Our recent French trip on the Saone and the Rhone Rivers was a wonderful and I loved every moment of it, there were a few highlights that I thought were out of this world and made the whole trip really special.
To begin with we arrived in Paris, our hotel location in Paris was practically under the Eiffel Tower, we walked out the front door of the hotel and were looking up at the tower. We didn't do a whole lot other than walk around the city some when we first arrived and most of the area we covered while walking was around the Eiffel Tower and the military school. I'll send you a few photos of what we saw and also some statues of horses I took for Erica. The next day we had a bus tour of Paris and then left by bus for the Saone River and our ship the Rembrandt. On the way to our ship we stopped for lunch in a town where the hunting lodge of the king was located, as you will see the place was immense and absolutely beautiful. I included a photo of our favorite restaurant from past trips to Paris from the days when we would pay in Franks.
We had lunch in the town where the king's hunting chateau was located, we didn't tour the chateau but I took photos of the front. We left Paris and drove to St. Jean de Losne and met the ship then to Dijon old town including the Palasi des Ducs de Bourgogne and Chateau du Clos de Vougeot. In the afternoon we visited Seurre and drove through the Cote de Beaune past the vineyards of Volnay, Pommard and Meursault to Beaune where we explored the Old Town.
This Cluny and Macon, bus ride from the ship to Cluny with a visit to the famous Cluny monastery. Ancient Roman bridge at Macon still in use along some other ancient houses and churches in Macon. Continue to Tournus on the River Saone and sail through the lovely Maconnaise countryside.
Lyon
The following photos show the wonderful city of Lyon, this city was an absolute gem, Lyon is a university city and the people are so nice, every time we looked confused or pulled out a map it seemed there was an English speaking French person there offering help. Such a beautiful city, it's were the Saone and Rhone came together, I took a photo of the rivers meeting. We toured the Renaissance Quarter, including the Basilica Notre Dame, and walked through Halles de Lyon (famous food market), we also took the funicular to the Roman ruins. Lyon was a pleasant surprise for both of us and it only got better from Lyon on down the Rhone. The horse fountain actually blew smoke from the nostril's of the horses, I think my photo shows it.
These are photos of the city of Vienne. Included are the Temple of Augustus and Livia and the Roman theater in the town center plus the Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral St. Maurice.
These photos are of Tournon and Valence, we explored the streets of Vieux Valence and the around 11th century St. Apollinaire Cathedral, we went to the vineyards of the Cote du Rhone for a wine tasting and we visited Tain l'Hermitage on the other side of the Rhone.
These photos show the ancient town of Viviers, highlights of this old walled town include the Bishop's Palace, the Cathedral, and the Knights' Residence. Interesting story told to us by our tour guide, I guess it was the Knights' Residence where during the French Wars of religion between the Catholics and the Protestants an important citizen of the town had always wanted to be a Lord and Knight under the Catholics but was never selected so when the Protestant armies invaded and captured the city he changed sides and the Protestants made him the Lord of the town and a Knight, he took his revenge upon the Catholics and built the most beautiful residence in town (photo number 299). One thing he hadn't counted on was the Catholic armies coming back and recapturing the town which they did and the turn-coat Lord was the first to lose his head. This was also the town where the Johnny Depp movie "Chocolate" was filmed.
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Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aqueduct was the true highlight of the trip for me, the aqueduct was awesome, something I had always wanted to see. On the way to the Pont we visited the ancient city of Chateauneuf du Pape and its old castle overlooking Chateauneuf du Pape. After the Pont we visted the historic town of Uzes.
We traveled from the Pont to the town of Uzes in the wine country for yet another wine tasting, this time at the Chateau des Fines Roches, all the wine we tasted was wonderful, we would buy a bottle if it was something we really liked. On the way we stopped at the ruined castle at Uzes, during WWII the Germans had stored ammunition in the basement of the castle and when they retreated up the Rhone toward Germany they blew up the munitions dump destroying the old ruin even more.
Avignon is the next city, we toured the famous Le Pont D'Avignon, the Roman bridge that was built over many times through the centuries but no longer used. We visited the 14th century Gothic Palais des Papes, and saw where the popes lived when Avignon was the Vatican, I stood where the Popes once stood to give their blessing in the courtyard of the Palais, (photos 409 and 411), we walked along the great walls of Villeneuve Lez-Avignon. A beautiful city.
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#411
The next city we visited was Arles, in Arles there's a Roman Amphitheatre and lots of other Roman ruins plus the former Cathedral of St. Trophime but what I found most interesting about Arles was that Vincent Van Gogh once lived there, he admitted to the hospital there and later his home and studio were there for awhile but gone now, his studio was near the Lion Bridge which was bombed by the allies in WWII so the studio was lost and the bridge never rebuilt. What is so interesting is you can walk around Arles and there are plaques which depict Van Gogh's painting and the spot where it was painted so you can take photos of the place he painted showing how it looks now, I've included all these I could find because I'm a fan of Van Gogh.
We're getting toward the end of the trip, we left the ship and had an excursion to Aix de Province where I don't think I took many photos and from there to our hotel on the Med in Nice where I took more photos. Nice was the home of Matisse, we visited his home which is situated in the middle of all the Roman excavations, we also visited the grave of Matisse and another home in downtown Nice where he lived while his home was being built. Nice was a lovely city. From Nice we flew home.
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