I have just returned from working as Excursion Manager on two consecutive cruises on the Rhone, with Pru Barlow as Cruise Director.
It was a fascinating journey along the ‘blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone’ as Lord Byron described the river in Childe Harold; seven days of gliding through the heart of France, viewing a constantly evolving rural landscape interspersed with the cities, villages and castles that line the banks of the river, not to mention the fascination of transiting the locks and passing under many bridges – one in Lyon so was low that it called for the retraction of the ship’s bridge, a lowering of the awning on the sun deck and a request for all passengers to sit down!
Our Planning Department had the difficult task of deciding which excursions to select from a wealth of possibilities. In Macon we visited the ruins of Cluny Abbey, the largest Christian building in the world until St Peter's Basilica was rebuilt in Rome in the 16th century. Monday afternoon offered a visit to the privately owned Chateau of Cormatin with its moat, formal garden (including maze) and potager and a look at a small Romanesque church in the hamlet of Chapaize. A difficult decision awaited on Tuesday: a visit to Hotel Dieu, Beaune, or a scenic drive through wine country to the elegant city of Dijon; the latter included an impromptu visit to a Bourgogne speciality food shop which resulted in many purchases of cassis, wine and mustard! Wine enthusiasts were not disappointed; in Macon an excellent excursion to the Château de Pierreclos offered a Burgundian wine tasting, with further sampling taking place at wine cellars in Beaune. A n exclusive excursion to the privately owned Chateau de Vaurenard at Gleizé – where we were also welcomed into the family’s chateau – focused on Beaujolais. Other highlights of the week included the walled city of Avignon, where Stella was berthed within walking distance of a guided tour of the fortified Palais des Papes, with afternoon options to Aix-en-Provence or the impressive Pont du Gard and the historic small town of Uzès. Uzès lies at the source of the river Eure, from where the Romans built the Pont du Gard aqueduct to supply water to the city of Nîmes. Roman history was explored in Arles, where the town immortalised in so many of Van Gogh’s paintings lies clustered around the amphitheatre, as well as on a full day Roman Provence excursion which included the Roman theatre at Orange and the Maison Carree at Nîmes. The gastronomic city of Lyon offered a visit (with wine and food tasting) to Les Halles – where numerous shops displayed food as an art form, a visit to the Musée des Beaux Arts with its impressive collection of artworks and a walking tour in old Lyon to discover its traboules, or narrow pedestrian passageways once used by silk workers and by the resistance in World War II.
A-Rosa Stella proved to be an extremely comfortable base for this fascinating journey, with comfortable accommodation, good food, congenial company and a Swan Hellenic guest speaker to unfold the story of this great river.
Swan Hellenic will be offering river cruises on the Rhone, Danube and the Rhine in 2010 – I recommend them!
View our Rhone River Cruises here.
Please note! The excursion programme for 2010 is not yet finalised but is likely to include some of the excursions described above, some of which may be at a supplementary charge. Please see our Rivers brochure for more information.
