The South of France in Pictures

From Bordeaux to Monaco you can visit many things in the south of France, it only depends on the number of days you are thinking to spend on this magnificent places. There are several options and you can decide to visit museums and churches or beaches and bars, the option is yours.

In this hub you can see several images that can help you to decide what you will want to visit, from castles to the lavender camps, you can see which you would prefer to spend more time. It may also help you to decide which cities you want to visit and which cities you will want to avoid.

My visit started in Bordeaux, after landing in BOD(Bordeaux Airport) and ended in the NCE (Nice Airport), it lasted only four days so some of the city visits were flash visits. The visit in the west starts with landscape, castles and vineyards, but as you go east, you will see beaches and end in the French Riviera (Côte d'azur).

The city of Bordeaux is less than thirty minutes away by car from the city airport, so we decided to drive to the city center and do an hour walk by the city.

It is a nice city, it is the sixth largest city in France but you won't notice in the city center. My visit started near the river Garonne, it is a calm area where you can have a nice view to the front building and to some beautiful bridges.

If you walk by the river you can see the main sights like Place de la Borse, Cailhau and the big plaza, Place des Quinconces.

Carcassonne was one of the main stops that I wanted to make, the city is known for having one of the most famous castles in the world. The cité de Carcassonne is a medieval fortified castle and it was rebuild in the XIXth century, in 1997 it was added to the UNESCO, world heritage sites.

If you are planning a visit you should see the official site of the ville and see the agenda, you will see what is planned to happen in the next weeks. This can be specially important if you are planning to visit during summer, when there are many parties happening.

There is also a board game called "Carcassonne", designed by a German in 2000. Even in Facebook there is already a game called "Carcassonne".

A curious fact, In one of the main streets in Lisbon there is even a pastry with the name Carcassonne, in that same street there a pastry called Biarritz and other, Helsinquia(Helsinki).

From Carcassonne to Nimes, we passed by coastal cities, in a small trip they were not worth to stop but it was better than the Highway. The cities were:

• Agde
• Sete
• Frontignan
• Palavas-les-Flots
• Le Couchant
• Le Grau-du-Roi

After that we went north, to Nimes.

Nimes was decided as one of the stops because of the rich heritage since the Romans. It is a small city with less than 150.000 inhabitants, but with many sights dating from the Roman Empire.

Avignon is specially known for its role during the "Papacy of Avignon", it is known as the "City of Popes", and it was the other home of the Pope or of the "second Pope", during the Catholic Schism between 1378 and 1417. During this time there were two men claiming to be the Pope, one in Rome and another in Avignon.

The great sight of Avignon in the Palais des Papes, the Pope's Palace. You can also find the Notre Dame des Noms. In the city center there is also a beautiful Hôtel de Ville.

You can also walk in the Bridge of Avignon, also famous because of the French song, Sur le pont d'Avignon

Like Nimes, it is mostly known for the Roman influences, it has a roman arena.

One of the streets in Arles is represented in "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent Van Gogh.

We decided to make a stop in Aix en Provence in a Sunday morning, the goal was to see the market in one of the city plazas.

The markets of Aix en Provence are very popular and you should definitely visit it, there is one or more everyday in the city plazas, they are normally different, you can see the flower market, the fruit market and others...