Orange

Today we caught the train to Orange, 20 minutes away. The main reason we went was to see the old Roman Theatre there. It is immense. It was built about 2000 years ago. The main feature is the huge  3 story high wall behind the stage. It measures 103 m long and 37m high. The tiered seating was quite steep and  built into the side of a hill and could hold 10,000 people. We went half way up and that was enough. The wall would have been decorated with marble columns and statues in niches but few remain. Today it is used for operas and concerts of all types of music. The stone seating reminded me of my time in Verona and when I went to the Opera in the arena there.

Then we went to look at a Triumphal arch probably built in the reign of Augustus to commemorate veterans of the Gallic wars . Later Tiberius reconstructed it to celebrate victories of Germanicus.

We wandered through fairly deserted streets, it is Sunday, until we found a place to eat. Noel was delighted to choose 'fish and chips' from the menu. I cringed , he said it was a joke. We watched a whole lot of people come out of a church service . The young children were all quite formally dressed. Little boys always with a collared shirt and girls wore a traditional styled dress.

Back in Avignon we wandered around a few more streets and Places. We were interested in a Lutheran church with flying buttresses that were not completely solid. There was a lovely small park nearby that many locals seemed to be enjoying.