The Palais des Popes in Avignon is a main draw of the town, as it’s claimed to be the biggest Gothic palace in the world (according to its website). Thousands of people visit Avignon to tour the huge, beautiful palace, with good reason. It dates back to the 1300s, and was the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century (thank you, Wikipedia), and housed nine popes before the papacy returned to Rome in 1377. Jeremy and I didn’t pay the 11 euros each to take a tour of the inside of the palace (a little too rich for our budget traveler blood, and our hosts in Geneva said that the rooms were pretty much emptied out when the popes returned to Rome anyway), but walking around it and up to the gardens to see the view was still worth a visit.
A closer look at the creepy guy on the left.
Inside the first room of the palace.
The view over the Rhone River from le Jardin des Doms.
Le Pont d’Avignon from above.
Reminded me of being behind the waterfall in Iceland.
Hotel de Ville in the nearby Place d’Horloge.
The buildings surrounding the palace are wonderful as well.
This guy looked like he was conducting serious business on the carousel.
Goodbye, Avignon
Since I’m wrapping up our visit to Avignon, I thought I’d add some pictures from the week that didn’t have to do with Les Halles or Palais des Papes.
If anyone ever visits Avignon, you must go to Camili Books & Tea, it’s so adorable, and all the books are in English. And the people working there are so nice. The lady brought out some freshly baked cinnamon rolls and it was painful how good they smelled. The address is 155 Rue de la Carreterie.
Look at those cinnamon rolls…
Some more things we ate/cooked:
Bought this at Les Halles market, it was stuffed with salmon. Holy crap it was delicious.
Vegetable quiche, also bought at Les Halles.
One of our meals we cooked in the apartment.
Heaven on a plate.
It’s too dark to see, but there’s polenta and grilled mushrooms on those plates.
In our Airbnb – we thought the mosquito net was just decoration, but after waking up with a few bites, realized it was a very important addition to the room.
Another perfect picnic spot.
The stairs leading to our Airbnb.
This day was hot and felt like summer. It was wonderful.
We are now housesitting in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, in between Carcassonne and Narbonne, and we’ve already been swimming in the indoor pool our house has, explored all seven bedrooms of the house (not including this crazy awesome stage that is constructed in the old tower portion of the house, which was built in the early 1800s), seen a rainbow, eaten paella and crepes, made friends at the wine bar next door, and had a harrowing afternoon driving a stick shift to the grocery store in the next town over after never having driven a manual car before. I’ll get into that next time…
Lily Runs the World 
I hope you get to do a day in Carcassonne, it’s beautiful! The house sounds amazing, can’t wait to see pics. I’m loving this French stage of your trip, I’ve loved every place I’ve ever been there and this just confirms that I could move there tomorrow.
We are definitely going to get to Carcassonne, as soon as I feel a bit more comfortable driving the manual car! I could live in France, too, I love it so much.
Oh my goodness girl your new house sounds awesome! Indoor pool, seven bedrooms, old school tower, AND it’s next to a wine bar?? I want to come play haha. And the quiche made my mouth water. I remember having more than one in paris and that they were all delicious!
It’s pretty amazing! I can’t wait to share pictures. There’s a quiche guy that comes every few days and sets up shop in the village square next door. All this rich food is bad for my pants size! But so delicious…
Haha that guy standing on the left is super creepy! Again, all your photos are gorgeous!
He would just stand there, and then look at someone and creepily gesture them to come closer. Naturally I avoided looking up at him.
You are making me want to leave the healthcare business and travel the world! Not sure if my husband would be on board, but geez, I feel like a broken record when I say I want to go everywhere you have been. And that little book store is adorable.
Do it!! It’s the best thing ever.
I’ve always wanted a house where I had a room with all book shelves.. those pictures are amazing!
It was such a cute place, I could imagine myself doing some work there with a cup of tea and cinnamon roll every day!
So intensely jealous of your travels. And the food and wine look amazing!
They have been! I’m jealous of your in-shapeness, I am turning into a baguette with all this food and wine.