We stayed in the city of Avignon, France. This city was.....

....was the home for the Pope of the Catholic Church for 67 years.

Following the strife between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France, and the death after only eight months of his successor Benedict XI, a deadlocked conclave finally elected Clement V, a Frenchman, as pope in 1309. Clement declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and then moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remained for the next 67 years. This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy".^[2][3] A total of seven popes reigned at Avignon; all were French, and all were increasingly under the influence of the French crown. Finally in 1377 Gregory XI moved his court to Rome, officially ending the Avignon papacy.