Nov 17th - Nov 22nd
We landed in the port cit of Marseilles on a dark and rainy night and found our way to the car rental place just outside of the airport. We have decided to pick up a car for three days just to get out of the city and explore the region of Provence a little bit.
we traveled about 1 hour up to the town of Mollèges, which is a little town just outside of Avignon. It is a pretty little town and we are planning to do some exploring over the next three days.
The drive the next morning was so beautiful down the little roads. The fall and winter are really beginning to become evident here and most of the trees have lost their leaves.
Our trip today took us to the beautiful town of Les Baux de Provence. It was named one of the most beautiful villages in France and is home to a small village, an incredible castle and is surrounded by hills and valleys.
The huge castle at the top of the hillside was built mainly between the 11th and 13th centuries and was used by the princes of the Baux to fight wars between the neighbouring regions of Langdoc and Provence. Although the Baux princes were defeated in the late 12th century the castle and fortress were still used up until the 15th century. The Baux princes were convinced they were descendants of Balthazar, one of the 3 magi who followed the star and found the baby Jesus. Their coat of arms was the 16 point star, that brought the magi to Bethlehem.
We found some old stocks that were used to hold people who were in trouble. We decided that being stuck inside one of these would not be fun for very long!!
The castle was fascinating to explore, Brendan and Liam were really interested in how the trebuchet and the bricole worked. Both were huge wooden slingshot's that were used to hurl stones at the invading armies. Here you can see the Bricole (with Brendan) and the Trebuchet (with Tia, Liam and Brendan).
I thought that one of the neatest things was the dovecote. It was a building built to house pigeons, doves and other small birds. They were used for many things. They were eaten, but also used as messenger pigeons and finally their waste was used as high quality fertilizer.
Here you can see the inside of the dovecote, the outer wall has fallen away. Each bird has its own little house!
We walked though the rest of the castle and then back out through the town. We were able to stop and look through the beautiful shops. This region is known for its lavender and soap making and we were able to stop and choose some beautiful soaps for our souvenirs!
The next day we headed into the town of Avignon and were excited to be able to see the famous Pont d'Avignon! We took a tour of the bridge and learned all about why there is only half a bridge left!
The original stone bridge with 22 stone arches with built in 1234 and was an incredible feat of engineering. The bridge leaves from the gatehouse that allowed access into the city of Avignon, across the first side of the river, continues over an island and then over the second side of the river to the fortress of the Tour Philippe-le-Bel. The Rhône is a mighty river however, many many times several of the arches would be swept away during the huge floods of the spring. Often it would take years to repair the bridge and people would take ferries between the destroyed portions. Eventually it became to expensive and the floods to numerous to repair and all but the remaining 4 arches on the Avignon side were destroyed.
The Rhône rivers last major flood was in 1951 and flooding is now controlled by 22 dams that stretch the length of this huge river. The bridge has been made famous world wide by a song, first sung in the the 16th century. It is sung by school children worldwide and we had fun creating our own version!
We walked up into the city of Avignon to see some of the beautiful sites of the city. Avignon was the site of the Papacy from 1309 to 1376. We were able to see the Papal palace. What an incredible building. Unfortunately we didn't have time to tour the whole inside.
Our final stop in France will be the city of Marseilles and we are going to be staying here for 2 days before we board our cruise ship to take us home across the Atlantic Ocean.
Marseilles is a very old port city in the south of France. We are staying in the est side of the city in an area known as Joliette. We are very near to the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure, it is a beautiful cathedral built in the 1850's and is still being finished.
We walked around Marseilles and took some pictures of the beautiful harbour and waterfront. As we walked we saw the beautiful Tour du Fanal, a huge tower built in 1644 to guide the ships into Marseilles harbour.
We also found a massive ferris wheel that gave us incredible views of the city. What a treat to be able to go up that high and see all the sites.
We walked into the Christmas market and were able to see all the beautiful things that they sell here in Marseilles! There was beautiful hand painted figurines, soap, lavender, jewelry, and of course lots of treats to eat!
So, this is a big end to another part of our trip. Tomorrow morning we get onto the cruise ship and it will take us across the Atlantic, stopping in some Caribbean islands and then we will fly home. What an incredible trip this has been.
Thank you France for your hospitality, your amazing food, and we were all very excited to practice our French!
Off we go again!
Mari and Tia
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