Our final day in France was set to be a day trip to Avignon and Nimes. We got up super early and hopped on the train for the one hour ride to Avignon, arriving before the Palais des Papes even opened. We stopped to grab a quick breakfast to pass the time.
This Palace was constructed in the mid-late 13th century and is one of the largest medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. It became the papal residence in 1309 when Pope Clement V uprooted and left Rome after his election in 1305, which I guess is what happens when you name a French guy as Pope. Though they returned to Rome in 1377, Clement VII and Benedict XIII claimed the papacy and remained in Avignon until 1403 in an era that was known as the Double Pope Times (Western Schism). The Palace was taken over by Napoleon's troops and turned into a barracks and prison during his reign, which greatly damaged the interior of the building. It's still pretty empty today, but there is a ton of cool architecture. Since we were one of the first in, we had a lot of the huge, empty rooms to ourselves. Made me feel tiny.
After leaving the palace, we made our way through the city's fortifications and down to the riverfront to check out Pont d' Avignon, a bridge that spanned the Rhone and was constructed in the late 12th century. It was destroyed and rebuilt in 1234 after a siege, but was abandoned in the mid 1600s because the bridge collapsed every time the river flooded. A small bit of the bridge, along with the gatehouse, has survived and we walked out to the edge. Unfortunately there were wind gusts of over 50mph and Allison almost blew away.
After grabbing a quick lunch, we returned to the train station to take a quick 20-30 minute ride to Nimes. Leaving the train station at Nimes leads you down a beautiful long avenue towards the arena and other sights of the city.
The Arenes de Nimes was built in the year 100 and is one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world. We were a bit unlucky, as the inside was covered in scaffolding as construction crews were hurriedly working to get everything set up for an Elton John concert that was set for that coming weekend. I can't imagine how awesome it would be to go to a concert in a coliseum like this.
After checking out the coliseum, we continued into town to visit Maison Carree, which was a preserved Roman temple constructed in the year 4. FOUR! That's old as shit.
We continued on to the ruins of the ancient Temple of Diana, which was constructed in the 2nd century and destroyed in the late 1500s. Very new building by Nimes standards.
The temple ruins are located right next to the Jardins de la Fontaine. It is known as one of the first public parks in Europe and it is super cool. Tons of statues with water running through the whole park. We began at the bottom of the park and started making our way to Tour Magne, which is at the top of a giant hill in the Jardins de la Fontaine. Wore me out getting there. Then we had to walk up another couple hundred steps. Wore me out some more. It was built in the year 15 BC and there are great views of the city at the top. In the 12th century, some dumb bastard read a Nostradamus prophecy and petitioned to King Henri IV to let him gut the tower in search of treasure. That petition was granted and the tower was ruined. Spoiler: They didn't find any treasure.
After finishing up in Nimes, it was an easy train ride back to Lyon.
Lyon to Avignon - 1 hr
Avignon to Nimes - 30 min
Nimes to Lyon - 1 hr 30 min
Total Travel Time - 3 hr
The Avignon/Nimes circuit ended up to be a perfect day trip from Lyon.
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