Monday, June 15 (Day 46)
Today we burrowed even further into the Ardeche countryside to visit the newly opened "La Grotte Chauvet Pont D'Arc", which is the largest replica cave in the world. Its cave paintings are from 36,000 years ago. They precede Lascaux cave paintings by 15,000 years. The entire facility is stunning, with the lumber used still smelling fresh cut and the concrete still having a damp smell as it continues to cure - very effective within the replica cave since the smell could be confused with the wet, musty smell of a real cave. The replication of the cave interior and of the paintings took years to accomplish with the assistance of science and of true, modern day artisans. The real cave nearby can continue to abide in timeless slumber while we in the present day get to enjoy its clone. Thanks so much to Linda Hanna, our neighbor and fellow archeology buff, who put us onto this treasure just before we left so we were able to incorporate it into our plans.
Since the final "run" of our journey to Marseille took us past Avignon, we stopped there to visit the Pope's Palace and walk around the square which surrounds it. With the Roman Catholic church going through troubled times in the 13th and 14th centuries, in the 14th century the papal seat finally settled in Avignon when Rome became untenable. When the seat finally returned to Rome that didn't set too well with some. The result was that for a time both Rome and Avignon each had the true Pope. We all know which city won out in the end. Just one more tidbit of history among the myriad tidbits to be found in Europe. To paraphrase that guy we all know and love, "We'll be back!"
At the entrance:
Lots of bus tours with reservations:
The viewing terrace looking out over the Ardeche.
Part of the replica cave structure as seen from the viewing terrace.
Also shown is exit point from cave after taking the hour long tour.
We had lunch in the caverne restaurant before the tour. Murals are painted on all the walls:
No photos permitted inside but no one made Pam leave her purse behind...with her iphone. Earphones of the audio guide on, purse at the ready, Pam is set to get down in that cave and boogie. Our Tour guide spoke French, the audio guide spoke several languages.
Ice cream break after the tour:
Next we drove to Avignon to tour the Pope's Castle. Once again, a tourist trolly was running around the square around the castle.
Pam loves carousels. This one is in the square by the castle along with some vendors selling jewelry:
Checked into IBIS Hotel Marseille Airport then turned in the Peugeot. The drop off point is right next to our hotel, so after we signed a couple of forms that was it - no car inspection, no check of mileage, nada.
When we picked the car up six weeks ago the odometer had 49 km on it - we dropped it off with 10,605 km, or 6,590 miles. We found out that the pale red license plates on our car, which we never saw on another car, denote a leased car with the leasee being not a European Union citizen. And all this time that we thought we were blending in, going native, the car was shouting "Hey everyone! Alien tourists here with their luggage and who knows what other goodies". We're lucky we weren't driven off the road, although Norm swears some seemed to be trying.
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