- Avignon
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- architecture
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France
Worth going for the TGV station alone - architecture on speed!
Once you’ve arrived refreshed from your rail journey, don’t rush away too quickly from Avignon Station. Do take time to appreciate this innovative building completed in 2001.
A curved façade and wall of overlapping laminated glass panels has been used by the architect to impressive effect. Look upwards to fully appreciate the scale of it all.
On your return journey ticketed passengers are allocated platform space nearest their booked train seat in order to reduce the usual rush when a train pulls in. Avignon is just one of four new stations between Paris and Marseilles commissioned in 1998.
Do pay a visit to the hidden gem that is the 15th Century Eglise St Pierre in Avignon. The church regularly plays host to operas, and the exterior of the church is exquisite.
What a find on the drive from Les Baux de Provence to Tarascon. An ancient city with a triumphal arch and cenotaph. The cenotaph is fantastic - so different from the other Roman relics in the area. You can see these two relics any time but the excavations are not open on a Monday.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glanum
Glanum is around 12 miles from Avignon.
Map: tinyurl.com/2tummh
On the opposite bank of the Rhone, this perfect little village is stuffed with amazing Medieval buildings.
For just over €6 you can get an "Avignon Passion" pass ticket which gives you entry to a monastery, a fortified tower (with the best views of Avignon and the Pont Saint-Benezet, the latter being the correct name for "Sur la pont...") a castle, an abbey garden and three other ancient gems.
The village square has several good bar/restaurants serving reasonably priced local dishes (about €8).
From Avignon cross the Rhone on the bridge signed "Ile Piot", turn right on the far bank and follow signs for Villeneuve a few hundred metres along.Map: tinyurl.com/ys3mhj
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