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Chapelle des Pénitents Gris
Rue des Teinturiers follows the course of the River Sorgue through Avignon's old dyers' district - busy until the 19th century. Some water wheels still turn. Beneath plane trees stands the 16th-century Chapelle des Pénitents Gris.
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City Walls
Wrapping around the city, Avignon's ramparts were built between 1359 and 1370. They were restored during the 19th century, minus their original moats - though even in the 14th century this defence system was hardly state-of-the-art, lacking machicolations (openings in the parapets for niceties like pouring boiling oil on attackers or shooting arrows at them).Within the walls are a wealth of fine museums - the Avignon Passion booklet lists the whole gamut.
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Collection Lambert
Avignon's contemporary art museum, Collection Lambert, showcases photography, video, and minimalist, conceptual and land art from the 1960s and '70s.
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Couvent des Cordeliers
Rue des Teinturiers follows the course of the River Sorgue through Avignon's old dyers' district, where you'll find the former Couvent des Cordeliers, Avignon's largest convent when it was founded in 1226. Inside lies the grave of Laura, the muse of Italian poet Petrarch.
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Les Trains Touristiques d'Avignon
Trundling a 40-minute circuit around town, the little tourist trains Les Trains Touristiques d'Avignon are a winner with kids and adults alike.
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Musée Angladon
From the private collection of couturier Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), the charming Musée Angladon harbours the only Van Gogh painting in Provence, Railway Wagons . If you look closely you'll see the 'earth' isn't paint but the bare, underlying canvas. Also housed in this gracious mansion are original works by Picasso, Cézanne, Sisley, Manet, Degas and others, and antiquities upstairs.
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Musée Calvet
Impressive architecture and art intertwine at the elegant Hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan (1741-54), where Musée Calvet has among its collections 15th-century wrought-iron works and paintings from the 16th to 20th centuries.
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Musée du Petit Palais
During the 14th and 15th centuries, Musée du Petit Palais served as a bishops' and archbishops' palace. These days it houses an outstanding collection of lavishly coloured Italian religious paintings from artists including Botticelli, Carpaccio and Giovanni di Paolo, spanning the 13th to the 16th centuries.
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Musée du Pont St-Bénézet
At the entrance to the Pont St-Bénézet, via cours Châtelet, is the new Musée du Pont St-Bénézet where you can make your own DVD of the song. Dreamy (if distant) bridge views unfold from the Rocher des Doms, Pont Édouard Daladier and across the river on the Île de la Barthelasse.
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Musée Lapidaire
Museum buffs on a budget will appreciate the Musée Lapidaire, with a random but interesting collection of Egyptian, Roman, Etruscan and early Christian pieces. They range from large sections of marble statuary and hieroglyphics to delicate vases and bronze figurines.
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Notre Dame des Doms
The Romanesque Notre Dame des Doms has stood here since the 12th century, but has had flanks, wings and bits added on ever since - the gilded Virgin statue, poised and glistening at the top of its western tower, dates from the 19th century. Inside the small but richly decorated cathedral are works of art, including a 14th-century mausoleum of Pope John XXII.
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Palais des Papes
Flanked by the sprawling courtyard cour d'Honneur, the Palais des Papes is the largest Gothic palace in the world. Its cavernous stone halls and extensive grounds testify to the fortune amassed by the papacy during the 'Babylonian Captivity'. Papal banquets held here were of fitting proportions. A feast to celebrate Clement VI's coronation in 1342 included 118 oxen, 1033 spit-roasted sheep, 1195 geese, 7428 chickens, 50,000 sweet tarts, 39,980 eggs and 95,000 loaves of bread.
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Parc d'Astronomie, du Soleil et du Cosmos
Across the river in Les Angles, planets loom large at the Parc d'Astronomie, du Soleil et du Cosmos, an astronomy park where young masterminds can follow a 1½-hour trail through garrigue to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Call ahead to check what workshops/guided visits it has that day.
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Pont St-Bénézet
The fabled Pont St-Bénézet was completed in 1185, linking Avignon with the settlement across the Rhône that later became Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The 900m-long wooden structure was repaired and rebuilt several times before all but four of its 22 spans were washed away in the mid-1600s. The bridge continues to capture kids' imaginations everywhere with its namesake nursery rhyme, 'Sur le Pont d'Avignon'.
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Promenade des Papes
From the Romanesque Cathédrale Notre Dame des Doms (1671-72), the Promenade des Papes (signposted along rue de Mons) leads to the Verger d'Urbain V, gardens - since gravelled over - where the popes grew sweet-smelling plants and herbs and kept exotic animals in cages.
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Rocher des Doms
Make your way to Avignon's most picturesque picnic spot, Rocher des Doms, a bluff-top park with views spanning the Rhône, Pont St-Bénézet, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and the Alpilles.
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St Bénézet's Bridge
The fabled Pont St-Bénézet (St Bénézet's Bridge) was completed in 1185, a bridge linking Avignon with the settlement across the Rhône that later became Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The 900m-long wooden structure was repaired and rebuilt several times before all but four of its 22 spans were washed away in the mid-1600s.
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Synagogue
Avignon's neoclassical synagogue was first built in 1221. A 13th-century oven used to bake unleavened bread for Passover can still be seen, but the rest of the present round, domed neoclassical structure dates from 1846; a fire destroyed the original edifice in 1845. Visitors must be modestly dressed and men's heads must be covered, as is the custom.
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Trompe l'Œil Portrait
To peek at Avignon's nine popes in their fashionable garbs of the day, seek out their trompe l'œil portrait on the side of the conseil général (general council) building.
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Université d'Avignon
Université d'Avignon, founded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1303, resides in all its splendour inside Porte St-Lazare, the gate linking the eastern part of the walled city with the modern world.
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