Sylvie's Travels Home

October 3, 2023

Pogo droned the sunrise then we packed our bags and left our hotel at 9am. We went to Gordes for breakfast. We picked up some good pastries at a boulangerie and ate them at the café next door where we had café au lait and cappuccino.

It was market day in Gordes so we walked around for about an hour. Pogo did a little droning just outside of town.

20 minutes later, we stopped at Village de Bories. The Bories, are dry stone huts, igloo shaped, from the 17 and 18 centuries. They were used as barns, stables or seasonal houses for farmers whose plots were too far from their farms. The construction method of these dry-stone huts is very particular as they didn’t use mortar. They used all the stones from the fields they were farming. They are scattered all over the Provencal countryside.

https://en.levillagedesbories.com/

We arrived in Avignon around 1:30pm, drove through very narrow streets until we found a parking spot. We had lunch at a restaurant called la Civette in the old part of town. We decided not to go inside the Palais des Papes but walked around the biggest medieval building in France. The palace and fortress was the pontiff residence in the 14th century. 6 Popes were elected there.

We went to the Pont d’Avignon and we sang and danced on the bridge while a nice couple filmed our shenanigans.

We left Avignon at 4pm and drove to the hotel called Maison Orsini in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, on the other side of the river. Our room was inside a cottage with a living room and kitchen on the main floor and the bedroom and bathroom on the second floor. Bob and Heather’s room was inside the main building, up a steep ladder-like staircase and through the office of the manager. So weird. The house was originally Cardinal Orsini’s palace and dates back from the 14th century. Its architecture has been maintained. Unfortunately it needs a little love, especially the gardens.

We took a nap then Pogo flew his drone and Bob and Heather played boules. We had wine and beer at our hotel looking at the amazing view of the Palais des Papes.

We had a reservation back in Avignon but decided to go in town instead and on the recommendation of the manager, we walked to the restaurant Emulsion, about a 10 minutes walk downhill. It was another meal for the books. We all had in season mushrooms as an appetizer and 3 of us had the veal and Heather had the lamb. So so good!!

We walked back to the hotel at 9:30pm and rolled into bed.