Paris, Milano, Wien, Berlin... and Avignon

A brilliant website * designed with Japanese travellers in mind has recently decided to put Avignon on its "big cities" map.
Why is that so ? Avignon is certainly not a big city !  But it is more than a convenient place for visiting Provence. The tourism industry say it's a 'destination'. This city offers a lot in a nutshell - restaurants, monuments, walks, museums, shopping and colorful markets -, only 2 hours and 40 minutes by TGV fast train from Paris, with sunny weather, great food  and none of the  big city hassles.
It is both authentic and traveller oriented. In that sense it would compare well with great cultural destinations such as Kyoto in Japan, Sevilla in Spain, Sienna in Italy, maybe Bath or Cambridge in the UK... A great alternative to a lenghty Paris stay  with a standard 'Chateau de la Loire' excursion. You can actually see much more - Antique roman monuments, religious architecture, etc, you are only a stonethrow away from lovely nature spots and you get the real feel of " France profonde" (the 'real country', as opposed to Paris.

. So yes this is a good choice  for discerning and culture-oriented tourists - with much lower prices !
 *The Euro Estate website http://www.euestate.com helps you find apartments and flatshares in major European cities (Paris, Milano, Berlin, Munchen, Wien) for both short and long term leases.

left : the Sorgue river, (which pops out of from a huge cliff at Fontaine de Vaucluse) is only 2 euros away from Avignon by public bus.

Avignon : How to get there and around ?

Nearest Airport  : Avignon-Caumont,  8km (5 miles) southeast of . 1-hour direct regular  flights

  from SOUTHAMPTON - LONDON CITY - BIRMINGHAM ; also connecting flights from

BELFAST - DUBLIN - EDIMBOURG - GLASGOW - GUERNSEY - JERSEY - NEWCASTLE. Taxis from the airport to the center cost around €15. But keep in mind that  Marseilles Airport is less than 80 Km away, and Nîmes-Garons about 60km, so think about it should you find interesting charter or low-cost flying options.

Train Stations : Chances are you will arrive from TGV train station (Gare TGV). The TGV ride from Paris takes about  2 hours 38 minutes. TGV trains also arrive daily from Koln, Brussels,  and several times a day to and from Marseille in the south, and Nice further east .The high-speed Eurostar train now makes the full journey from London's Waterloo Station to Avignon, but only on Saturdays in the late summer months. The trip makes only one stop (in Ashford, Kent) and takes six hours.
From the TGV station, a 10-minute shuttle bus (navette) takes you from the TGV station to Avignon's city center, alighting 4 minutes from rue Figuière, in front of the main post office. Cost is 1.50 euros only.  Take all your luggage with you, for there are no baggage checks in the TGV station or the central station.
All non-TGV trains arrive at the convenient central train station (Avignon Centre) 5 minutes from our place Trains from Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nimes are frequent, (hourly or so) ; from Arles, the trip takes 30 minutes and costs about €6.  Tickets must be bought  in the somewhat puzzling yellow vending machines, and then punched in the orange automats before boarding ( this is called "compostage").
Roads & parking lots
It's also easy to drive to Avignon : take the A6 motorway south to Lyons then the A7 south to Avignon, 2 hrs away ( exit 'Avignon nord', then take the nice road along the Rhone with the Pope's palace in sight) ; coming from Marseilles or Aix en Provence, choose exit 'Avignon south'.
But it's a bit more tricky to park there. Once you arrive in Avignon, follow the Centre-ville signs and park either near the city walls (parking de l'Oulle) or in the public parking structures inside the walls( Jean-Jaures, Les Halles, or Palais des Papes). Better yet, follow the red arrows on the above  city map, park as soon as you can either on rue Trois Faucons, place St Didier, Place Aubanel  ( you can type your car plate number in the meter, and collect a free 30mn voucher) and ask us for parking advice once  you finally arrive, on foot, rue Figuière. If you can't find a parking space, the quiet Figuière street itself is "semi pedestrian" : acces to cars is allowed for 30 mn in the morning only, althought  you can try your luck later in the day on the phone affixed on the gated entries  : offseason at least the gate operators are quite lenient. This is Provence, remember : people like to help and feel they are their own boss. Later, once settled in your flat,  you will be able to pick up your car and park it  for free extra-muros either in the Parking des Italiens or Ile Piot, and use the free bus shuttles.

Getting Around Avignon

Avignon center is still largely a medieval town : read a pedestrian heaven. (And a driver's hell). You will tour the city, shop, get out at night all on foot. The best place to rent a car in Avignon is probably the TGV train station. There are other car rental agencies near the central train station, but with shorter hours. You can reserve a rental car in advance with us ( a four door sedan, Peugeot 306) for about 20 euros per days, weekdays).
Note that a little tourist train leave regularly from the Palace of Popes about  twice and hour and does a 30-minute town tour with audio commentary for €6, it passes near our home and chugs up to the top of the Rocher des Doms park for a view above the river (€2).
To explore the area by bicycle, a good idea since Avignon is a fairly flat location, again ask us : we have a gent's bike and a more 'californian' looking ladie's bike for rent, 5 euros per day each.
The situation for handiccapped  travelers is not good. Access for weelchairs is poor to inexistent,  all over the inner city; and sadly our accomodations  in particular  are not suited for them ; the XIV century walls on the two  first levels leave no room for adaptations.

Should Avignon become a City-state again ?

photo : Tax refugees waiting for an audience at the front of the legates'palace, March 2013‎
At the end of the XVIII century, Avignon, which included the city of Avignon and a few surrounding communes, had a population of about 25.000 and had been a papal enclave since 1348. It was governed by the pope's representative, the vice-legate, and a municipal council - controlled by the clergy, and a few prominent families. Abuses in the papal administration were widespread, and the relatively small enclave was at the mercy of French excise and customs regulations. Well before the French Revolution the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, particularly the silk manufacturers, and members of the legal community were demanding reform in the judicial and taxation systems and a broadening of their representation in the council. There was discontent as well among artisans and peasants, aggravated after 1788 by an economic crisis that led to a sharp rise in bread prices and unemployment in the silk industry, the mainstay of the county's economy besides attending to the needs of the thousands priests, nuns and monks who still lived in the city.

‎According to an interesting "Compte rendu à l'Assemblée Nationale comme commissaire du Roi à Avignon, le 19 novembre 1791", ( you can buy this rare book here), encouraged by the first results of the Revolution in France, Avignonese Revolutionaries renewed their demands of "rattachement à la France" and supported them with demonstrations. By March 1790, the revolutionaries had gained control of the municipal council. They adopted the main provisions of the constitution then being framed in France, wich the pope refused to accept. After his supporters in Avignon made an unsuccesful bid to reassert his authority by force, the Revolutionaries declared Avignon independent of the papacy and voted to join France (11 June 1790). The villages in the Comtat Venaissin, Papal possession aroud Carpentras, followed suit.
Avignon was thus one of the first places in the world were the principle of self determination, or as was enounced at the times the " Right of the peoples to dispose of themselves" was put in practice. What if the Avignonese people decided to backtrack, and become free again under the distant authority of the Pope ?

One can wonder, in those days of over taxation and subsequent tax evasion by France's rich and sometimes famous, if Avignon wouldn't be better of as an independent state, advertising itself as a tax haven within the EC frame ?

Somebody thought about it - below is the translation from an imaginary prospectus the new free Avignon state would issue soon after independence :

Venite & Defiscalite in Avenio
Come & pay less taxes in Avignon

NEO-PONTIFICAL STATE of

AVIGNON AND COMTAT VENAISSIN

Generous Offer for MM. Tax Refugees :

It pleases the sovereign Avignon Curia, so predisposed by the Divine clemency, and considering the Blessed freedom of Avignon and the Comtat off the French yoke, but also the subsequent impecunious state of our coffers, to hereby proclaim:

The following rights and priviledges  shall be awarded ex sollicitudo to MM. Tax Refugees of good morals, of any faith and condition but substantial fortune:


Primo - Right of Entry and Passport
Free Admission and Liberty of movement granted to the refugee and his family throughout the City, the Comtat Venaissin and abroad, as soon as they hold the prestigious and unexpensive Passport issued to all tax refugees  and bearing the three keys of Paradise, as on the coat of arms of the sovereign Curia.


Secundo (et inter gravissimas) : Modest Tax
Stable and charitable tax package never ever exceeding one tenth or decimate of the revenues of the incumbents.


Tertio - Residency rights
Unlimited right of residence in a blessed climate , with much sun & few rain (the wind comes from elsewhere we can do nothing about it)


Quarto - Ownership rights
Freedom to buy, own, either freehold or  perpetually in the city, intra & Extramuros, in the Comtat, in & the Vaucluse mountains all the way to the Wall of the Plague, which isolates us from the dangers of France ;


Quinto- Discretion in money matters
Secrecy of Bank & Exchange Transaction shall be defended "Inguibus and rostro" the motto of our state; and guarranteed under the solemn privilege of our apostolic Notaries.


Sexto- Education
Liberal access to our famous Schools, Colleges and Ancient University and their adjacent Taverns;


Septio - Writing
Freedom of opinion and of the press guaranteed by our ancient laws concerning Printing & Publishing, allowing the refugees to indulge in all kind of nonsense, provided, however, not to say anything blasphemous or insulting to his Sanctimoniousness the Neo-Legate, his Camerier, the noble Curia, etc..


Octavo - Grace
For Godly Souls, plenty of opportunities to thank the Divine Providence shall be found in our two hundred churches and chapels, convents and brotherhoods ; not excluding our three ancient Synagogues of Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon,  and ithrowed in quite a few recent Mosques.


For His Eminence the Neo-Legate
the Grand Camerier of the sovereign Curia in Avignon.




Tax refugees : Place your petitions to the Grand Camerier accompanied immediatly by a deposit frankly it is better.

One-bedroom appartment or "deux pieces".

We can rent you a flat in downtown Avignon - by the week or half week - it is called a "deux pieces" - which would best describe as a " one bedroom appartment" in english. Let's say it is one bedroom and one sitting room. The bedroom, with a double bed, has much charm, being enclosed in massive middle age walls. The appartment also offers two single beds in a separate room, and there is a shared bathroom and a tiny but separate kitchenette. We can lend you some baby equipment if needed. Price per week : 210 euros in Feb. and March, 245 euros in April, May and June.

Here is the description in french : Dans un petit immeuble au centre ville d'Avignon, quartier Saint Didier, proche de la Médiatheque, des universités, du Conservatoire , de la Fnac... Deux pièces rénové, meublé, calme, idéal pour un à quatre personnes.L'appartement est en u et n' a pas de vis a vis . chauffage électrique, kitchenette séparée, pierre de taille apparente : un espace chaleureux et agréable a vivre.

Ce deux pièces bénéficie d'une kitchenette équipée ( micro onde, frigidaire machine à laver) et d'une salle de bains avec douche et wc, qui commande l'accès à la chambre. Mobilier : Table et chaises, canapé , lit 2 places, commodes , vastes penderies et rangements, luminaires, nécessaire de cuisine et de vaisselle, équipement pour bébé si nécessaire.. If you feel like wandering about, we can also rent you a car on weekdays ( a very reliable Peugeot 306).