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Home - City Guide - Avignon - Further Distractions | ||
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Further Distractions Rocher des Doms Ramps from the Palais des Papes lead up past the CathÉdrale Notre-Dame des Doms to the Rocher des Doms. The site of Avignon's earliest settlement, the rocky area was landscaped in the eighteenth century into a pleasant plateau with an artificial rock garden. Nineteenth-century additions include a lake and the statues of prominent Provençal figures, such as writer FÉlix Gras and artists Paul Saïn and Paul Vaysan. Terraces were laid out in the twentieth century, offering views onto the River Rhône, Pont St-BÉnÉzet, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and the Alpilles. Transport: Bus to place de l'Horloge or porte de l'Oulle. Opening hours: Daily sunrise to sunset. Admission: Free. MusÉe Louis Vouland Successful businessman and art collector Louis Vouland (1883-1973) bequeathed his nineteenth-century mansion to the state. His home was opened as a museum in 1982, offering a quirky collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century decorative arts. Highlights include faïence (earthenware) from Vincennes and Sèvres and tapestries woven in Flanders, Aubusson and Gobelins; however, a dainty travel tea set in Sèvres faïence, which belonged to the Comtesse du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, steals the show. 17 rue Victor Hugo Tel: (04) 90 86 03 79. Fax: (04) 90 85 12 04. Transport: Bus to rue de la RÉpublique, poste or porte de l'Oulle. Web site: www.avignon-et-provence.com/musee-vouland Opening hours: Tues-Sat Jun-Sep 1000-1200 and 1400-1800; Oct-May 1400-1800. Admission: FFr20 (concessions available). |