Tourism in Avignon : city of the popes

Avignon is one of the largest cities of Provence located in the south of France. It is the major city of the Vaucluse department and is situated on the banks of the Rhône River. Around 200,000 people live in Avignon, 16,000 of which live in the town itself within the ramparts built in the 14th century. Avignon is famous for being the place to which the Popes fled when leaving the corruption of Rome in the 14th century. The palace they built is the largest Gothic building in the world.

A popular tourist destination is the Place du Palais and its cafés, though the tourists may find these places very expensive, and crowded with tourists during the summer. However, smaller squares near by frequented by the locals have much lower prices.

The famous song "Sur Le Pont d'Avignon " refers to the Saint-Bénézet bridge, a ruined bridge not far from the Palais des Papes. The bridge was built in the Middle Ages. The bridge itself is too narrow for dancing and the original lyrics of the song was "Sous (under) le pont d'Avignon", referring to the festivities and entertainments that took place on the Barthelasse island.

Avignon has nice museums, from Modern Art Museums to museums housing artifacts from the Roman and pre-Roman time.

Theatre Festival of Avignon is world famous and takes place once a year. For three or four weeks in July the city is crowded with street performers, actors, musicians, and tourists. The festival is an pretext to turn any room with enough seating into a show room and the city is host to a large variety of entertainment. The best of this festival are the performances that take place inside the Pope's Palace itself. The vast majority of performances are, of course, in French but many foreign companies perform in English. Even without attending any events, the atmosphere and street theatre give the city an amazing ambiance.