ne of the things like to do when I travel is to visit World Heritage sites. In the past three days I have ticked five more sites off the list. Admittedly they have been brief visits but that still counts!
First was Albi, the city I stayed in on Sunday night. The whole historical centre of the city is a listed site. Some of the key components are the Pont-vieux (old bridge) built in the sixth century, the Sainte-Cecile Cathedral, built in the 8th century, and the Bishop's palace and gardens.
After a relaxing meander in Albi on Monday morning, I drove down to Carcassonne. However, while in Albi I was bemused by the school kids I saw sitting around in the mid morning outside their school, clearly on a break for an hour or so, openly smoking. Firstly, when are these kids actually in school?And secondly ... Don't get me started on the smoking. It is still ingrained in the culture over here.
So anyway, Carcassonne historical centre is also a World Heritage Site. It is basically a fortified town that is now solely a tourist area. They sell souvenirs and local food and crafts, you can take a ride in a horse buggy, etc. I justwandered the streets and saw the main areas. I was Ppretty tired and short on time by this stage, I think you would need to do a guided tour to truly appreciate Carcassonne.
I then drove to Avignon, where I stayed for two nights.
The next day was my sight seeing by bicycle day, I visited the Pont du Gard. This was great to see in real life and it gave me a better appreciation of the engineering feats of the Roman empire.
That evening I visited the historical centre of Avignon, which is also a World Heritage Site. Again I was quite tired and refused to pay more than ten Euros for entry to the palace and bridge. However I did see the church and palace facade in beautiful evening light and treated myself to a three course dinner in the square overlooking the palace.
The next day I packed up and left Avignon in the morning, and drove only half an hour up the road to Orange. Here I visited the fifth World Heritage Site, a Roman amphitheatre. This time I paid the entry fee and even took an audio guide. I learnt a lot about Roman history, but spent more time here than I had planned (1.5 hours instead of 30min!), which put my timing out for the rest of the day.
Next stop was The Mountain - l'Alpe du Huez. I figured that seeing as I was in the area I had to climb it. So I parked at the base, got changed, got on my bike, and rode to the top.
Mountains are really hard. I thought I was going well, but hit a few mental walls at the 28min mark, and again at 39min. At 48min I was under a delusion that I was near the top and may have a hope of cracking the hour mark. But no such luck - it was me who almost cracked. I had to ride the last km out of the saddle as my glutes / upper hamstrings were so sore I couldn't put any weight on them. I made it to the top but had to rest and recuperate (and then get cold) before making my way down. Another 20min frozen descent ... I really must wear my Aussie rain jacket next time, no matter how silly it looks, it is all I have with me.
Finally, I drove around and through lots more mountains and made my way to Turin, where I have been put up in luxury and fed delicious Italian food and Austrian schnapps by a friend who I met through work.
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