46. Avignon - île de la Barthelasse

île de la Barthelasses is the biggest river island in Europe, and provides a playground for Avignon. We didn't pay a visit until our last morning, which was a Sunday. We found many people strolling, walkign their dogs, playing with their kids, setting up picnics, and all the sort of things that people do on Sundays the world over.

And we discovered a very nice municipal swimming pool, though it was a bit hard to see as you had to walk up a driveway and through a cafe/restaurant area. We settled in for a coffee and tea, and watched the few kids who were playing in the pool. One young lad took quite awhile to get u the courage to leap from the 3m board; you could feel the tension amongst the cafe crowd, and the collective exhilation when he finally took the plunge, and once he did, he was back for more.

We didn't have our swimming stuff with us, but it was also a little cool. The days previously had been sunny and bright, but the famous mistral had also been blowing, so apart from our excursion to Cassis, swimming wasn't high on our agenda. Mind you, if I had my cossie, I would have taken the plunge!

Below: View of Pont Saint-Bénezet from the island