Mediterannean Cruise/Disneyland Paris Day 16: Marseille to Avignon, France May 28, 2022

 

 My husband K actually got up at 5:55 to go to the Fitness Center and the Crow's Nest to watch our approach to Marseille, France. I chose to sleep until 7:49. Before our daughter J came at 8:35 to go to breakfast, I ducked out to the verandah to take a photo of France.

From our seat on the Lido deck, we could see more of France as we got closer.

Not knowing when lunch would be, we decided to eat a little more substantially for breakfast. I got an egg white omelet, raisin bread, croissant, and banana. I decided to be brave and try congee with garlic. It's kind of a rice porridge and it did not thrill me.

The captain announced that we were going to be docking early due to winds that were coming. When we finished breakfast, we went out onto the back of the ship to take photos of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur as we passed. K and I knew from travel videos that we had watched at home, that the port for cruise ships was not actually near Marseille and the interesting stuff there. It was further west up the coast. So, we were not surprised to not see a crowded city. The water and the sky certainly made this area beautiful.

We went back to our cabins to get washed up. While there, I had time to take some port pictures, now that we were pretty much docked. I thought the color of the water was not bad looking. I figured the port wasn't busy, because it was Saturday.

  

We went to the World Stage at 9:40 to get our Orange 15 sticker. Since we sat there a while, it is as good a time as any to talk about the plans for the day. As I said, K and I had watched videos and knew that if a tour didn't take you into Marseille, you needed a city bus. I had figured out the sites that would be too difficult for my knee. We were not able to book any excursions for this day from home. In fact, it wasn't until this week of the cruise that any became available. And none went into Marseille. People thought that it might be because of a festival or something. It was too early for lavender. So, going to see stuff related to that in Provence was out. We figured that we really should see a vineyard and this one also went to Avignon. So, we chose this.

At 10:11, we were on our bus, after guide Ann scanned our tickets. Our driver had the very French name of Marcel. Betty Ann, our cruise director, was taking the tour with us.

When we left at 10:16, it was 24 C, which is 75.2 F. It seemed to be indicative of coming heat.

As always, we were told about the area. Marseille is the capital of Provence. The northern port is the industrial port. Marseille is the second city in France and three times the size of Paris. I will admit that I dozed off. When I woke, it was very windy with gusts at times. These were the winds that the captain had told us were coming. They are known as "mistral". Buildings are built to accommodate the winds. Bell towers are built to let the winds pass through them. The mistral does a nice job of clearing the sky.

Ann was now talking about the Great or Western Schism of 1378. The Pope had resided in Avignon since 1309. But, in 1377, Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome. The French king preferred the papacy reside in France, where it could be better controlled. Upon Gregory's death, the College of Cardinals elected Urban VI, who was supported by the German king. Cardinals opposed to Urban elected Clement VII, who resided in Avignon. It took the Council of Constance (1414-1418) to clear it all up. I'll admit that I'm a lifelong Catholic who thought the only popes who lived in Avignon were the Anti-Popes. Didn't get a lot of papal history in grade school.

Meanwhile, out the window, we could see local housing in Les Pennes-Mirabeau and vineyards in Sorgues.

Sorgues turned out to be the location of our first destination, Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Driving up to it and getting out of the bus at 11:53, we had wonderful views of the vineyards and the castle-like château. We also got to experience the wind firsthand. It was 23 degrees, probably because the mistral is a cold wind. I was also struck by how small the plants were and the fact that the ground seemed to lack soil. So many rocks!

 

 

 

 We were led inside to what turned out to be a giant tasting room. There were high tables with glasses and plates of palate cleansers. Betty Ann joined us at our table. The guy there commenced to tell us about wine. K and I have been to our fair share of wine tastings, and J has even gone to some. We've seen Bottle Shock. We know what terroir is. But, he did tell us new things. 

 

These vineyards use no irrigation. The plants tend to put their roots down pretty far. The stones absorb heat during the day and give it off at night. The berries are small and have less pulp, but more color and tannin in the skin. This means less wine, but "better, yes, better". The mistral sucks moisture from the berries. So, low yield and small berries make a better wine.

We had a lesson tasting and then tried three wines. The white was a pale yellow, and basically all whites are some version of yellow. The white wasn't bad, but not sweet enough for me. I tasted the reds and handed them off to K. J passed all of hers. Did I mention she doesn't drink?

 

After photos and restroom visits and some folks even buying bottles, we were back on the road at 1. It was now 26 C or 78.8 F.  We were soon motoring along the Rhône River. Here it is at Le Pontet.

As we neared Avignon, we could see more of the housing, including backyards. I was really surprised to see a trampoline in one backyard. It just seems like an American craziness.

As we neared our drop-off point, we had better views of the Rhône. I was a little surprised to see houseboats, but impressed that some had solar panels. Across the river was Fort Saint-André, which looks like a walled city. There's an island in the river, where folks camp. There was a rather handy footbridge to it. Another bridge used to cross the river, but is only partial now. Folks can go out on it to see the river.

 

     

At 1:39, we were let off of the bus at the Hotel Bristol and led inside La Grande Brasserie, which ran across its front. This was our lunch stop. All were given wine and water and there was a basket of bread on each table. The first course was an interesting looking plate of mashed carrot, parsnip, and spinach arrayed like a flag, along with a lettuce leaf and sauce. (No one told us what we were having. We had to guess or ask a busy waitress.) The second course was veal and potatoes. It was finished off with a nice chocolate cake. K was even able to get his coffee. I've now had food served to a tour group in Germany and France. While this food was good enough, the German was better.

 

We had just enough time to use the restrooms before heading off for the bus again. Along the way to the bus, we got to see some of the inside of the town wall juxtaposed with a rather modern sculpture.

On the road at 2:40, it was now 27 C or 80.6 F. We saw more of the wall, including a rather interesting entrance, that seems to have been just cut into it. We also saw what looked like lavender, but wasn't, since it isn't in season yet. She called it proto lavender.

 

 We were let off the bus again at 2:51 outside the wall near the broken bridge. Ann led us through a maze of buildings, which seemed to be apartments closed up during the day. There were signs that we were in a Catholic area, such as a Madonna in a niche in an upper floor of a building. There was also one older builder with its shutters closed that had a lot of character.

Soon, we entered a plaza in front of our destination- the Palais des Papes or the Papal Palace, which housed the papacy for  about 70 years. Clement V moved the papacy here from Rome to avoid the violent chaos there. There are actually two buildings here. The first is the old palace of Benedict XII (reigned 1334-1342), which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, which had been the site of the palace of the local bishops. Benedict had had that building torn down. His palace, known as the Palace Vieux (Old Palace), centers on a cloister and is heavily fortified and had four towers on its wings. When the extravagant Clement VI came along in 1342, he was not satisfied with the palace and built a new tower and adjoining buildings, creating Palais Neuf (New Palace). Succeeding popes also expanded it. It is now the  largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages, covering 118,403 square feet. The palace remained under papal control until it was seized during the French Revolution. Under Napoleon, it was a military barracks and prison. As you might imagine, much of the interior was destroyed, but the shell remained. In 1906, it became a national museum and has been under restoration ever since. It is a UNESCO site. I've lost track of how many we've visited on this trip.

Next to the Palais was the impressive-looking Avignon Cathedral. I was disappointed that we would not be going in there, but glad I was avoiding the stairs there.

We were going to be going in the Palais. The three of us have been to Vatican City and been in the Vatican Museum and Saint Peter's. You can't go in the Pope's residence there. So, this just kind of completed that.

There were some details in the palace that have survived the centuries. For instance, under the arch below are hats. The tassels tell me that these are the hats of bishops and or cardinals who lived here. The ceiling in the other photo has kept some of its design.

Ann told us a lot, but the tour was relatively hurried and it was difficult to keep track of everything.

In the interior courtyard, we saw a rather fancy stone window. Here, the pope would observe the mendicants who came to ask him for something. In the second photo, the Pope's Tower is the lighter colored stone. The arch on the right has a small window. This is the window of the pope's chamber. The pair of windows in the other arch lead to the Upper Treasury, which once held the largest library in Europe with over 2000 works.

We walked through the cloisters to a room that had a great model of the palace.

The dining room below was 50 m (164.042ft) long and had a blue ceiling with stars.

They've found a lot of individual pieces of tile and put them under glass. Here's some of it.

There were plaster versions of some statues and there were some items that would now be considered art that survived the passage of time.

    

In the new part of the palace, we saw the impressive Hall of the Great Audience. At one point, the French put in extra floors to house soldiers here.

At the end of the tour, Ann gave us just moments in the shop to buy postcards. Then, upon exiting the building, we could see the great rock the original palace had been built upon. Wow!

It was 3:58, when we got out. We had to meet again at 4:30 at the carousel in the main square. That was not much time, especially because we had to go down the stairs to the relatively unpleasant toilets near there. My knees had been very unhappy in the palace. This did not help.

We did take a few minutes to take in the scenery. Besides the carousel, there was the theater building, which looked just as it should. We spied a building with trompe l'oeil. It seemed incredibly appropriate to find such a French-sounding art form in France.

 

On our way in through the maze of buildings, Ann had pointed out a store with local soaps. J and I thought this would make great gifts. However, we knew we couldn't get there and back in time. K agreed to go to the carousel and wait for the group. He would tell them we'd join en route.

We hurried down the street, but soon saw a shop with better prices than we'd seen on the other store. So, we did all our shopping here. We found wonderful lavender sachets and various soaps for a good price. The tea towels were such a wonderful shade of purple that we could not resist. And, we lucked out and found pins. We were done in time to join the group.

We went through a city gate back out to the road along the Rhône. We boarded the bus at 4:40, but didn't leave until 7 minutes later. It was 29C or 84.2 F and felt warmer.

From the highway, we saw an Ikea, which was startling. Yes, they are an international Swedish company, but somehow you don't expect to see them outside the US, let alone in Provence.

By 5:57, we could see the port from the road. We arrived at 6:05 and the temperature had dropped to 27C or 80.6 F. 

We gave Ann a 10 euro tip before going over to browse some stalls that were set up just outside the port area. We didn't find anything we needed and got into the port security line at 6:11. In just 4 minutes, we were onboard the ship.

I'd made our dinner reservation for 7:45, because I wasn't sure exactly when we'd get back. This gave us a little time to unpack the new items and start figuring out where they'd go.

At dinner, Eka asked about our day and said he was sorry we were disembarking tomorrow. I think he meant it. 

 

 

For an appetizer, I ordered a Crispy Thai Vegetable Spring Roll and J and K both ordered Prosciutto and  Caponata, which is a kind ratatouille from Sicily. Both were good.

 

I stuck with crispy for the entree by getting Crispy Sweet and Sour Shrimp. J got Rustic Home-made Lasagna and K went for Bucatini Crab Carbonara. (Bucatini is a kind of pasta.) 

For the last dessert of the cruise, I had to order the Double Chocolate Tart. J chose Pear Strudel No Sugar Added and K got Triple Berry Alaskan Tart.

When we left, Eka's assistant Augstn made sure he said good-bye, too.

It was about 9, when we left the dining room and we headed for the doors out to the Promenade Deck to see the sunset. The sea was rough from the mistral wind, but the sunset on the Gulf of Lion was gorgeous.

 

 

K went to spend the last of his drink card on a beer. J and I headed for our respective cabins to finish packing. The large suitcases had to get color- and letter-coded tags and had to be outside the door by midnight. They'd be picked up by the crew and taken downstairs to be transferred to luggage claim in Barcelona. They'd emphasized to remember to leave out clothes to put on when you get up in the morning. Carry-on luggage would be dealt with by us. 

My phone said that 6,657 steps resulted in 2.3 miles of walking and that I'd climbed 11 floors. I doubt that last one.

I did hear our bags being taken shortly after midnight.