We had sailed from Avignon at 4:45am and arrived at a lock at Bollene at 9:45am. It was a deep one. Judging by the entries I saw on the Internet when I “googled” it, it is also considered to be quite a tourist site on its own. We gathered on the top deck at the bow to watch, photograph and video what was happening.
At seven stories tall, it is by far the deepest lock on the Rhone. Built in 1952 as part of the Donzère-Mondragon Dam, the lock also produces renewable hydroelectric power. In fact, together with the nearby nuclear power station and adjacent wind farms, this region produces one-third of France’s electrical power.
The captain used a small control panel, located at the starboard side of the ship to navigate his way through without scraping the sides of the ship against the wall of this very long and narrow lock. This was because he was eyeballing it –judging exactly how much room he had.
Once inside, the guillotine gate at the stern closed and the lock began to fill with water. As the ship rose, we found ourselves elevating from the dark, dank depths of the lock towards the sunlight. The first photo I have included with this post was taken from inside the lock. The second is from when we reached the top and were officially on the Canal de Donzere Mondragon.
Later in the morning, we had a cruise briefing on the plans for the day plus some changes that were coming up during the rest of the southern portion of the cruise. The biggest change was in Lyon. We had planned to tour the city in the morning and then have some optional tours in the afternoon. Instead, there would be a bicycle race in the morning, closing down the entire city (it would be a Sunday). So no city tour until the afternoon. Two of the optionals — “Delights of Beaujolais with Wine Discovery” and “Lyon Culinary Journey: Les Halles de Paul Bocuse” (an indoor food market) – were moved to the morning. But the one for which I had signed up – “Medieval Perouges” (a walled medieval town high on a hill) – was canceled. That meant that I would have another morning off on that day.
Our Cruise Director, Jean Loup, also announced that he had arranged for a mini-van that could carry six passengers up to the top of Viviers to the Cathedral. It was a very steep, cobble-stoned hike up from the river. Dennis and one of the Danish couples (we had two couples from Denmark in the midst of 17 Americans) and I rode up with Jean Loup and the driver.
At a couple points on the way up the narrow roads in Viviers, it seemed we were going pretty much straight up vertically. It made me very glad that I had chosen to ride in the mini-van. We left the ship an hour after the main group and beat them to the cathedral. We pulled into a parking area next to the building and had time to explore before the others arrived.
An operatic lyric soprano with a gorgeous voice sang for us. The acoustics were amazing. The tower was built in the 11th century with the rest of the Cathedral of St Vincent following in the 12th century. The village itself dates back to the 5th century although most of the current buildings date from between the 11th century to the 18th century. The population at its height was about 30,000. Currently it is below 4,000.
The photos of the village give an idea of how narrow the streets were as well as how steep some were. I thought it was a cool village that still had so much of its authentic medieval atmosphere.
Next – Grignan & Truffles (not the chocolate kind)
After lunch on the same day as Pont du Gard, we visited Avignon (those of us who hadn’t visited in the morning). The group was getting larger. This time there were five. Chris and Andy, who had been with me in Arles, and Pat and Fred, whose cabin was directly across the corridor from mine. Most of the rest of the group was on the optional tour to Chateauneuf-du-pape, which is a truly delicious collection of wines created not far from Avignon.
One of Avignon’s main claims to fame is that it, not Rome, was the seat of the Papacy from 1309 to 1377. The city walls and the Palace of the Popes were created during this time.
Another one of Avignon’s famous sites is the Pont d’Avignon – actually the Pont Saint-Bénézet. This is the bridge in the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon”, the chorus of which goes: “Sur le Pont d’Avignon; L’on y danse, l’on y danse; Sur le Pont d’Avignon; L’on y danse tous en rond.” I had barely managed to get a quick pic of what was left of this bridge as we returned from Pont du Gard in the morning and rounded a bend in the road. It helped that I was in the front seat right behind the driver.
A stone bridge replaced the original wooden bridge in 1234. It once had 22 arches and spanned the entire river across the island in the middle. Since the bridge tended to collapse each time the Rhone experienced a serious flood, it was abandoned in the mid-17th century. Four arches and the gatehouse at the Avignon end remain. There is also a 12th century chapel on the second pier, dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
I snapped another ‘hurried while passing’ shot of the city walls as we returned to the ship. After lunch, to get from where the ship was docked into the walled city of Avignon, we crossed a road next to the quay, and then walked to a pedestrian tunnel to go under the main road around the walls. When we reached the walls, we headed for the gate to one of the main streets.
Avignon had a lot more people in it than in Arles. The sidewalks were narrow, so it was necessary to step out into the street from time to time and hopefully not get clobbered by a motor vehicle. The streets weren’t all that wide either. Fortunately the motor traffic was not terribly heavy, especially when we got into some of the side streets.
The 14th century Church of Saint Agricol was one of the first sights we came to after a walk around some of the streets and squares. It was the second oldest church in Avignon after the cathedral. Directly across the street from the Palais des Papes was the Hôtel des Monnaies. Built in 1610, this was the papal mint and eventually became a music school.
Next door to the Palais des Papes was the cathedral Notre Dame des Doms. It predates the Palais by two centuries, having been built in the 12th century. It is also pretty much dwarfed by the palace.
Once we got into the palace, I was mighty glad that we had a local guide. Even with a diagram of the place, I think I would have gotten lost. It was massive. I remember there were audience rooms and private chambers and chapels, but I can’t tell which is what from trying to compare the photos to the floor plan. I know that we entered through the new palace, crossed a courtyard and then entered the old palace. At some point we moved from the old palace to the new and came back out at the new palace. This was after climbing loads of stairs up and down and tromping through mammoth spaces.
My back had bothered me in Arles and earlier in the day at Pont du Gard. But it was absolutely killing me in Avignon. The short version of the story is: 1) cancer; 2) surgery; 3) cancer gone; 4) pain not quite yet. It had been just three months since the surgery, so fortunately I had a collapsible cane with me. But I needed to sit down a lot. On top of that, it was very hot and we needed to wear masks both inside and out. I have to say, bless Chris, Andy, Pat and Fred as all four of them kept looking out for me and made sure I wasn’t falling behind.
After we left the Palais des Papes, we headed for the lovely, much, much smaller, Church of Saint-Pierre with its beautifully carved doors. Like Saint Agricol and the Palais, it was 14th century. Not far from there was the Synagogue.
We headed back to the main market square and returned to the ship the way we came. Once I refreshed and cooled down, I headed for Happy Hour to join Roberta and Jeff for a cooling drink (a margarita on the rocks) and to hear how their day went. After the Port Talk (when we got the rundown of the schedule for the next day) we joined the rest of our group for dinner.
Here and there along the river we would pass a castle. Makes sense to me. If I had the kind of money to build a castle, I would likely want to put it overlooking a river. We saw several castles along the Rhone (and the Saone and the Seine) on the full cruise. Sometimes I had my camera or phone at the ready and sometimes not.
A while after setting sail from Arles for Avignon, we spotted a castle on the port side of the ship. I managed to get a decent photo which I have included here. My phone said it was Beaucaire. But when I looked it up, the photos of the castle on the internet didn’t look like my photo. Then, I found there was another castle across the Rhone from Beaucaire called Tarascon. I looked it up. It matched.
The town of Tarascon has the tradition that Martha of Bethany (sister of Lazarus and Mary) arrived in Tarascon in 49 AD. Apparently there was a problem with a Tarasque (which is a mythological hybrid of a dragon in Provence). Martha tamed the beast. After her death, a church was built in her honor on the site of the house in which she had lived (near both the river and the castle). Her relics are contained there in the 3rd century crypt.
The castle was built in 1400 and is still in pretty good shape. Although the bridges of the town were destroyed during World War II, the castle wasn’t. Beaucaire across the river was destroyed during the Revolution. It had been a royal castle. Tarascon had been owned by the rulers of Anjou and belonged to the town by the time of the Revolution, so it was spared.
We docked at Avignon during the night. The morning excursion that I had booked was a visit to the Pont du Gard. The highest and one of the best preserved aqueducts built by the Romans, it was built during the 1st century AD in order to provide water to the town of Nimes.
Maintenance of the aqueduct was being neglected by the 4th century. But the Pont du Gard survived because it was also being used as a toll bridge. By the 17th century, the entire structure was having issues. So, in the early 18th century, it was renovated and reinforced. A bridge was built to the side of the structure, to keep the main aqueduct safe from the wear and tear of the toll bridge.
The Pont du Gard has been a tourist destination for several centuries. That too was having its toll on the structure. In 1985 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Once again, there were just three of us on this excursion. This time my companions were another couple, Dennis & “D”. Dennis was recovering from an ankle replacement back in April. He did fine on the way to the museum, in the museum, and when we went out to the Pont du Gard and onto the bridge. It was when we went to the other side of the structure that he decided to just wait until we came back. The ground was much more uneven on that side. I hung in there until we came to some steep stairs down to a beach. Then I waited at the top of the stairs (sitting on a low wall) for our guide, Aurie, and D to return. It was great to just sit and soak in the scenery.
In the museum, a display was included regarding how the arches were built using wooden scaffolding. There were some examples of tools that were used and how the stone was quarried.
When we were on the bridge, we could see the narrow gap between the bridge and the aqueduct. We could also clearly see the graffiti from many centuries of stone masons and tourists carved into the original walls. The holes where the wooden scaffolding had been inserted and the protruding stone that supported the scaffolding were still there too. I have seen other Roman aqueducts before, but this one was by far the most beautiful and impressive.
France’s COVID protocol included proof of vaccination for pretty much anything. Entrance to attractions or shops or restaurants all required a special card if a French resident or showing the actual vaccination card if from outside of France. It was also necessary to wear masks both inside and outside. You could get away with lowering or removing the mask outside if there weren’t other people nearby (as in people outside of your group).
At Pont du Gard, we were able to remove our masks while doing most of our outdoor walking (when not in the museum). But had to put them back on when we were on the bridge as there were more people there.
Since everyone on the ship was vaccinated (all passengers, crew and staff) we didn’t need masks other than for when we visited the breakfast or lunch buffets. We had our temperatures taken each morning as we arrived for breakfast. There were hand sanitizer stations several places onboard.
Avalon was also going much more green. So we were given glass water bottles in our cabins which were refilled each day with fresh water. The daily activities and schedule, plus menus for all meals were on an app we could download to our phones. I liked that a lot, especially since the entire trip is still on my phone so I can look back at what we did and ate while writing up these posts. Such as, that night, I had a chicken liver pate, French leek and potato soup, grilled vegetables, and a chocolate parfait, washed down with a Chartron et Trebuchet wine. For lunch I had some mussels and Ratatouille with an éclair for dessert.
Originally I had booked a trip before the Pandemic to take place in December of 2020. By September 2020, the reason for my going (a play) was canceled. At that point I received an email from Avalon Waterways saying that they were offering a free upgrade to the Panorama Suite (the one with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that could be opened – essentially making the entire cabin a balcony). Since I had a couple of their river cruises on my list of trips that I would like to take, I booked the Grand France Northbound for April 2021.
For the next several months, it needed to be moved a few more times. But eventually we settled on the end of August/early September 2021. In the meantime, the single supplement was waved and I ended up with a couple more discounts.
France would let me in as long as I could prove that I had been vaccinated. Avalon sent me a form to fill out that basically said that I hadn’t been exposed to anyone with COVID within 14 days of my flight. At Delta’s International flights desk, they were interested in my passport and vaccination card, but not the form.
On the plane to Amsterdam, I was given another form that they said needed to be filled out before we landed in Amsterdam. It said the same thing as the form I had received from Avalon. Nobody in Amsterdam was interested in that form either.
On the plane from Amsterdam to Marseilles, we were handed yet another form asking the same questions as the first two. We were told that we needed to hand the form in as we left the plane. This time they actually collected the forms.
In order to reach the Marseilles airport, it seemed that we needed to fly over pretty much all of Marseilles. I had the window seat and could see the city very well. Good thing. Once we landed, I didn’t get to see that much of Marseilles at all.
After getting my checked case (which I was very relieved to see since we had ended up with a very short time between flights in Amsterdam) and heading out into the terminal, I saw my Avalon representative. She escorted me to my driver and then I went on an hour-long ride to Port Saint Louis to board the ship.
This ship was much nicer than the one for the previous river cruise I had taken on the Nile. They also had a buffet lunch set up, which was a relief as there wasn’t really anything in the vicinity. We ended up with 21 passengers on board a ship that could hold about 128. It was the first cruise of the year for the Poetry II. At 5:00pm the ship set sail for our first stop – Arles.
Arles is just north of a natural wetlands area called the Camargue. This is a mostly wild area where flamingos, wild horses (thought to have existed for thousands of years), and wild cattle roam. Located in Provence, Arles was an important town during Roman occupation from about 123 BC to roughly the 5th century AD. Prior to that, it had been a Phoenician port.
During the French Impressionist period, both Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin lived and painted in Arles for a while. Van Gogh produced somewhere around 300 paintings while in the area. Arles was also where he cut off his ear and was hospitalized before moving to a nearby asylum.
I found five ancestors born in Arles between 818 and 986 during ancestral research. This plus the ties to Van Gogh helped to make Arles a destination to which I was really looking forward. There were still lots of Roman vestiges, plus quite a bit of medieval architecture.
When we left the ship and climbed the steps to the street level, we immediately saw a poster of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night over the Rhone”. It had apparently been painted right there. In the photo, you can see our ship on just the other side of the wall from the poster. I found that to be exciting. Our ship was docked right next to where Van Gogh had painted one of his famous Starry Night paintings.
Due to Arles’ age and the narrowness of its streets (except for the areas that were bombed during World War II – mainly near the port) cars aren’t allowed other than for residents. So, as soon as we crossed the road, we found several parking lots.
At the edge of one of these parking lots was another poster showing the location of where Van Gogh painted “Yellow House”. The house was no longer there. But the building behind it was. This had been a house that Vincent rented and where Gauguin stayed with him briefly.
I had signed up for a painting workshop where we would learn Van Gogh’s techniques and then paint part of one of his paintings. There were only three of us that had signed up. The building the class was in was a post war building just the other side of the parking lots. There were two instructors as well as our local guide.
We were taught how Van Gogh mixed his paints. He had blue, red, yellow and white. All other colors came from those four. They also talked about mixing on the canvas, layering, the thickness of brush strokes, etc. I picked out “The Starry Night” (painted while Vincent was in the asylum) and ended up painting the far left section with the tree and some of the stars. I have included a photo of it here.
After the workshop, we went off to explore the rest of the town. Our local guide was from a family who has spent several generations in Arles. The women there tend to dress in heritage clothing for special occasions. The styles date from the mid-eighteenth century. I have included a photo I took of a shop window where such clothing was sold. The photo is a little fuzzy, but it gives an idea. I especially liked the hat on the mannequin on the far right.
The actual café that Van Gogh painted in “Café Terrace at Night” still stands and, along with the two Starry Nights, is one of my favorites of his paintings. I took several photos, but included just two here. My mom used to love Van Gogh too. We had visited Auvers-sur-Oise (where he died and is buried) together and spent a lot of time in the Musee d’Orsay looking at his paintings. I thought of her while I was standing there at another place that he had painted. The café is now called Café Van Gogh.
After walking through another part of the town, we arrived at the hospital where Vincent stayed after cutting off his ear. There too was a poster of the painting he did of the garden of the hospital. He had been living in the yellow house when the incident took place (after an argument with Gauguin) and he returned to the yellow house for a time after he was released from the hospital and before he went to the asylum.
In the center of the Place de la Republique (town square) stood a 4th century Roman obelisk. Also in the square, the Church of Saint Trophine’s origins date back to the 12th century. It was built upon the site of a 5th century church and is considered to have some of the finest Romanesque sculpture in existence on the west portal.
Our final stop before heading back to the ship was the Roman amphitheater. Built in 90 AD, it could hold about 20,000 spectators. It is still used for concerts, plays, and the occasional bull fight. After the fall of Rome in the 5th century, the arena ended up being equipped with four medieval towers and a large share of the town (200 houses plus a town square and two chapels) built inside of it. It wasn’t until the late 18th century and early 19th that the buildings were cleared out of the center and it went back to being an amphitheater. Three of the four medieval towers still exist.
I really enjoyed the couple with whom I had taken the Van Gogh workshop. We later exchanged contact info and plan to stay in touch. We also hung out together several times during the southern portion of the river cruise (which was the only part they were doing).
At lunch, I met another couple with whom I ended up sitting during Happy Hour and dinner that night. We ended up continuing to have dinner together with two other couples most nights. This particular couple was participating in the entire cruise. They sort of adopted me immediately as part of their circle.
After dinner, for entertainment, we had the Gipsy Kings, who were from Arles. I had seen then on TV several years ago.
Since the Van Gogh workshop, I have felt a little emboldened to try an entire Van Gogh. I am currently working on “Starry Night over the Rhone”, since I feel a special connection to it.
Our whirlwind introductory tour of Europe in 1984 included some time along the Cote d’Azur (including Eze, Monaco, Nice, Cape Ferrat, Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, and Cannes). Then we followed the Rhone River north to Avignon and Lyon.
We passed Monaco to get to Eze, which is a small, medieval village known mainly for being a small, medieval village and for its perfume industry. The same factories that made very famous, expensive perfumes also made what was basically the same formula, but with a different name at a cheaper price.
From Eze we drove to Nice and checked into our hotel. It was a fairly small, older hotel on a quite, narrow street, not too far from the beach (just a few blocks). After dinner, we took a trip to Monaco to visit the casino at Monte Carlo.
They had separate areas for the tourists and the high rollers. I decided in advance how many francs I was willing to lose and proceeded to lose them. In 1984, there was no European Union or Euros as of yet.
For many years after when I was asked if I liked to gamble, and I said, “Not much.” and was then asked if I had ever tried it (with the idea being ‘don’t knock it if you never tried it’) and if they got around to asking me, “Where?” people tended to look at me a little askance when I said, “Monte Carlo.” I knew they didn’t believe me. But I didn’t give gambling another try until 2005 when I tried a one-armed bandit in Deadwood. I made enough to pay for lunch and quit while I was ahead.
After losing the francs I had set aside, Mom and I watched a few other people for a little bit (there were a few roulette tables) before heading for a little cafe where we could get some ice cream before returning to Nice.
Both of my brothers rode special racing bicycles back then and were big fans of the Tour de France and other international races. I had drawn a little map from a Motobacan shop that we had passed to the hotel so that we would be able to find our way over there after breakfast. I wanted to get a jersey for the one brother and some gloves for the other.
Back in 1984, there were not yet many French who spoke English (or who would admit it if they did). That would require another generation. So, I needed to use my limited French to tell the proprietor what I wanted. We seemed to understand each other well enough and I left with what I wanted to buy.
Next we stopped at a place that had tennis dresses. It was Mom’s birthday and she saw a tennis dress she wanted. At another shop, I bought a touristy T-shirt and cap for myself. Then we retraced our steps back to the hotel, dropped off our packages and walked to the beach.
After lunch we departed for Cannes, Avignon, and Lyon. At each place we just had a short bus drive around before heading to the next location.
Avignon was a walled city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of Southeastern France along the Rhone River. It was the location of the Pope from 1309 to 1377. A palace is still there, although it is empty.
The bridge Pont Saint-Benezet, also known as the Pont d’Avignon, was originally a wooden bridge spanning the Rhone between Villeneuve-les-Avignon and Avignon. It was built between 1177 and 1185. This bridge was destroyed in 1226 and was rebuilt, beginning in 1234, with 22 stone arches. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhone flooded making it very expensive to maintain. Four arches and a gatehouse at the Avignon end of the bridge have survived. The bridge was the inspiration for the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon”.
Lyon was the capital of the Gauls at the time of the Roman Empire. During World War II, the Nazis used Lyon as a center for their forces. Lyon was also a major center for the resistance. Klaus Barbie, known as the “Butcher of Lyon” made his headquarters at the Hotel Terminus.
This was the hotel where we stayed the night. Our room had a chandelier, a lovely fireplace, and brass beds. At dinner, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Mom.
