Category Archives: Avignon

Avignon, Marseilles Airport, Tarascon and Arles

Avignon, Tarascon and a nasty surprise at the end of our cruise.

1 Comment

River cruising this summer had not turned out as we hoped. Having to chose this cruise instead of one that would take us to Eastern Europe due to low water, had been disappointing. Yes, Provence is beautiful and there is always something interesting to see, but in thinking it over, I probably would have oped just to fly to Budapest, stay in a nice hotel instead of cruising and take short tours around the Hungarian countryside. We would have saved money and had an entirely different experience. Unfortunately last week, I had only had a few hours to made a decision which further complicated matters, and we had loved the Catherine… So no point in second guessing.

A look at Avignon at sunrise, before this busy tourist city wakes up. The view is from the opposite bank and you can see the stub of Le Pont de Avignon and the walls and palace in the distance.

The last two days of the cruise featured places we had already toured on our previous cruise on the Catherine. We had then spent 4 days after the cruise in Avignon touring the countryside, so Friday’s walking tour had little appeal. Avignon is one of the places where the cruise ships dock right next to the quay, and there were many ships there when we arrived. All the popular lines were represented, so we got a chance to walk along the quay later on and compare ships. As always, we thought our Uniworld ship was the best maintained of the lot.

Avignon is also a very walk-able city however if you are not a good walker, it may present difficulties. It is a walled city, that is 2 1/2 miles of walls circle the historic area; you can climb to the top for a magnificent view. However, the Rhone docks are outside the walls so one must walk a ways to get to one of the entrance gates. Then if you intend to visit the Palace of the Popes, this means more walking and lots of walking inside because the place is huge. Consequently if you decide to stay on in Avignon after the cruise as we had done, be sure to book a hotel or B&B inside the walls. You will be inside the historic district with far less traffic to contend with during your stay. The city of Avignon is working to disallow any traffic withing the historic area but that has not happened yet.

Riding on the Petit train through the streets of the historic district.

The first part of the morning’s tour was a ride on the Petit Train which goes around the walls and then through the gates through the historic district. Some of the streets in the historic district are so narrow that even the train barely got through. We passed by the B&B we stayed at 2 years ago, and enjoyed our ride this time more than we had then. Our particular train seemed quite new and rode fairly smoothly while the first time the ride was rough and even worse, we sat in the back of the last car. This meant we bounced on the cobblestones quite a bit. This would not be a good place to sit if you have back trouble! Incidentally, the train company provides headsets with narration in a variety of languages, tho the quality of the sound is not the best.

Our train ride took quite a while as there are 11 stops where people can get on or off. We then walked back to the Catherine and spent a leisurely afternoon people and boat watching. Uniworld offered several excursion opportunities after lunch. The first was a chance to kayak on the Gardon River, ending up near the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct.

A decade ago we might have chanced it, but today, if we could even get into a kayak, they would probably have to pull us out with a block and tackle. It was a pleasant sunny afternoon, good for this kind of adventure and quite a few of the younger passengers signed up. They got back a few hours later, sweaty and damp, but most really enjoyed it.

A view of the Pont du Gard Aqueduct from the River Gardon. This is where our kayakers ended their journey.

The second option was a tour of the Pont du Gard aqueduct which involved a bus ride through the countryside. The Ramblers would have enjoyed the ride but since we had already visited the Pont du Gard, decided to pass on this option as well, especially since there were limited seats available.

The Mirande is a boutique hotel, furnished in 18th century style. Maybe a little too posh for our tastes.

The next two choices involved an extra charge; the first a cooking lesson at the Hotel La Mirande was 165 Eur per person and the other a Tasting of Chateauneuf de Pape onboard the Catherine 59 Eur per person. La Mirande is a very highly rated hotel with a famous restaurant in the Historic area of Avignon but cooking lessons didn’t have much appeal. In these you get involved in the preparation which I have no desire to do, as I am a kitchen veteran of many decades. As for the wine tasting, our first cruise was in Bordeaux and by this time, I was wine-ding down my consumption. There is sometimes too much of a good thing available.

The cooking school is held here, not as fancy as the hotel dining room but very well equipped.

Nevertheless, Avignon is a charming place, and you can experience it even if you don’t bustle about touring but just enjoy the atmosphere.

That night was our grand farewell dinner and as usual it was excellent. They usually have surf and turf and I get to eat the senior Rambler’s lobster,I also got to eat his Oyster’s Rockefeller….

This shell did hold a delicious oyster, no pearl but who cares.

Fortunately the portions are not huge, which we prefer, as our stomachs seem to have shrunk in the last decade. Love the baked Alaska, something I never make at home, but enjoy.

Here is the Baked Alaska in all of its glory. Yum!

Why have the farewell dinner on the next to last night of the cruise? Well it does make sense, because that last evening everyone is very busy packing and some have a very early departure, before 6 AM in some cases. The airport that serves Avignon is in Marseilles, and that is at least a 50 minute drive. Consequently, not everyone would have enjoyed a leisurely dinner on the last night of the cruise if they had an early flight out of Provence.

When docked, the Catherine often glows in neon blue-green. It is a charming sight.

The Catherine set sail for Tarascon at at 5 AM, needless to say, we slept right through it but were in the restaurant for breakfast by 8 AM. We watched our ship dock at the Halte Fluviale in Tarascon. Tarascon is a town with a population of about 10,000 as opposed to Arles, a short distance further on with 40,000. I wondered why the Uniworld ships didn’t dock there but they seem to prefer Tarascon. I am not sure why because it is a very sunbaked area and also a fairly long walk to the town gates. Arles is as far as any cruise line travels on the Rhone as both Tarascon and Arles are near the edge of the Rhone estuary. The river itself splits into two there as it flows towards the Mediterranean. Between Arles and the sea is the land of Camargue with its black cattle, cowboys, swamps and famous sea salt. It sounded interesting but there was no time to set up a tour of the area.

Aerial view of Tarascon, with a good view of the castle, St. Martha’s church is close to the castle in the center.
The castle of King Rene sits right at the edge of the Rhone and is surrounded by pavement. Here it looks romantic, close up it seems a little forlorn.

Tarascon has two claims to fame, the Castle of King Rene, perched right on the river bank, with a highway running past it. It is visible from a long way off; it is the one castle that we saw which was not on a hill and easily accessible to all. It dates back to the early middle ages and is quite impressive tho sadly out of place now in its modern surroundings.

The Tarasque before it was tamed, part lion, part dragon part bear and totally scary.

Probably more notable is its claim to be the home of the Tarasque, a fearsome dragon which seemed to be made of spare animal body parts. The Tarasque terrorized the citizens of Tarascon until it was tamed by St. Martha who had arrived there to convert them. Although she was successful in her conversion efforts, the Tarasque sadly was killed by the locals who evidently didn’t trust that it had turned over a new leaf. St Martha’s Church was built in the middle ages to memorialize the saint’s activities in Tarascon. You are allowed to take this tale with a grain of salt but it does have a worthwhile moral.

Now for the nasty surprise. The afternoon of our day at Tarascon, the wind started to come up. Tarascon is a very dusty place, as is Avignon. The soil is sandy and dry and when the wind picks up, it blows dust all over. When the wind turns into the Mistral, clouds of dust are visible in the air. The Mistral is a cold wind which can blow up to 60 mph. When this happens everyone stays inside.

A view of the tourist area with Mistral blowing as you can see the family heading into the wind. The Ferris wheel was wobbling and shut down. I learned later that they only have it up during June, July and part of August. Must be quite a job to disassemble. Many day tourists are parked outside the walls.

This was bad news for the Rambler who has asthma which has lately turned into COPD. By the time we got back to Avignon in the late afternoon the wind was even stronger and I had some chest congestion, and as the evening went on, it got worse. Of course I used my inhaler, and tried to enjoy the evening. We said our good-byes to the people we had met onboard as we were leaving at different times and also to the wonderful Uniworld staff, including the Hotel Manager, Ivana Pavkejova, and our favorite Cruise Director, Emmanuelle Bonneau.

The senior Ramble surrounded by two very attractive women, Ivana and Emmanuelle. He doesn’t seem to mind.

That night I spent the worst night I ever experienced on a cruise. After the senior Rambler and I said good night, we entered our separate cabins. Once inside I changed and sat down when without warning, my asthma turned into the worst case of bronchitis I ever had. I spent the night wheezing and gasping for breath. To add insult to injury, I now had a temp. There was no point in waking the senior Rambler; he needed his sleep and there was nothing he could do. I took aspirin and used my inhaler to no avail. I knew I would need some steroids and antibiotics but nothing could be done until morning. Fortunately our flight was later in the afternoon, and the next morning I checked with the purser about seeing a doctor. Of course it was Sunday and everything moves slower on Sunday in France.

Avignon is a larger city, with many doctors and a hospital, and Uniworld maintains a list of physicians on call. So I sat glumly wheezing away on the sundeck to await the doctor watching the people getting blown about by the Mistral.

After an hour or so, the Ramblers spotted a youngish man with long curly hair wearing a t shirt and chinos striding towards the Catherine. We knew it had to be the doctor. And so it was. Dr. Skippy(Not his name but the senior Rambler’s nickname) did know his stuff, and prescribed some medicines for severe bronchitis. One thing I didn’t know was that you had to pay the doctor in cash. The purser did know this and I was able to purchase the necessary Euros onboard before we had an embarrassing moment They do NOT take credit cards..

Next we had to get my prescriptions filled. On Sunday all pharmacies are closed — except one near the hospital. Uniworld got us a taxi and when we got there, many people were waiting for their prescriptions. Eventually mine were filled, and we headed back to the boat in plenty of time for our trip to the Marseilles Airport.

Aerial view of the Marseilles Airport. As you can see it is right on the Med.

Although we didn’t see much of it, the Marseilles Airport is the 5th busiest airport in France for passenger traffic and the 3rd largest for cargo. It is one of the hubs for Air France. A few budget airlines also fly out of Marseilles and like at Bordeaux, they are served by a budget terminal The airport’s official name is Marseilles-Marignane Airport. In the 20s and 30s, it served as one of France’s main landing spots for the great flying boats of the time including the Pan American World Clipper. Unlike Paris, Marseilles is right on the ocean, and during the heyday of the flying boats, that was a necessity for landing. Even today, one of the runways ends at the Mediterranean.

The airport interior, luckily it was not crowded when we arrived.

I wasn’t feeling much better when we reached the airport, so the Ramblers trudged slowly to the airport entrance. Fortunately we had asked for wheelchair service, and I was never more thankful for it than that day in July. The jolly wheelchair folks seemed to enjoy their job as they raced each other (with us in the chairs) to security, where we got through fairly quickly, and then to the boarding area. It was a different experience and somewhat of a distraction for me.

Our flight to Schiphol was uneventful, and again we got wheelchair service to the shuttle area. The hotel I had chosen, the Hyatt Place Schiphol, has an excellent airport shuttle, and little did I know when I chose it, how much it would come in handy during our stay there. There are many ways to get to and from Schiphol, but we have used the Connexion shuttle when we weren’t picked up by Uniworld. If you don’t have free pick-up from your hotel a shuttle pass is inexpensive and they run every 20 minutes. We didn’t have a long wait for the shuttle but it was already dark and as you might imagine, the Ramblers were not very perky. The driver from the Hyatt was very friendly and quickly loaded our baggage on board.

The Hyatt Place, we had a high floor with a good view.

In about 10 minutes we arrived at our hotel, to be warmly greeted by a very friendly and helpful desk staff. It was to be our home for 6 days as we waited for our business class flight back to Atlanta. The Provence cruise we had chosen to replace our cruise to Eastern Europe started earlier and ended before our original choice. In order to take advantage of our business class flight home, which couldn’t be changed as it was a special rate, we had to wait in Amsterdam. If I hadn’t gotten sick, we would have enjoyed our stay. Now these. days were very frustrating ones for me; we were surrounded by a number of charming places to visit, easily accessible by bus or car. Unfortunately, despite the medication, the bronchitis didn’t go away and I couldn’t walk a block without wheezing.

Sunrise from our hotel. That dot on the lower left is a Dutch cyclist heading for work. People watching was fun for a while. Unfortunately although there were fascinating places to tour close by, I wasn’t able to walk much so we stayed put. Plus the weather was typical Dutch summer, 70 degrees Fahrenheit with clouds and wind.

Tho a bus passed right by our hotel, the actual bus stop was a half mile away and there was no way I could walk that far. In the end we spent a lot of time watching airplanes take off and land. We took the shuttle to the airport because the hotel food was just average, Amazingly there was a good place to eat on the street side of security with amazing people watching.

Our spot, the Grand Cafe Plaza. Great people watching and good food plus fine beer.

Our home airport is Atlanta and it sees much international traffic, however the people at Schiphol who walked past our table obviously came from all over the world. Consequently the Grand Cafe became our spot to eat an early dinner almost every night. If you need to eat a light meal at Schiphol, the Ramblers heartily endorse it. They also have a much larger restaurant inside security. They serve plain Dutch style food. Although I didn’t like the bitterballen, a Dutch specialty, I can endorse the house made tomato soup, and their fries are excellent.

Yes a burger and fries for the senior Rambler; he enjoyed them. The beer was mine.

Most airport restaurants aren’t noted for their food, but the Plaza gets mostly positive comments from travelers. I checked after we got home.

Finally, the day of our flight came and we were more than ready. After yet another ride on the shuttle, we headed to departures. Unfortunately the airport was very crowded with holiday travelers and we were only able to get one wheelchair to take us to security which is a fairly long walk. The young Dutch woman looked at us and decided the senior Rambler was going to ride while I had to walk alongside. Not fun but we made it.

After going through security we were able to get a ride on the extra large golf carts that they use for passengers who are slow movers. That was a good thing as Schiphol is a very spread out airport. We finally reached our gate with a sigh of relief and shortly afterwards were able to board our Delta flight home. Incidentally, the Dutch wheelchair people will not accept a tip, even tho they are amazingly kind and caring. They believe they are paid a fair wage, and are doing a vital job. And so they are, but everywhere else we used the service, tips were gladly accepted.

At last our plane touched down at Hartsfield, our daughter was waiting for us, and for the second year in a row, I ended up at Kaiser Advanced Care at the end of our flight. Last year I cracked my right arm in Germany. This time I could blame the Mistral!

.

Avignon, dining on board the Catherine, Palace of the Popes, Uncategorized

Avignon, a historic walled city

Leave a comment

Unlike many places we docked on this trip, Avignon had an extensive quay, which allowed many ships to dock at one time.  Since it is a very popular stop in the summer, this is a good thing.Most of the dock space was occupied by ships from many  different cruise lines. From the  Catherine’s spot on the quay, we had an excellent view of the medieval walled city and could check out the other ships docked nearby.

A view of the historic area of Avignon from the sundeck of the Catherine.

The historic area itself is surrounded by boulevards and green space, but. not far away, a wholly different modern Avignon city exists, not much different than any other French provincial city. This we would learn later as the Ramblers planned to stay on in Avignon for 4 nights at the end of our cruise.  Although we did not have to share our dock, two ships from different cruise lines did raft together in front of us. Rafting is no big deal, but sometimes the ships don’t match up well, and the passengers in the rafted ship may have to walk up and down stairs to disembark. On a positive note, it gives you a chance to check out ships owned by other lines. The most humorous experience we had with rafting was two years ago, on the Maria Theresa. The MT is one of Uniworld’s super ships, which means it is as big as you can get through the locks. As a result, she did not always match well with the  smaller ships. At one stop, we had to climb the steps to the sun deck and then down again to disembark. When we returned, the kitchen staff was loading foodstuff and we got caught up in a procession of kitchen staff  and some crew, each toting boxes filled with produce. Although it looked like a scene from Disney, I am sure it was not much fun for the hardworking staff.

Although the Catherine has her spot on the quay to herself, two river cruisers had rafted in front of us, the Swiss Emerald with a home port in Basel and the Amadagio based in Hamburg

In Avignon, it was pleasant to walk down an almost level gangplank and stroll along the quay. This had been laid out as a wide and pleasant promenade with benches along the way. It was possible to walk for several miles along the river in both directions. The massive Palace of the Popes was clearly visible in the distance and lighted at night. We would dock here for one night and move to Arles/Tarascon during the  day,. Tarascon was the farthest we traveled on the Rhone. However we would dock there only briefly. The  Catherine would turn around after we toured the city and return to Avignon for the last night of the cruise.

An aerial view of the Palace. You can see the river on the left. The Palace wall forms part of the city wall.

Today Uniworld offered three options. The first, and the most logical choice for the Ramblers was a tour of Avignon including  the Palace of the Popes. However, the  gentle walkers could ride a little tourist train around the historic area inside the walls instead. This choice was a no-brainer for the Ramblers. We decided on the train. The Palace of the Popes tour involves lots of walking and steps as it is huge and unfortunately  largely empty.

The Ramblers weren’t attracted by the other choices either. The first was a Kayak ride on the Gardon River scheduled for the afternoon. If we Ramblers got into a Kayak, we would have to be hoisted out, not a pretty sight. However a number of the younger passengers signed up for kayaking on the river. Those who went really enjoyed it, although they returned looking very hot and sweaty. Fortunately they would have plenty of time to relax before tonight’s gala farewell dinner. Kayaking on a French river was one of the go-active tours available during every cruise. Some are strenuous hikes, others involve bike rides and all are very popular with the less sedentary passengers.

The third choice was a tour to the Pont du Gard Aqueduct. It was scheduled for the same time as the tour of Avignon, providing an interesting option for those passengers who had already visited Avignon.

Our approach to the nearest gate in the wall gives an even better idea of how massive it is.

As you can see from the aerial view, the palace is immense, the largest medieval Gothic buildings in Europe.  Constructed as both fortress and palace it was briefly the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace is actually two buildings joined together. If considered as one, they form the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages. Although construction began in 1252 AD as a Bishop’s palace, the first Pope, a Frenchman, Clement V moved to Avignon in 1309 AD because of chaotic religious and military issues in Rome. The following 70 years, when the principal see of the Catholic Church was in Avignon, is often referred to as the Babylonian Captivity. This was one of the low points in Catholic history as for a time there were two Popes, and then a third until Urban V and Gregory XI returned to Rome, convinced that the seat of the papacy could only be the by the tomb of St. Peter. Despite its brief role as the center of Western Christianity, the Avignon papal library  of over 2,000 volumes drew clerical scholars, including the founder of Humanism, Petrarch. Composers, singers and musicians came to compose and perform in the Great Chapel of the Palace. Because it was so huge, 118,403 sq ft,  the Palace forced the centralization of services, creating the first central administrative system for the Church. It also required a large staff of both religious and lay persons unusual for the time.

Unfortunately, although the return of the Pope to
Rome was good for the Catholic Church, it resulted in the deterioration of the Palace. Such a large space simply wasn’t needed in Avignon. Consequently it was in bad shape by the time the French Revolution broke out in 1789.The Palace was stripped of its remaining furnishings and artwork during and after the French Revolution and these items were never restored

As you can see, this petit train is similar to the one we rode  thru the vineyards..

.

We gentle walkers assembled for the relatively short walk to the square where we would board the little train. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that  was more than one train in service . It probably wouldn’t have mattered as we boarded the one that was there. However, one of the trains is quite new, and seems to have had a more careful driver while the one which we boarded was ramshackle and  as we soon  found out, with a  driver to match.

Unfortunately this battered contraption was the one that showed up when we waited at the stop.

I wanted to sit in the last car again  so as to have better photo opps. This was a mistake.  Riding in the last car, the Ramblers thought our driver was playing crack the whip as we bounced along the cobblestones and whipped around the corners of the narrow streets. To make matters worse, the narrative that accompanied the tour was impossible to understand.  I am sure the gentle walkers with back problems were only too happy to disembark at the end of this tour although the children probably enjoyed it.

Not sure whether the nun was a tourist or a resident of a nearby convent.

Our ride ended  in the square,  a relatively short walk back to the closest city gate and then not far to the Catherine. We took our time as we knew that if we missed lunch in the dining room, we could always order a sandwich in the Leopard Lounge. While we were in the square, I took perhaps my best photo of the trip. It was a hot day, and the noon sun was very warm.  I noticed an elderly nun, resting in the shade, not far from the Palace.  I don’t usually take photos of people without their permission, but in this case I couldn’t resist.

A cruise in France would not be complete without a lesson in crepe making by our chefs. I am really not sure just day we had this but it was fun to watch.

Margery and the chefs quaffing the cognac. It was to give her courage to flip the crepe, and it worked!

Although the chef prepared the crepe batter, he was looking for some one from the audience to make a crepe. First they asked innocently if anyone made crepes at home, When I mentioned that I had, many times, they tried to coax me into coming forward and being their guinea pig. The Rambler politely refused, suggesting that someone else have the honor. Eventually, Margery the daughter of my South African friend, volunteered. She was quite the sport and actually managed to flip her crepe after toasting her attempt with a glass of cognac.

That night we had  our “Gala Farewell Dinner.”  I put the title in italics because every night, we had an excellent 5 course meal with several choices. Fortunately the portions are small, otherwise many passengers wouldn’t be able to buckle their seat belts on the plane going home. One of the appetizer choices for the Gala was foie gras which neither of the Ramblers enjoy. But I guess it was good, as our waitress told us folks at another table had asked for, and received 2nds and 3rds.

The Senior Rambler enjoying a special meal in the Leopard Lounge.

All the courses had accompanying wines which were excellent, while the senior Rambler had his customary orange juice or coke. One thing we enjoy about river cruising is the open seating. We tried hard to sit with different people at every meal but eventually, especially for the Farewell Gala, you gravitate towards the friends you made on the voyage.

For dessert, what else but Baked Alaska, on the Catherine’s special china.

Ironically, the Gala is not usually on the last night of the cruise but the preceding night. I am sure this is because the crew has to get ready for the next group of passengers who will be arriving as we disembark. Clearing up for such an elaborate meal obviously would take longer. Plus, some passengers had very early flights home. At end of one cruise, European Jewels in 2015,  we had to leave for the airport at 3:30 AM, so obviously  not a good idea to eat a rich meal only a few hours earlier.

On our last day of this cruise, the Catherine would set sail tomorrow for Tarascon at 9 AM. The Captain isn’t kidding. if the schedule says 9, the ship leaves at 9. This was not a problem for anyone on this trip nor should it be, as the next day’s schedule appears in your cabin the night before.