River cruise in the South of France.Lyon to the Camargue
We embarked on the 26th June 2024 Flying from Luton to Geneva.This was done so we had a reasonable flight time. Geneva is 2 hours by coach from Lyon.The return flight would be direct from Lyon to Luton on the 6th July.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Our journey would take us north from Lyon up the Saone River to Chalon-sur-Saone, Passing The Beaujolais region and into the realm of Macon wines. Our ship (apparently you can put a boat on a ship but not a ship on a boat), Provides wines at dinner from the region we were passing through. We would then turn South again back to Lyon, then on south to Avignon, Port-St-Louis to the Camargue, Arles, Chateauneuf-de-Pape, Orange and then overnight return to Lyon.
Our return after one night in the region and a trip around the local town of Chalon-sur-Saone.
Medieval wooden house
The river is very scenic. Although some areas, as you approach the towns or cities, are pretty industrial.
Speed isn't an issue, usually about 12 KPH. We sailed back to Lyon overnight for a morning tour of the town. Most of our trips out were rescheduled to the mornings because of the extreme heat. The highest we had was 41 deg C, and most days it was 25 degrees overnight and around 35 to 40 degrees during the day. Keeping hydrated and in the shade was essential.
Many, Many churches and Papal palaces were on the schedule. It always seems to be so.
However, most were very interesting.
The rest of the blog will be some of the pictures I took along the way. As the cruise was eat, drink and go for a walk around the local Church, Palace or Town.
1400s Hospital
Hospital
Chateau
wine tasting
basicilica
Not everything in France is Ancient! 
This is one of the 7 Nuclear power plants they have scattered around the country.
Lavender farm
Provence is characterised by lavender, Sunflowers and wild pigs. The pig in the picture was in a Lavender farm. It wandered in one day when it was small, so they gave it food and water, thinking it would return to the wild. It seemed to like it and stayed growing fatter and fatter.
It was very friendly and liked to be scratched and just hung around the farm looking piggy.
Along the river, there are several large locks. These are bypassing hydroelectric generation dams in the river. The deepest, and the deepest in all of France, was 24 meters deep.
Along the river, going North and South are kilometre signs marking the distance to or from Lyon.
The river is, of course, a commercial highway for barges and fairly big ships.
We have to give way to Commercial traffic, and if a busy lock is encountered, it can take hours for the commercial traffic to get through first before we can take our turn.
Avignon is famous for its Bridge. Now, only 9 arches it was built as 22 arches spanning across the Rhone river.The bridge was destroyed in successive floods, which caused debris to gather against the arches and the force of the trapped water carried the bridge away.
Originally, the Pont d’ Avignon spanned the Rhône. It consisted of 22 arches and was 920 meters long. Wars and floods repeatedly damaged the structure, which was rebuilt several times. Over the decades, the riverbed changed, and the arches collapsed one after the other. The bridge was opened and closed again and again for repairs until 1669, when a new flood of the Rhône caused most of the arches to fall down. After this event, the Saint-Bénezet bridge was abandoned because it was too expensive to maintain. The structure was then practically identical to the one we know today: it now has only four arches.
“Sur le pont d’Avignon, on y danse, on y danse”
In the 15th century, many popular songs that accompanied weddings evoked the Pont d’Avignon. The famous melody known in France today appeared in 1853 with Adolphe Adam’s operetta: L’auberge pleine. In 1876, it was an international success with the operetta “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” (On the Bridge of Avignon). The nursery rhyme of the Saint-Bénezet bridge then toured the world.
In reality, the bridge was too narrow to allow the dancers to perform the farandoles and sarabands that were in vogue at the time. This is why sometimes “sus le pont d’Avignon”, meaning “under the bridge of Avignon” is heard, as the inhabitants danced on the banks that border the building.
This is a roman Aquaduct, the Pont du guard. Built about 2000 years ago to bring clean water 52 Km from Uzes to provide the Roman town at Nimes. Located in the Occitanie region, the Pont du Gard is the major element of a 50.02 km aqueduct built in the middle of the 1st century to supply the city of Nîmes, the ancient Roman colony of Nemausus, from the Eure source located near Uzès. A three-storey aqueduct bridge rising to nearly 48.77 m, it enabled the water conduit to cross the Gardon River.
This triple bridge, whose longest floor, at the very top of the edifice, measured 360 m, is a feat and a masterpiece of Roman architectural technique, but also a work of art whose presence transfigures the landscape. Set in a natural site that enhances its imposing appearance and its lines of force, the Pont du Gard rests on a rocky base, notched by the river spanned by its major arch. The gentle and symmetrical tapering of the arches, the span of the lower arches and the regularity of the upper gallery give it an extraordinarily airy appearance for a work of such magnitude.
The vibrant green is rice. growing in the Camargue area.
The Famous white horses and black bulls of the Camargue region.They breed the bulls for bullfighting.
Equally famous Flamingoes, although these were in an ornithological park.
The town of Arle. Famous because Vincent Van Goug lived here for 2 years and did many of his now best-known paintings here. He was, however, a very disturbed personality. Not only argumentative he was a drunk and spent whatever money he had left over on prostitutes.
After falling out with his friend, artist Gaugan, he cut off his ear, and after a few days in hospital, bought a gun and shot himself.
We visited in Orange a roman theater, again about 2000 years old. Built by the order of Augustus, he had a statue put up to mark the event. In those days, everyone was having statues made of themselves to look like Roman emperors. So official statues were made locally but without a head, the head was made in Rome and shipped over.
We ended our cruise with a visit to a Château Neuf de Pape winery for a nice wine tasting.
We sailed through the night and half the next day to get back to Lyon. Althgether the ship covered about 680 Km.
This is a technology museum.
Our return after one night in the region and a trip around the local town of Chalon-sur-Saone.
Medieval wooden house
The river is very scenic. Although some areas, as you approach the towns or cities, are pretty industrial.
Speed isn't an issue, usually about 12 KPH. We sailed back to Lyon overnight for a morning tour of the town. Most of our trips out were rescheduled to the mornings because of the extreme heat. The highest we had was 41 deg C, and most days it was 25 degrees overnight and around 35 to 40 degrees during the day. Keeping hydrated and in the shade was essential.
Many, Many churches and Papal palaces were on the schedule. It always seems to be so.
However, most were very interesting.
The rest of the blog will be some of the pictures I took along the way. As the cruise was eat, drink and go for a walk around the local Church, Palace or Town.
1400s Hospital
Hospital
Chateau
wine tasting
basicilica
Not everything in France is Ancient!
This is one of the 7 Nuclear power plants they have scattered around the country.
Lavender farm
Provence is characterised by lavender, Sunflowers and wild pigs. The pig in the picture was in a Lavender farm. It wandered in one day when it was small, so they gave it food and water, thinking it would return to the wild. It seemed to like it and stayed growing fatter and fatter.
It was very friendly and liked to be scratched and just hung around the farm looking piggy.
Along the river, going North and South are kilometre signs marking the distance to or from Lyon.
The river is, of course, a commercial highway for barges and fairly big ships.
We have to give way to Commercial traffic, and if a busy lock is encountered, it can take hours for the commercial traffic to get through first before we can take our turn.
Avignon is famous for its Bridge. Now, only 9 arches it was built as 22 arches spanning across the Rhone river.
The bridge was destroyed in successive floods, which caused debris to gather against the arches and the force of the trapped water carried the bridge away.
Originally, the Pont d’ Avignon spanned the Rhône. It consisted of 22 arches and was 920 meters long. Wars and floods repeatedly damaged the structure, which was rebuilt several times. Over the decades, the riverbed changed, and the arches collapsed one after the other. The bridge was opened and closed again and again for repairs until 1669, when a new flood of the Rhône caused most of the arches to fall down. After this event, the Saint-Bénezet bridge was abandoned because it was too expensive to maintain. The structure was then practically identical to the one we know today: it now has only four arches.
“Sur le pont d’Avignon, on y danse, on y danse”
In the 15th century, many popular songs that accompanied weddings evoked the Pont d’Avignon. The famous melody known in France today appeared in 1853 with Adolphe Adam’s operetta: L’auberge pleine. In 1876, it was an international success with the operetta “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” (On the Bridge of Avignon). The nursery rhyme of the Saint-Bénezet bridge then toured the world.
In reality, the bridge was too narrow to allow the dancers to perform the farandoles and sarabands that were in vogue at the time. This is why sometimes “sus le pont d’Avignon”, meaning “under the bridge of Avignon” is heard, as the inhabitants danced on the banks that border the building.
In the 15th century, many popular songs that accompanied weddings evoked the Pont d’Avignon. The famous melody known in France today appeared in 1853 with Adolphe Adam’s operetta: L’auberge pleine. In 1876, it was an international success with the operetta “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” (On the Bridge of Avignon). The nursery rhyme of the Saint-Bénezet bridge then toured the world.
In reality, the bridge was too narrow to allow the dancers to perform the farandoles and sarabands that were in vogue at the time. This is why sometimes “sus le pont d’Avignon”, meaning “under the bridge of Avignon” is heard, as the inhabitants danced on the banks that border the building.
This triple bridge, whose longest floor, at the very top of the edifice, measured 360 m, is a feat and a masterpiece of Roman architectural technique, but also a work of art whose presence transfigures the landscape. Set in a natural site that enhances its imposing appearance and its lines of force, the Pont du Gard rests on a rocky base, notched by the river spanned by its major arch. The gentle and symmetrical tapering of the arches, the span of the lower arches and the regularity of the upper gallery give it an extraordinarily airy appearance for a work of such magnitude.
The vibrant green is rice. growing in the Camargue area.
The Famous white horses and black bulls of the Camargue region.
They breed the bulls for bullfighting.
Equally famous Flamingoes, although these were in an ornithological park.
The town of Arle. Famous because Vincent Van Goug lived here for 2 years and did many of his now best-known paintings here. He was, however, a very disturbed personality. Not only argumentative he was a drunk and spent whatever money he had left over on prostitutes.
After falling out with his friend, artist Gaugan, he cut off his ear, and after a few days in hospital, bought a gun and shot himself.
We visited in Orange a roman theater, again about 2000 years old. Built by the order of Augustus, he had a statue put up to mark the event. In those days, everyone was having statues made of themselves to look like Roman emperors. So official statues were made locally but without a head, the head was made in Rome and shipped over.
We sailed through the night and half the next day to get back to Lyon. Althgether the ship covered about 680 Km.
This is a technology museum.
