Walking Tour of Provence

Pont D'Avignon

Welcome the Provence region of France. This is our second walking holiday. Our first was a walk in Cotswolds, England which we really enjoyed. We similarily enjoyed this walk in Provence.

Our Provence walk takes five days and covers approximately fifty miles. The walk starts in the Provence town of Avignon. During the first evening of the tour, a bus picks you up in Avignon to take you to Lourmarin. We decided that Avignon was interesting enough to spend an extra day or two exploring it.

One of the most visible sites in Avignon is the Pont St. Bénézet bridge (also known as Pont D'Avignon) originally built in 1185. The bridge now ends half-way across the Rhône river. The original building of the bridge was a challenge, but maintaining the bridge was an even bigger one. Around 1660, the Avignonais gave up maintaining the bridge and before long the Rhône river reclaimed portions of it that we can see missing today.

Palais des Papes

In the 14C, disagreements between popes in Rome led to a century where the papacy was located in Avignon. It wasn't long before the papacy in Avaignon started builing their own palace. Construction would last for thirty years and the end result consisted of two parts: Palais Vieux to the north and Palais Neuf to the south. Today the western facade of the palace faces the main street in Avignon. We enjoyed a couple of hours visiting the castle, complete with a personal audio tour.

We booked our tour with The Wayfarers, a UK company that specializes in walking tours in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, and Switzerland. The Wayfarers provide all accommodation, meals, a tour leader and manager, and daily transport for all of our luggage.