Avignon - Palace of the Popes

Monday, 11 November was a public holiday in France with ceremonies for Armistice Day being held everywhere. It was VERY windy and quite cool - a good day for museums etc. On our host's recommendation, we visited the Calvert Museum, previously a private home of very wealthy people containing an interesting collection of European art from the 1300s on , European sculpture and an excellent collection of Egyptian antiquities.

In the 1300's Avignon replaced Rome as the home of the Popes for approximately 70 years. We spent a couple of hours exploring the magnificent 'Palace of the Popes'. We had lunch in a 'tiny' terrace café at the top of the Palace - glasses of vino rouge only 2 euro - I can't imagine what it would be like in summer with crowds as the steps to the terrace were extremely narrow with room for only one person at a time.

Palace of the Popes (external)



Palace of the Popes courtyard





Palace of the Popes