Avignon “must-see”s
21 11 2007Today we set out from the hotel and stopped next door at a great brasserie for a nice 5 € / person petit-dejuner. This consisted of a hot beverage (coffee, tea, or hot chocolate), freshly baked bread, butter, jelly, a croissant, and a small (and I mean small) glass of orange juice. The cafe-au-lait they make there was fantastic. Seems like a good deal but hurts a bit when you realize that 5 € = $ 7.50.
So back to the story. We then went across the street to the Tourist information office (did I mention how our hotel’s location was so handy) and asked about the Avignon Passion tourist card. This allows discount admission to some of the city’s attractions, once you pay full price for the first one. We picked up our cards and walked to the Palais des Papes, about a half-mile away.
This was a sight to see. Apparently the seat of the Catholic church was not always in the Vatican City. Before it was there, it was in Avignon. The Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) is Europe’s largest gothic palace, and it got that way because each Pope commissioned some kind of new wing or other construction, adding on to what they inherited from the previous Pope. The artwork on the walls was amazing. The sheer size of some of the rooms was ridiculous - especially when you considered that it is built out of stone. At the entrance, we were given these audio tour devices that looked like enormous cell phones and played an audio segment in British English when you typed in the numeric code for the room you were in. I opted not to carry one around. Instead, I took all the pictures while Meghan gave me synopses of the more interesting trivia.
After leaving the Palais des Papes, it was early afternoon so we stumbled on a little cafe and had a quick lunch. I had the quiche I think. It wasn’t very noteworthy but the woman running the place was nice.
From there we headed to Avignon’s other “must-see”, the Pont d’Avignon (bridge of Avignon). This was built a long time ago at an incredible cost and used to be much longer than it is now. The bridge had been damaged by floods several times, rebuilt each time until at some point they said “screw it” and left it the way it is now. Sorry this lacks of detail - once again, I took the pictures and the women had the big cell phones. Perhaps they can post and fill in some of the trivia.
On our way back to the hotel we discussed what we should do with the remainder of our time in Provence. Today was Wednesday so we had tomorrow and Friday to fill with our choice of several things to do. We ended up booking a tour for tomorrow. Stay tuned for that.
We then discussed where we should eat. I wanted Provencal food, and everyone else wanted just food (and since they were getting hungry they were going to win). We called one place that advertised authentic cuisine of the area but they sounded a bit shaky on the phone (I think they were actually in a car driving around instead of at the restaurant - weird), so we decided to nix that idea and walk to a street that our travel book said was packed with restaurants. It was several blocks away and we passed a few promising looking places on our way there. When we got to this street, there were 2 restaurants and a bookstore open. The two restaurants were both of the northern African cuisine type and didn’t appeal to us so we walked back the several blocks and went in “L’epice and Love” (a clever play on words that sounds like le peace and love) to meet Marie.
Marie was a lovely person who spoke great English (in part due to her living in San Diego for a while) and apparently was also a superb cook. She took the time to thoroughly explain the menus to us (which change daily, by the way). The way the French menus work is there are three sections to the menus: Entrees, Plats, and Desserts. Usually, you paid a set price for choosing something from 2 of the 3 sections, and a bit more if you wanted all three. At “L’epice and Love” it was 16 € 50 (16 and a half Euros) for the Grand Tour. I chose a salad for my Entree (which came with a generous helping of Roquefort), stewed Lamb for my Plat and Creme Brulee for my Dessert. An unbelievable gastronomic experience, and a bargain. Throw in the geniality of Marie and you get what I would call another “must-see” for Avignon.
And I had pumpkin soup, sole in a light pesto sauce, and creme brulee for dessert. Yum! The next day, Suz, Cindy and I went back while poor Steve stayed at the hotel because he was sick. It was just as delicious as the previous day. I decided to be adventurous and try the squid for my main course. It was excellent! They were very large pieces (not like calamari), cooked in a curry sauce. They almost tasted like scallops. For dessert Marie made pumpkin pie especially for us because it was our Thanksgiving! She said it was actually sweet potatoes with orange water for flavor. Perhaps we’ll have to try that for Pie and Wine night Sarah.