Day 1 Provence

Our weekend started on a late train from Paris to Avignon, we were on time this time round. We had booked into a hotel near the train station which was a bit of a scary walk but we got there safely. The forecast for the weekend was a sunny 24degrees, such a big change from dreary Paris! The next morning we hired a car so that we could visit all the little villages around Avignon. I was petrified of driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the car, bur we managed. Probably would have been good to have an automatic car as my right arm is pretty bad at changing gears! Roundabouts and turning left were the hardest parts but soon got the hang of it although I did give some guys in a campervan a scare when I turned onto the wrong side of a small road!
Our first stop was at Pont du Gard, an old Roman aquaduct. We refused to pay for parking at the official site but managed to find a little road on the other side of the river that we could park the car and walk.
The aquaduct was built of stone only, no mortar - it pretty impressive when you think about it like that. The river was a beautiful colour, not like the muddy rivers you get in Aus! In summer you can swim in the river and float under the aquaduct (next time maybe!)

Next stop was Les Baux-en-Provence, a little village on top of a huge rocky outcrop. It was gorgeous, if we weren't so stingy we would have had lunch there! There is an old chateau there and a vineyard on top of the plateau. The village was very pretty with cobbled streets and cute little shops. It definitely only exists for tourists but still gorgeous.
Before our next stop in Gordes we stopped for a picnic lunch by the side of the road and some sunbaking. I ended up with a burnt left arm and shoulder from driving anyway!

We ended up skipping going to see Gordes (another little village on a hill) and instead went to Rousillon which is another little village on top of a hill but has red houses and cliffs nearby. This was definitely my favourite village, the red walls and blue shutters were gorgeous. The yummy icecream was good too!

We also visted a few other places on our way,the Abbaye de something would be pretty in Summer when the lavender flowers
but going in spring meant we got to see cherry blossoms...
Then we headed back to Avignon, thinking it wasn't going to be a very nice town - turned out we were wrong and it was a beautiful city inside the walls. We camped out on the Rhone river with the Palais de Papes and Pont d'Avignon behind us, a bottle of wine, some snacks and had us a proper sundowner.Then it was time to return the car after a very long day in preparation for day 2!