Tarasque Creature - Day 19

Song - Under Paris Skies Medley by Lee Terry Meisinger

The first stop of the day was the Flea Market in Avignon.  Lots of fun things to explore!

 But the cutest thing I saw there......

 .....was this little guy riding in his mama's purse!

 As we worked our way to the car park under the Palace, we came across some Roman architecture dating from the 1st century. Above it now sits a clothing shop!

Mr. B is pausing to look at the Pope's Palace built on rocks and to admire a song being played by the man on the right with an accordion. The sounds bouncing off the stone walls was magical!

On the way to Arles we drove along the Rhone River past some more bright red poppies and into the town of Tarascon.

 We passed by the Chateau de Tarascon with cannonball holes in the top (so Mr. B informs me).  It is a well preserved castle on the Rhone that was built by the Anjous in the 1400's.

 And the statue of the Tarasque creature is nearby. We originally drove into Tarascon to see if we could find a Tarasque T-shit for Mr. B but no T-shirt shops that we could find! I did get a ton of photos of shuttered windows and beautiful ancient doors depicting the colors of Provence.

 After parking the car in Arles, we stopped for a bite of lunch sitting outside at the Grand Cafe Malarte and then headed into the ancient part of the city.

The Roman Theater

Arles Amphitheater

 We walked around the Amphitheater and enjoyed street music, lively shops and people watching.

Van Gogh lived over a year in Arles before his breakdown.

 Streets radiated out from the arena like spokes on a bike.

 And more photos of shuttered windows for me!

Unfortunately we had to leave Arles before we were ready as our hotel had made us dinner reservations and we had to be on time!

Once again an ancient city built on rock...........it just boggles the mind....well my mind anyway!

We arrived at the restaurant just as they were opening.  It was modern and chic.  Avenio is the ancient name for Avignon we later found out.

The staff was very friendly and the food..................was incredible!

Mr. B ordered a smoked haddock for his appetizer......

While I dined on an artichoke salad with Mangalica ham & Parmesan cheese.

For our main course I ordered the asparagus risotto with morels........mmmmm......

Mr. B enjoyed Iberian ham on seasonal vegetables topped with a saffron sauce.

Dessert was shared but I can't remember what it was......yikes!


I highly recommend making reservations here if you're anywhere nearby.  The chef Jerome Nolin worked for several Michelin star(s) restaurants before opening his own place in Avignon.  You can taste and feel his passion for food!

"Seize the moment.  
Remember all those women on the Titanic 
who waved off the dessert cart."
--Erma Bombeck
 

Leaving the Land of Ack's - Day 17

Song - Sur le Pont d'Avignon

Today we are leaving the land of the "acks" - Beynac-et-Cazenac, La Roque-Gageac, Paynac, Vezac, Marcillac, Bergerac, Grogac, Peyrignac, Vitrac.......and so on and on and yack-yack-yack-yack!

We have a long day of driving ahead of us today going from Sarlat to Avignon.  Normally Mr. B loves to drive on little back roads & meandering lanes but for today we jump on a toll road so we can arrive at a reasonable hour. 

We wiz by amazing countryside castles.....

....and take a small detour to see the Mediterranean (Balearic Sea) and have lunch in the seaside town of Sete. But we are too late.....

.....by the time we park our car and walk to a restaurant near the water, it's after 2 pm!

Everything is shutting down......

But luckily with Mr. B's newly honed language skills he was able to procure us a charcuterie platter with a great glass of wine!  Delicieux!!!

They were doing some filming at the outdoor restaurant next to us so we walked over there to have a peek. A big burly guy would walk towards the group of spectators and yell "Quiet on the set!!!" And we were!

We didn't get into Avignon until 6 pm.  We had directions to park under the Palace of the Popes and to get there Mr. B had to drive under the wall of the palace through two arches.

 We have been to Avignon 4-5 times and we have always stayed at Hotel d'Europe - a luxurious hotel where they see to your every need, you have a valet park your car and deal with your luggage.  This trip - thinking of retirement - we decided to stay in a clean but small hotel where we had to bump our luggage across cobblestones from the parking garage and then carry them up three flights of very steep stairs. It worked out fine and the inn keeper was very helpful with ideas on where to eat & things to see.

Our banister on our stairs is almost vertical

 It's a beautiful warm evening here and we found a decent place to dine in the large square under the shadow of the Palace of the Popes. We watched people strolling and children riding the merry-go-round!

Did you know that Avignon became the residence of the popes in 1309 when Rome was in chaos?

"Food makes travel so exceptional, 

because you get to taste exactly what it's supposed to taste like. 

To eat the real Pad Thai or finally have a proper curry 

is something pretty amazing."

-- Meghan Markle