Sur le pont . . .

chrisF bet me to it, blipping this at the weekend. However, what else does one blip after a day spent in Avignon! I could have blipped the Palais des Papes, or maybe other people capturing it. But in the end it had to be the bridge.

Officially called Pont Saint-Benezet (and there is a fascinating legend regarding the shepherd boy who was not a saint but who caused the bridge to be built), it is usually known as Pont D’Avignon because of the well-known song:

Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse, on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse tout en rond

We did not actually go ‘sur le pont’, as one has to pay for the privilege. And anyway the song is wrong, as one look at the bridge could tell you that no dancing is ever going to take place on it – far too narrow. The original song was ‘sous le pont’, as in medieval times dancing, drinking and general merrymaking took place under the arches of the bridge.

And of course the bridge is a bridge no longer, as it doesn’t make it to the other side of the river. First made of wood, it was the first bridge spanning the Rhone river, a dividing line between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Its reconstruction in stone dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Several times mistreated by wars and the flooding Rhone, it was continuously under repair until the seventeenth century when it ceased to be restored. Now only four arches survive of the original twenty-two.