Dreamy Europe Trip Summer 2024 - Part 15 Avignon and Vienne France

 On the day we left Valensole, we had a long drive ahead of us. Our overnight stay that day was in Arconcey, where I booked a BnB in a cute little farm. It was towards the end of our trip and I was starting to feel tired of all of the driving, so I wanted more stops in between. The Drive from Valensole to Arconcey was more than 5 hours long so we made stops in three different places, The first one was the Marseille soap factory and museum in Salon de Provence, simply because I wanted to see it. Then our next stop that day was in Avignon. 

Avignon actually has several points of interests, but we didn’t really have time to visit many things there considering the amount of driving that we still needed to do that day. We parked the car in a paid parking lot near the old town and explored just the old town, or the shopping streets to me more precise. We had lunch there and simply walked around. 

Centuries ago, the city used to be under the Catholic Pope’s rule until it became part of France. The Pope’s Palace still stands in Avignon but we didn’t have the time to visit. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed looking at the different architecture in the area. The old town where the shopping streets are located was car free, so it was very nice to walk around even though it was quite busy with tourists.

From Avignon, we continued driving and stopped again in a town called Vienne, This town used to be a major centre of the Roman Empire, under the Latin name Vienna. But this is France’s Vienna, not to be confused with Vienna in Austria ;) There are a few of Roman Empire remains in the town . One was the temple of Augustus and Livia, and another was a pyramid that some believed to be the tomb of Pontius Pilate (not confirmed). There is also a Roman Theatre where they now hold the annual Jazz Festival that was actuallly on when we were there.

Temple of Augustus and Livia

A special mention of our BnB in Arconcey. The room we booked was a barn turned into a room with bathroom and access to the backyard and it sleeps about 4 people. It was very well done and the beddings were very comfortable. We also enjoyed the breakfast very much!

Huge roses in Arconcey