Avignon in August is hot, busy, and full of colour. The city is best known for its medieval Papal Palace and the half-bridge of Saint-Bénézet — the one from the song — but what caught our attention on this visit was the enormous canopy of coloured umbrellas strung across one of the old town streets. An installation that turned an ordinary lane into something genuinely joyful.
The umbrellas were hung at rooftop level across a narrow street, hundreds of them in reds, oranges, yellows and pinks, creating a shifting filter of colour over everyone below. On a bright southern French afternoon the shadows they cast were extraordinary — dappled colour patches moving slowly as a breeze came through. Everyone who walked under them stopped, looked up, and smiled. It was that kind of installation.
Beyond the installation, Avignon itself delivered everything you’d want from a fortified medieval city in Provence. The Palais des Papes is enormous and atmospheric, the ramparts are walkable, and the markets were doing serious work with melon, tomatoes and local olives. The Rhône sits wide and slow below the city walls, and the famous broken bridge stretches out into it — stopping abruptly in the middle, as it has since the 17th century.