42. Avignon - Sur le pont (Pont St-Bénezet)

Listen and watch here (click)

Les beaux messieurs font comm’ ça

Et puis encore comm’ ça.
The handsome gentlemen go this way

Then again go that way

Chorus:

Sur le pont d’Avignon

L'on y danse, l'on y danse

Sur le pont d’Avignon

L'on y danse tous en rond
On the bridge of Avignon

We all dance there, we all dance there

On the bridge of Avignon

We all dance there in a ring

Les belles dames font comm’ ça

Et puis encore comm’ ça.
The beautiful ladies go this way

Then again go that way

Les militaires font comm’ ça

Et puis encore comm’ ça
The soldiers go this way

Then again go that way

Les musiciens font comm’ ça

Et puis encore comm’ ça.
The musicians go this way

Then again go that way

Pont St-Bénezet originally spanned the Rhône between Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the opposite bank. It was built between 1171 and 1185, with an original length of 900 m but it suffered frequent collapses during floods and had to be reconstructed several times. Over the centuries, it became increasingly perilous as arches collapsed and were replaced by rickety wooden sections. It was finally put out of use by a catastrophic flood in 1668, which swept away much of the structure. It was subsequently abandoned and no more attempts were made to repair it. Since then, its surviving arches have successively collapsed or been demolished, and only four of the initial 22 arches remain intact today.

In fact, people probably would have danced beneath the bridge (sous le pont) where it crossed the Ile de Barthelasse on its way to Villeneuve. The island was (and still is) a popular recreation spot, with pleasure gardens, and folk dancing was a popular pastime for many years. The bridge itself is far too narrow and slippery and uneven to have accommodated dancers.

The song was originally composed by the 16th century composer Pierre Certon, though with a very different melody to its present version and under the more accurate title of "Sus (sic) le Pont d'Avignon". The modern version only dates from the mid-19th century, when Adolphe Adam included it in an 1853 operetta entitled l'Auberge Pleine. It was popularised by an 1876 operetta which renamed the song, as currently, "Sur le Pont d'Avignon." (Thanks Wikipedia)

There's an interesting little museum in the bridge, where you can listen to various versions of the song.

43. Avignon - The Town

To Avignon, where are other gorgeous and delightful friend, Nathalie, took great care of us and helped us find our bearings. Nathalie, like Jilly, is a bloggy friend, who also takes stunning photos. (OK, you could argue that the south of France provides a ready-made palette for successful shutter-bugging, but this pair have serious talent). You can also meander around Nathalie's photo blog Avignon In Photos to discover aspects of her home town we just couldn't uncover in our fleeting visit.

Below: The view from Nathalie's terrace, across the rooftops to the Palais des Papes
Below: Nathalie's view in the other direction
Below: On a trip to the supermarket, we discovered varieties of coke we never knew existed. We lined them all up for a snap.
Below: One of the gates in the old walls. Along with the locals we parked our hire car outside the walls, where it is free. We were staying about 100 metres' walk inside the wall.

Below: View of the Rhône across Île de la Barthelasse to the castle in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon (see separate entry). Taken from Rocher des Doms, a park atop the bluff. The vineyard is a recreation of vineyards that existed at the time the popes occupied Avignon in the first half of the 14th century.

Below: Notification from the local council indicating that a resident within the building has approval for traffic to be halted outside for a specified time and date (14 June from 08:00 to 18:00). Because the streets are so narrow, this approval must be sought if you wish to arrange delivery of whitegoods or material to be carted away, etc. Nathalie explained that you go to the mairie (town hall) with your proposed date and time, and permission is granted as long as there is not a conflicting demand in a street required for diversion of traffic from yours! The Town Hall keeps the "master plan" . And it works.
Below: Ice cream pit-stop in Rocher des Doms.
Below: Cathédral Notre dame des Doms and Palais des Papes
Below: Outside the Palais des Papes
Below: Palais des Papes
Below: Trompe l'oeil people watching over Avignon
Below: A Sunday morning stroll along Rue de la République

Below: Pretty window
Below: The facade of Les Halles (the indoor market) features this astounding "vertical garden" . I've never seen anything like it before, and found it might impressive. Inside, the food stands are mouth-wateringly delectable, and one of the few places to get food on a Sunday morning. It looked like lots of people were stocking up on sweets and cakes, tartes and viandes before heading off to maison maman et grand-mère 's for Sunday lunch!


Below: A certain Italo-Australian goes native in France, ensuring that his morning baguette doesn't get home end intact! Sprung!
Below: Hmmm - edible g-strings?

44. Avignon - Rue des Teinturiers (Street of the Dyers)

Our spartment was in a street which ran into Rue des Teinturiers. The street was traditionally where fabric dyers worked. The River Sorgue powered the water wheels which powered the mills along the street.

Nowadays there's a myriad tiny theatres and lots of snall cafes and bars lining the street. Avignon hosts an annual, world-renowned Festival of Theatre, when performances take splace all over town, including in some of these theatres which are as tiny as 50 seats. The cafes would place a couple of tiny tables outside under the plane trees alongside the river.

When we were there, performances were taking place in some of the performance spaces, and we often passed evening audiences spilling into the narrow cobble-stoned street, enlivening it with chatter.

The street seemed to be a centre of "bohemian" Avignon. Here's some scenes from Rue des Teinturiers. I regret not taking more photos in the area, but I think it was a case that we were often "passing through" on the way elsewhere!

Below: A restaurant named Woolloomooloo, which, despite its name (a Sydney harbour suburb), bears no connection to Australia these days. Nathalie said the name is a mystery to the current owners! Its warm, red glow at night was a beacon to us, for it was located at the corner of the street we were living in.

45. Avignon -artistic walls

Lots of trompe l'oeil and posters and stencil art/graffiti around Avignon. Here's a selection of what I saw.

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