Once in Avignon, you won’t want to leave travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Avignon is one of the most active and beautiful cities in France. Thanks to its architectural and artistic heritage, this old city is one of the most important Gothic ensembles in Europe. Avignon is famous worldwide thanks to its theater festival -considered as the most important one in the world. Avignon is definitely not a town to stay in if you’re interested in sightseeing the surrounding countryside and don’t have much time. Avignon is ancient, full of history, life, youth, art, music and activity. Just to “see” the town itself, you could wander the narrow streets inside the fortified walls for days without tiring of them. Avignon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Avignon is an architectural city and it has a wonderful way of delimitation its perimeter, there are different walls in this city, one of them are the Roman walls constructed in the first century with a rectangular shape similar to the Roman constructions, unfortunately there is no document that verifies its exact delimitation’s. In the 13th century the King of France Louis VIII ordered to built other walls but they took some more time to get finished, they were concluded in 1248. The present day walls were ordered to be constructed by Innocent VI, the walls are approximately 8 meters high and there are 35 high towers and 50 smaller, most of them of rectangular or square shape.
The other attraction of Avignon is the famous bridge, history says that this bridge was once used for carrying St Benezet to Villeneuve, it had 22 wonderfull arches from which just three are left, anyway they are so majestic that you would imagine how wonderful looked with the other arches. The bridge was built in the Middle Ages perhaps partly to allow the local bishop to cross the river to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The legend of the bridge’s building is that a local shepherd, Benedict was inspired by angels to build a bridge. When his appeals to the town authorities proved fruitless, he picked up a vast block of stone and hurled it into the river, to be the bridge’s foundation stone. Convinced by this demonstration of divine will, the bridge was swiftly built. The poor shepherd boy was canonised, and his chapel remains on the surviving portion of the bridge.Avignon, a city with a great heritage, also possesses a tremendous cultural vitality. Famous for its theatre festival, Avignon, all year round is a real centre of creativity with its permanent theatres, its cinemas, cultural associations.

The events occur all over town, often staged at historical monuments and in the streets, and with close audience rapport. This is now an international festival, with people from all over France, Europe and the rest of the world arranging vacations around the festival dates. The theater festival has made Avignon important in modern times. Started in 1947 by Jean Vilar, every year between the 10th of July and the 5th of August nearly 120,000 spectators come to discover new talent or admire those actors already known. These shows are enhanced by the background of powerful history and often appear renewed or refreshed in this environment. Avignon is a city small enough to be visited in a couple of days, except if you come during the theater festival. The city center can be visited in a pleasant walking tour. You can use the second day to do an excursion, or dedicate the second day to discover the excellencies of the local cuisine.

City of history and city of theater, the fortified city of Avignon will not leave you in different. Avignon’s architecture is marked by papal history. Going through any of the seven doors of the superbly preserved walls one discovers the city of the Popes.
Don’t miss the Antiquaire quarter, the Place de l’Horloge or the Chemin de Ronde which will take you to the Rocher des Doms. From the top of the ramparts you can understand why the site was chosen for a fort: Avignon stands high above the immense plains of the Rhône River and is the strategic point of the whole valley.