France: Avignon 23/10

This old city has the most intact city wall of any we have visited. This is partly because of the Rhone's propensity to have devestating floods in times past. The wall defended against the wild water that could come with the snow melt from the Alps. It has been tamed now but the wall has other value as a tourist attraction. We couldn't believe our ears when a woman had to ask what the wall was. Travel can definately be educational.
Our walking tour today took us through town to a beautiful covered market. Actually it was the contents which were beautiful. There is a strange torment about walking down aisles of food that there is no point in buying. Especially when there is more than enough tempting food waiting for you back at the ship. We can perhaps make up for it during our stay in Lyon.
The focus of the walk was the Pope's Palace. This was commenced in the early 1300s when there was turbulent times in Rome and a French Pope was elected for the first time. It grew in size and power as each French Pope naturally stacked the Cardinals Collegiate with more Frenchmen. The French lasted about 1000 years until control was wrested back by the Italians.
The Palace is huge because the Popes were wealthy and each enlarged and improved the building. One of our companions on the walk had their Iphone working and informed us we had walked 3.5 miles during the 3 hours we were in a small area of the town. The murals in the Pope's bedroom and study  were intact and were quite beautiful. Unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph them. I have put a computer representation of the great hall in the photos because it gives an idea of the colours. Quite a bit of the Palace was damaged by fire back in the time of candles but has been restored over the years. Once the Palace was no longer useful to the church it was taken over by the state and for many years housed soldiers who also inflicted some damage.
The cathedral was also beautiful but I think you have enough photos of churches for a while.
In the afternoon we walked up to the orginal Bridge of Avignon and listened to an audio tape of it's history as we walked up to the point where it vanishes. It was also a middle ages construction and the river finally destroyed it at it's most vulnerable section. We then walked into the town square where an Italian Trade  Fair was just setting up. I bought myself a nice Italian leather belt  much cheaper than any I had seen elsewhere or in Perth. You can see their sales tents in one of the photos.
Lamb for dinner and it was delicous.