File:Avignon - River Rhone - Pont d'Avignon - Saint Nicholas' Chapel.jpg

Before we went into Avignon, we stopped off at this view point for a photo stop.

For the Papal Palace, the Basilica / Cathedral and the Pont d'Avignon.

I also got the modern road bridge (to the right) and a big cruise ship.

Views of the Pont d'Avignon.

<a href="http://www.avignon.fr/fr/culture/musees/pont.php" rel="nofollow">Pont St Benezet</a>

Begun in 1177 by shepherd boy Benezet, this bridge is the subject of the famous rhyme Sur le Pont d'Avignon.

When erected in the 12th century it had 22 arches and was 900 m long. Louis VIII had it almost completely destroyed when he laid siege to Avignon (in 1226).

Saint Benezet Bridge

Constructed in the 12th Century, this, the famous "Pont d'Avignon", originally had 22 arches and measured 900 metres long. During the seige of Avignon, Louis VIII ordered it to be almost completely destroyed.

Reconstruction work was carried out until the 17th Century but the unpredictability of the Rhone caused much damage to this impressive civil engineering feat.

Despite the goodwill of the people of Avignon during this century, only four arches of the bridge and Saint Nicholas' Chapel still stand. Built on two storeys, the chapel as the burial place of Benezet, shepherd of Provence, who, according to the legend, built the bridge.