The plan for the day was to get on the water in the morning while it was still (relatively) cool and then explore the Saint-André palace, gardens, and fort.
The actuality was: a slow start with no city bikes available near our flat, so we walked to the free ferry that crosses the Rhône to Villanueva-les-Avignon, which was where the day’s activities were to occur. Then we walked down the towpath to the kayak/paddle board rental place… only to discover that it did not open until 2:00. So, we then walked to Saint-André’s. This was much more walking than we’d envisioned to kick off the day (everyone was in swimsuits, Benton was in flip-flops; see “the plan” above). But, we bought a 5-site package of tickets (we didn’t think—and did not—hit all five, but we hit 3) and toured the abbot’s palace and gardens, then toured the fort, and then walked back down into town to get some food…only to find that food options were pretty limited. We found a bakery and bought some sandwiches, but it was small and hot inside the bakery, so we decided to take the sandwiches with us and just find a shaded bench to sit on. There were none. So we walked. Eventually—just before we’d walked all the way to Philippe-le-Bel Tower—we found some large concrete blocks under a tree, so we ate there and then did the tour of the tower.
We were all dragging from the walking and the heat and agreed that kayaking/paddle boarding in the heat and sun didn’t hold much appeal, so we called an Uber and returned to the apartment. With the next day being an 8:10 AM train to Lyon, we ordered takeout and called it a day.
An interesting/memorable experience of the day:
Benton: The fact that all three of us wound up taking naps when we got back to the apartment—the heat and walking/climbing had sapped us all.
Tim: Sitting in the gardens on comfortable chairs and looking back at Avignon.
