Yet More Photographs of Provence

Here's another selection of images of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, this time showing (in order), a view of the tower of Notre Dame des Doms from the southwest (the gilded statue of the Virgin Mary was added in the nineteenth century and is now regarded as rather kitsch -- but as the Palace complex is on the UNESCO World Heritage list nothing can be done to remove it); a view of Notre Dame des Doms and the adjacent Campane Tower of the Old Palace; a view of the Pont de Benezet from Rocher des Doms (note the papal vineyards on the slope immediately below the point from which the photograph was taken); a reverse view from the bridge of Rocher des Doms, a very defensible position which was the site of the very first settlements of the area, in the neolithic and bronze ages, against which the Palais des Papes was built and which was transformed into a public park after the French Revolution; and, lastly, part of the steps up to the top of the rock from the road. No prizes at all for identifying the figure trudging up those steps....