Uzes, Avignon & the Pont du Gard

 Let me be a dog in Uzes

If I believe in reincarnation, which I kind of, sort of, do I want to come back as a dog in Uzes. We arrived in Uzes and settled into a really super apartment right in the city center.Uzes is a charming, small, leafy town about 20 miles from Avignon. On our first morning, we headed to the Central Plaza, and the open air market. Here was where I first realized how delightful it would be to be a dog in Uzes. It seemed that every human was accompanied by a pooch as they roamed the market stalls. Their nose’s twitching at the delightful smells, and their tails wagging as they greeted their dog friends. A good time was being had by all. The shopping and sniffing complete, human and pets settle down at a café adjoining the market and indulged in a dose of people and dog watching. It was obvious that being a dog in Uzes was a privilege and a delight. We spent our first day acquainting ourselves with the town, which we had visited several times before. However this time we were able to explore more of the interesting structures and places in Uzes, as the photos below will show.

The cafes that lined the Place aux Herbes made for great people (and dog) watching, as we sat under the Plane trees.

Uzes began life as a fortified Roman town as early as the 2nd century BCE. In the Middle Ages it became important in the trades of silk, licorice and linen. The streets are cobbled and narrow with stone buildings with shutters.

Even though the population is only 8500, there is a cathedral (now a church), a baroque church and this smaller church tucked away on a cobblestone street.

Deirdre waiting outside for the Medieval garden to open. Despite its name, the garden was only created in 2015 to contain plants from the Medieval period. It is located in a Benedictine Abbey from the 10th century.

This mural shows a young woman in the garden with prisoners looking on. The Tour de l'Eveque from the 12th century was used as a prison.

These fanciful looking creatures were scattered throughout the garden.

The Tour de l'Eveque contained graffiti left by prisoners, as seen in these two photos.

The view from the Tour du Roi, which dates from the 13th century. This shows St. Théodorit Cathedral with the Fenestrelle (the round bell tower) sticking up behind the church. This is the only round bell tower in France. The bell tower dates from the 11th century.

A view of the town from the top of the tower.

 

The Hamsa Hand or Hand of Fatima is seen here as a door knocker, and is used for protection against evil and bad luck. The Hamsa Hand dates back to 1500 BC and was first attributed with the powers to protect against evil and bad luck by Phoenician Jews. It was adopted by Muslims and called the Hand of Fatima. 

The interior of St. Théodorit Cathedral, which is now a parish church.

Some of the areas of the church, now a Protestant church, have been restored, but there is still more restoration necessary.

Saint-Ètienne church dates from the mid 18th century, was built in the baroque style and is listed as a French Monument Historique.

This stained glass window of John the Baptist baptising Jesus in in the church.

The Hotel de Ville of Uzes (city hall) was built in 1772. 

Deirdre in front of the entrance to the Duke's Castle. Uzes has had a Duke since 1088 and it still has a Duke. When the Duke is in residence the flag is flying. He was not in residence when we were there.

A major portion of the Duke's coat of arms is created on the roof using different colored tiles.

Here is the full coat of arms over the door with the motto "FERRO NON AURO", which translates as by iron not gold.

Since the Duke still lives in the castle, the tour was restricted to certain rooms.

The informal dining room was another of those rooms...

in addition to the Duke's private chapel.

The Duke also had an extensive wine cellar.

This Bernese Mountain dog also took part in the tour of the castle.

We rarely revisit places unless they have been particularly special to us. This was true with us as on this trip and we would also revisit Peyzac de Moustier in the Dordogne, lodging in a gite we had been to three years previous.

On our second day staying in Uzes, we decided to visit the Papal Palace in Avignon. Steven and Lee had visited it while on their own river cruise. We’ve been in Avignon before, but had never visited the palace.

So here’s the story which is rather involved, but I will try to simplify it. In 1309 the French king appointed the Cardinal of Bordeaux to be the new pope. The Cardinal, however, refused to move to Rome, so the French King installed him in Avignon. Popes reigned from Avignon for approximately 67 years before the papacy returned to Rome. In 1378, after the death of Pope Gregory XI (who returned the papacy to Rome in 1376) for about a decade during the "Western Schism" popes once again took residence in Avignon from 1378 to 1403. These are known as the antipopes and at this juncture, there were also popes in Rome. That’s a rather incomplete summary of the intrigues and power struggles involved. But let’s get on to the palace.

It is a little wonder that most popes died within a decade of moving into the Avignon Palace. I felt that I might die within several hours of being in the palace. As you will see from the photos, it is gigantic and consists of multiple stories of many rooms reached by treacherous, winding, in many cases, staircases. They did have one of the newest “guides“ to assist you in your visit. In each room there was a central kiosk. You would hold your tablet above the kiosk and it would load a virtual reality rendition of how that room would have looked during the time the popes were in residence.

A model of the Papal Palace showing the front, which stretches for nearly 200 feet...

and the back of the Papal Palace. There are ten towers altogether.

Despite its age portions of the painted ceiling and wall are still visible.

This polychrome, marble altarpiece depicts Christ on the way to Golgotha for his crucifixion.

These plaster figures in the North Sacristy depicted important figures from the time period.

The Great Chapel. As you can see, the rooms were bare for the most part, stripped of all of its valuables which were removed during the French Revolution.

A view of the gardens from a terrace, after ascending some steep stairs.

A statue of the Virgin Mary adorns this tower.

Apparently even the Virgin requires protection from lightning.

The clock tower which still has a figure striking the bell to mark the time. The figure can barely be seen in the left opening.

Having ascended and descended probably 1000 stairs, our appetites were honed for lunch. We stumbled out of the palace, somewhat disoriented as to where we were and looked across the street to see a lovely hotel offering a delightful menu. We went in sat down in their charming garden, and had one of the best meals we enjoyed on the trip.

The La Mirande Hotel where we dined for lunch...

and the beautiful terrace where we dined.

After lunch we wandered a bit, first coming across this busker playing the accordion.

This building with the trompe l'oeil caught our eye as we were walking...

and it was reputed to be an advertisement of sorts for the Avignon Theater nearby.

In our travels through Europe it is great to see the carrousels that are still in use.

On to the Pont

No, not the Pont du Avignon, which is a bit of a disappointment but to the Pont du Gard, which never disappoints. Those Romans really knew how to build. This massive aqueduct was built in 100 A.D. and to this day remains intact and functional. We had visited the Pont du Gard (it spans the Gardon River) but we wanted to see it again and share it with you. Our time in Uzes was over and we were ready to move on to the Riviera.

A view from afar walking toward the Pont du Gard, 

After this it was on to Antibes and the Riviera for a continuation of our journey through France.