually enjoyed it for different reasons than we had originally expected. The initial reason we went to Avignon was to see the famous lavender fields that are found in that region.

Our first day out in Avignon happened to be the Fourth of July! We tried to celebrate in American style, so we decided to get a burger and fries. It was actually pretty good! Marcus’s French chops were progressively getting better, so he did most of the talking. He ordered the meal in French while I just sat there like some idiot, accidentally responding in Korean any time someone tried to talk to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Coincidentally, we happened to be in Avignon right as they were putting on their annual festival! It’s a theatre festival where there are hundreds of productions put on every day all around the city. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up seeing any productions, but we certainly saw their posters. The entire downtown area is plastered with posters during the festival and actors are walking around handing out small ads for their shows. A lot of them are dressed up and singing; it’s a pretty good time. We were also able to try some lavender ice cream – which I found delightful. Marcus wasn’t a fan. The best part of the festival for us was the street performers. We saw break dancers, someone playing a saw (yes, like a tree saw) as an instrument, artists, musicians, and even someone putting on a show around their Fushigi balls. We ended up talking to one of the musicians. He was an Australian guitarist so Marcus easily struck up a conversation with him. I think he was a bit starved for English conversation because he ended up talking to us for about 20 minutes. But we’re always happy to shoot the breeze with an Aussie!

Time for a History Lesson. From 1309 to 1377 there were seven Popes who lived in Avignon rather than in Rome. It’s actually a pretty fascinating story. What that meant for us is that we were able to see a Papal Palace! The whole city of Avignon is surrounded by a huge wall which was built in the 1st century by the Romans. More was added on as the Pope decided to reside here. The walls and the Papal Palace give the city a very medieval vibe, and it was really cool walking through through the walls every day to get to the city.

France was still experiencing an intense heat wave so we decided to take a day to swim! Near Avignon is the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct that is still standing today. A river runs underneath it, and it’s a popular swimming place. We brought our Kindles and some salmon wraps and spent the day in the refreshing water marveling at the ancient architecture. There were some fish in the water, and there were a few rocks to jump off of. Oh, and I filled up my Hydro Flask with some of the crystal clear water spouting from the fountains everywhere. All around, it was a great day!

Ok, buckle in as I recount one of our rougher days. Remember from the beginning how I told you the whole point of us coming to Avignon was to see the lavender fields? Here starts our journey to see them. On our final day in Avignon, we left our Airbnb with backpacks in tow late in the morning. Our bus wasn’t until 11 pm so we had the whole day to finally go see the lavender I had been dreaming about. We left our backpacks in the city and got on a bus to a city near a beautiful monastery with picturesque lavender fields sprawled out in front of it. Our plan was to rent bikes and take the short 5 kilometer ride there, snap a few pictures with the lavender, have a picnic in front of it, bike back and leave that night. It turned out a little differently.

We got off the bus, got our bikes, and hit the road. It wasn’t too bad for the first few minutes; a bit of a workout but no big deal. We rode past vineyards and some beautiful sights of the French countryside. And then we hit the hill. This seems to be a recurring theme on our trip: unexpectedly happening upon giant hills that we are in no way prepared for. We started biking up but quickly realized neither one of us was in good enough shape to take on this monster. We took a few breaks and saw some intense bikers ride by. They were decked out in biking gear and even they were breaking a sweat and straining themselves to make it to the top. We ended up walking our bikes for a while and then ran out of water. Keep in mind that France was experiencing a crazy heat wave and we’re not exactly in the best shape of our lives. We needed water. So we went as far as we could, and eventually found some. At this point we had been riding for a few hours and had expected to already be on our way back.

Luckily, the place we found was the incredibly gorgeous town of Gordes. It was the quaintest, most beautiful town on a hill you could imagine. Cobblestone streets wind around the hill on a backdrop of Provence. We took in one of the most glorious views we have ever seen and re-calculated how the day would go. We were only 1 kilometer away from the monastery, but we only had an hour and a half to get back and make it to the final bus for the night. We wouldn’t be seeing any lavender that day. We started back and kept remarking that biking downhill is a MUCH different experience than biking uphill! It was fun to zip down with no effort in about a quarter of the time. We did, of course, experience one more hiccup where I hit a curb wrong and biffed it on the side of the road. I tore up my hand and my knees. It hurt. However, by some stroke of luck, I did manage to crash right next to a few wild lavender bushes! It was almost worth it.

Luckily, we made our bus! Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the ordeal we were getting into. We picked up our bags and waited a few more hours for our bus, and at 11 pm started towards Lyon. We arrived at 2 am and waited until 5 am out on the street since the bus station was closed. We camped out in front of some hotels and I tried to get a little bit of shut eye. Sleeping on the street is no joke, and we vowed to only travel in the day time after this. 5 am finally came and we were one of the first people in the bus station. Of course, our second bus was about an hour late, but we finally got on. We hadn’t showered, brushed our teeth, or gotten any real sleep for about 24 hours at this point. We were in rough shape, but we were almost to our next destination: Zermatt, Switzerland.