{"id":66,"date":"2019-09-03T00:14:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T04:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/hunting-hannibal\/?p=66"},"modified":"2020-08-25T23:51:22","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T03:51:22","slug":"day-10-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeodyssey.cc\/hunting-hannibal\/2019\/09\/03\/day-10-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 10 REST!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stage 1 is complete and it is a good opportunity to enjoy some rest and recuperation in preparation for the most iconic leg of Hannibal\u2019s journey \u2013 Across the Alps! Avignon serves as a great spot to explore. I slept in for a change, had a great filling breakfast and headed out to tour around Villeneuve les  and Avignon itself. Then a light lunch of octopus\/ chorizo salad and local biere!\u2026then a nap, light dinner, sack time early!!<\/p>\n

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Villeneuve-l\u00e8s-Avignon<\/span><\/p>\n

Villeneuve-l\u00e8s-Avignon owes its prominence to those cardinals who (like us!), were seeking a retreat from busy Avignon, and established residences here. The view of the “City of Popes” is one of the most renowned of the Rh\u00f4ne Valley, and best enjoyed from the Tower of Philippe le Bel (built on a rocky outcrop on the edge of the Rh\u00f4ne) or from the 14th century Fort Saint-Andr\u00e9.<\/p>\n

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Avignon<\/span><\/p>\n

For 70-odd years of the early 1300s, the Proven\u00e7al town of Avignon was the centre of the Roman Catholic world, and though its stint as the seat of papal power only lasted a few decades, it’s been left with an impressive legacy of ecclesiastical architecture, most notably the soaring World Heritage-listed fortress-cum-palace known as the Palais des Papes.<\/p>\n

Of the 90,194 inhabitants of the city about 12,000 live in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval ramparts. Seven successive popes resided in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI bought the town from Joanna I of Naples. Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, it became part of France.<\/p>\n

And of course the famous children\u2019s song Sur Pont d\u2019Avignon, which is a story about this bridge on the Rhone<\/p>\n

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