Palace of the Popes & Wine

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 France
Up early with breakfast from our food bag we were off to explore more of Provence. Today we are first driving to Avignon to find the Palais des Papes. During the years between 1305 – 1409 the Pope (9 of them) left Rome and came here to find safety from the wars going on in Italy. The King of France built this huge castle to protect the Pope and today it still stands strong…. Very little furnishing are left but the Audio Guide tells us how it was as we wander through these large rooms and up and down the many levels. We spent about 2 hours doing this tour and then were off to find the summer palace for the Popes. This is called Chateauneuf du Pape
And is located about half way between Avignon and d’Orange. While looking to find parking we stopped and enjoyed a taste of 2006 Blanc (white) wine at a small shop. It was delicious but at 80 euros a bottle we decided to pass on buying some. He wanted us to just ship some home but much to his dismay we passed on that also. We located the parking which was, much to our delight, at the top of the hill so we could walk right over to view the ruins of this once wonderful summer home during the 14th century.
I must tell you that flowers and trees are all in bloom and the view is just beautiful. The fields all around us are full of vineyards where, by summer they will be full of grapes to produce the wonderful wines sold in this area.
The soil here is very rocky so they produce a very different wine than in other areas.
We drove on to visit the Theatre Antique of d’Orange. This is one of the greatest theatres the Roman Empire built almost 2,000 years ago. As we listened to the audio guides we could well imagine the excitement of watching performances of theatre and spectacles of Ancient Rome. Over the last 2000 years many changes and history has happened in this arena where the current UNESCO group is bringing it all back for us to enjoy. Martha climbed all the way to the top of the arena while I stayed at the bottom near the stage area. The acoustics are so great that we could hear each other talk in a regular voice. To this day they still have Opera and other musicals and plays presented during the summer months.
After a full day we drove back to our hotel, stopping for a McDonald break for our dinner tonight. A much enjoyed treat for us as we have not eaten a meal out for several weeks. Enjoyed their sign McDrive Thru.
We even had the regular menu and not the Dollar menu that we usually use.
Will post pictures with my blog tomorrow.
Au revoir for now