"Avignon, perched against the Rhone" a Avignon Travel Page by rwlittle

Avignon is best known for the massive Palais des Papes, and for Pont St Benezet. The promise of these sights are what drew us into visiting Avignon, but the city has an atmosphere to it that made it much more than just a historical expedition for us.

In 1309, the Pope abandoned Rome for poltiical reasons, and re-settled the Papacy here in Avignon, building the enormous papal palace. Eventually, the papacy returned to Rome, but the palace and the city walls remain.

...Of course, only half of Pont St. Benezet remains. The bridge across the Rhone was built in the 12th century, and much of it was destroyed in flooding in 1668. It's still remembered in a French nursery rhyme, and visitors can tour the remains of the bridge, which still go partway across the river.

We visited here, arriving from Nimes, as a part of our 2003 vacation in France.