Crusing upstream on the Rhône from Avignon to Lyon, on Riviera Journey‘s MS Thomas Hardy, is among the world’s epic river cruises. It’s an eight day voyage from Avignon that concludes in Lyon.
Cruising by way of time from caveman’s woolly rhino drawings, previous crumbling relics of Roman conquests to Second World Struggle destruction, that is greater than an opulent river cruise, it’s a voyage by way of the very essence of civilisation.
Wealthy in historical past, each stunning and brutal, the Rhône shows the arrow-slit structure of conflict; the place even the papal palace was crenelated and the place church bell towers had been fortified.
Tales from the historical past of artwork abound. By Chauvet’s cave drawings, Botticellis in Avignon and modern works in Arles’ Vincent Van Gogh Institute.
Day 1 – From London to Avignon
Riviera Journey organize flights, from Heathrow in our case, reserving us on a British airways flight, although different cruisers fly from regional airports or take Eurostar adopted by the speedy TGV to Avignon.
At Marseilles airport we’re met and brought on a coach, for 70 minutes, by way of a panorama of olives, rosemary and thyme, in direction of hills which have hosted the Tour de France. We don’t see our baggage once more till the crew ship it to our cabin. Riviera Journey ship us straight to the MS Thomas Hardy: 135 metres of glossy, carefree luxurious, moored at Avignon, nearby of the Center Age metropolis partitions.
After a vital bathe, almost each visitor arrives within the lounge for drinks. Cocktail and mocktail of the day are all-inclusive, as are a collection of beers, wines, spirits and comfortable drinks.
Because it’s the primary night everybody dines within the restaurant with a alternative of soup, three appetisers, six foremost programs and three desserts. Chosen pink, rose and white wines – once more all inclusive – replicate our oenophile’s pilgrimage by way of a few of France’s nice wine areas: Cote du Rhône, Bordeaux, Burgundy.
Flip-down service is a shocking spotlight of the day – not simply due to the nightly chocolate – but in addition as a result of the supply of the day by day programme reveals tomorrow’s cocktail of the day.
Day 2 – Avignon
It might have merely been papal propaganda that prompt Pope Boniface Vlll died from a punch. However the hearsay confirmed that risky Rome was unsafe. His French successor Clement V, pope from 1305 to 1314, finally primarily based himself in Avignon.
Clement’s successors constructed the Papal Palace the place partitions had been typically three metres thick and the place, within the banqueting corridor, company sat in opposition to the partitions in order that they might not be stabbed within the again. These had been harmful instances. Solely the Pope was permitted a knife to chop his meat.
Appropriately our information for a strolling tour of Avignon is Clement. We start by strolling throughout the remaining 4 arches of Avignon’s well-known bridge, 1668 floods swept away the remainder of the bridge. Shattering childhood recollections of singing in French classes, Clement tells us that Sur le Pont d’Avignon was a mistranslation from the Provençal. In actuality, folks danced underneath the bridge.
If Clement had been to seem on Mastermind, his specialist topic would most likely be the period when Avignon was undoubtedly house to seven popes. Probably one other two. Although these two had been labelled antipopes, when the papacy returned to Rome in 1378. At one level there have been 4 claimants to the papal throne.
After lunch onboard, there is a chance to take a tour of the Petit Palace Museum with its assortment of pre-Renaissance and early Renaissance artwork, together with Botticellis.
Day 3 – Arles and the Pont du Gard
After Roman colonisation, Pliny the Elder stated that this area of Southern France was “one other Italy”. Elsa, our information, tells us that Provence, the place French was as soon as the third language after Italian and Provençal, solely grew to become part of France in 1841. With a 20,000 seat Roman amphitheatre, Roman ruins, and lengthy sunlit days, town nonetheless feels very Italian.
That gentle prompted an impressive burst of Vincent Van Gogh creativity, over 300 items, oils and drawings, throughout his 15 months in Arles. But, sharing a home and absinthe-fuelled arguments with Gauguin, a troubled Van Gogh famously reduce his off his ear lobe when Gauguin left Arles. Van Gogh’s favorite colors of blue and yellow nonetheless dominate town.
Our Riviera Journey’s strolling tour of Arles consists of admission to the Van Gogh Institute. Two potatoes themed Van Gogh oils introduce Beneath the Cobblestones, The Earth, a retrospective exhibition of the combined media experimentation of Sigmar Polke.
A day go to to the triple-tiered aqueduct Pont du Gard, its museum and 12-minute movie presentation, illustrates how the Romans awed their colonies. Superior engineering impressed with baths, cascades, fountains and above all, civilising good well being.
The whole lot it is advisable to plan your journey in 2025
Day 4 – Chauvet Caves, The Ardeche
We might be unhappy to go away the Rhône Valley, even for a day, if we weren’t heading for the craggy limestone peaks, dense forestry and spectacular gorge of the Ardeche.
Iris offers us the insider information to the Ardeche, figuring out the place chestnut flour is made into bread, the place farmers as soon as remodeled their bedrooms into mulberry-leaf-laden silkworm factories for weeks on finish, the place charcoal was laboriously produced.
Some 36,000 years in the past, homo sapiens, within the Aurignacian interval, created greater than 400 depictions of lions, mammoths, woolly rhinos, horses, and bison within the limestone caves of Chauvet.
Developed over a decade, Chauvet 2, is a reproduction of the unique cave containing. In keeping with the audio commentary, it’s mankind’s “First Nice Masterpiece.” Artists, working when the cave bears had moved out after hibernation, used finger-painting, charcoal, flint-stone factors and blow-painting to indicate nearly three-dimensional motion. Not like many cave work they don’t seem to be looking scenes however most likely a type of animism, trying to make sense of the world across the artists.
“The Ardeche Gorge is France’s reply to the Grand Canyon – however with higher cheese,” our Cruise Director stated as she gave her vacation spot briefing. However nothing might put together us for the pure miracle of the Pont d’Arc, a limestone bridge, standing 54 metres above the river. It’s estimated that 124,000 years in the past, water erosion broke by way of the rock to create the aperture.
The fee
In 2026, Riviera’s Rhone River cruises, for 8 days, will start from £1,899 per individual, primarily based on two folks sharing a cabin.
Mid-voyage verdict
It’s plain crusing for Riviera Journey’s company. Flights, transfers, excursions and admission tickets are all organized, offering wonderful worth. Native guides are articulate, enthusiastic and exceptionally educated. Thankfully, they’re disciplined too, getting us again on board in time for lunch or cocktails.
Disclosure: Our keep was sponsored by Riviera Journey.
Michael Edwards
Michael Edwards is a journey author from Oxfordshire, UK. Though Michael had his first journey items printed almost 4 many years in the past, he’s nonetheless discovering new luxurious locations to go to and write on.
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