My Vacation Blog: Avignon, France

Avignon - what an interesting city center! The entire city is surrounded by an old castle wall, with a few entrances for car/bike/scooter/pedestrian traffic. There were tons of people walking the streets and as a driver in the car, you do not have the right of way here. If there is somebody walking in the street, they may move, or they may not. And you drive behind them until you reach your destination or turn. Thankfully we found the hotel and parking early enough so we could explore the city.

The streets were all pretty small...

We found a small candy store that specialized in caramels, nougats, and hard candies. After about 15 caramels and a handful of hard candy later, we headed down the streets more. Lots of shopping and great places to explore. Something that many European cities offer is a public bicycle rental, in the case of Avignon, was the veloblue. With a credit card and a bit of patience, you can rent a bicycle for about 1 euro an hour. It is complete with gears for hills, a small basket in the front, and a bike lock. We rented two bikes and rode around the city for a while. We got lost, but it was ok, as we found cute stores to stop in and really got a feel for the city. We also discovered an indoor farmers market to explore - and I loved it! There were several little counters/vendor stalls all over, some offering fresh cheese and butter, another just seafood, then one with just pastas, tapenades, pestos, and spices. Claudia bought some butter and fresh goat cheese so we could go sit down at a cafe with some fresh bread and coffee.

We sat a small cafe near the market and ate our bread with some delicious coffee. I actually had two different coffees only because I enjoyed the coffee so much! And while I was relaxing, and Claudia was off in a store across the way, I made a friend. See below:

This little guy came down the stairs inside the cafe and was all over the place and skittish. Then he just walked up to me, hopped up in the chair next to me and meowed. So we sat and spoke cat for a while, until some kids on a scooter went by revving the engine and scared him. He came back for a while, but he was already distracted by the kids and wouldn't relax. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

We went to the edge of the city center to explore the bridge and a bit of the outside of the castle. The bridge didn't go all the way across as there was a flood a long time ago that washed out half the bridge. But it was neat to walk along and view the water and castle from there.