April 2024 Trip

France Trip 2024 #03– Lyon to Viviers

This travel log is for a trip to France in April of 2024.  This trip included a few days in Paris followed by a river cruise on the Saone and Rhone rivers through the Burgundy and Provence regions from Chalon-Sur-Saone to Arles (near Marseille).

Areas Visited map
01 Map Visited Areas

This episode takes us from Lyon to Viviers on the Rhone River.

Lyon to Viviers
02 Map Lyon to Viviers

After leaving Lyon the Saone River joined into the Rhone River which took us on our southward journey, once again passing chateaus, vineyards and small villages. 

Somewhere on the Rhone river between Lyon and Tournon
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Our next port of call was another medieval town called Tournon-sur-Rhone.

Tournon-sur-Rhone

Tournon-sur-Rhône is yet another town along the banks of this major river.  Like all the other towns and cities we’ve visited on our river trip, this one too is said to occupy a strategic location for trade and commerce.  It’s starting to look like every town and city on the Saone and Rhone Rivers have a strategic location for trade and commerce, which I suppose is true given that rivers were basically the only means for transportation of people and goods when these places were built.

Like many such towns, it is centered around an imposing castle – which we did not visit.  .  While its origins trace back to the 10th century, the castle there today primarily dates from the 15th and 16th centuries and as is normally the case was instrumental in the defensive of the town.  Today it contains a museum showcasing the regions past and at one time was a prison.  Like all good medieval castles, there is usually an interesting anecdote related to the castle.  In this case, in 1536, the eldest son of King Francis I tragically died here after a game of tennis. 

In the 16^th century, Tournon became a significant center for Jesuit education when they established a renowned college which attracted students from all over Europe. 

The region around Tournon is also known for its winemaking, dating back to Roman times.  The wines of Tournon were reportedly enjoyed by Charlemagne, highlighting their early prestige.

But, not being wine drinkers we opted for the walking tour of the city rather than an excursion to a winery.  Our ship docked next to what was probably at one time a lovely park by the river bank but is now basically a parking lot with trees.

Parking lot named Parking Quai Farconnect
04 Trounon Parking Quai Farconnect
(Google Maps, Street View)

The section of town where we docked is a narrow strip only two blocks wide beyond the parking lot.  Behind that second block there is a steep slope ascending to a large open space.  This near cliff is most likely what kept the development in this narrow strip.  A bit up stream and also down stream this slope was not so steep and the town expanded more. 

Steep hill near river kept development to a park and two streets in this section.
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Like all the other ports of call we visited on this trip, the old section of town consists of narrow cobble stone streets which have been converted to pedestrian only lanes lined with shops and apartments above. 

Commercial Street with shops and living above
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Tournon Residential Street
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And, like most such towns the old section has some sort of church or cathedral.  In this case it is the Eglise Saint Julien de Tournon-sur-Rhone (Saint Julien Church of Tournon).  Construction of this Gothic building began in the 12th century, with the church undergoing several transformations over the centuries. In the 15th century, it was elevated to the status of a collegiate church, reflecting its religious importance.

 Eglise Saint Julien de Tournon-sur-Rhone (Saint Julien Church of Tournon)
Paroisse St Luc, Tournon sur Rhone, FR

Vibrant stained glass window in St. Julien Church
Paroisse St Luc, Tournon sur Rhone, FR

Life in these old town areas seems to be quite laid back and peaceful.  Nobody (except us tourists) seem to be in a rush and time seems to progress at a leisurely pace.

As we wandered the back streets, stopping here and there for a bit of history we watched life in the town unfold in front of us. 

9:15 in the morning – time to open the shutters and let the light in
Opening the shutters, Tournon sur Rhone, FR

Shopping for dinner in the town market
Open air Market Tournon Sur Rhone, FR

The French really know how to bake
Open airi Market tournon sur Rhone, FR

One of the buildings we passed was the old hospital.  It was currently being renovated so was surrounded by a construction wall which made photographing it less than optimal.  Over the main door was an ancient marker engraved in the header stone over the main door reading “Hotel Bieu”.  This seemed odd as it was not a hotel (nor was it ever a hotel), so what’s with the sign.  Well, it seems that in France the word “Hotel” means “any place people can sleep or eat” so a hospital is indeed a kind of hotel.  Good to know if you’re booking a room online – you wouldn’t want to pick one in the wrong sort of ‘hotel’.

Right behind this hospital had been the wall surrounding the town and at this point in the wall was a round watch tower which became known as the Tour de l'Hôpital (or Hospital Tower). In the 1860’s, this tower was topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary looking down on the hospital. This is one of the few remaining towers from the old city ramparts which were built in the 16th century.

Tour de l'Hôpital
Hospital Tower, Tournon-sur-Rhone

And, what could be more French than a stream of 10 to 15 vintage Citroen cars driving past on a lazy Saturday morning

Citroen Car Club touring the city on a quiet Saturday morning
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Navigating a River Boat

After leaving Tournon-sur-Rhone, on our way to Viviers we were offered a tour of the “wheelhouse” on our ship.  It was not what I expected.  After touring tons of old ships and vessels, my notion of a wheelhouse (bridge if you will) is a room with a giant steering wheel in the center – sometimes with its bottom part below floor level – and a brass lever mechanism that is used to signal the engine room for what speed to go and that they use to acknowledge the order.  Of course, being the modern age I also expected to see a row of overhead monitors over the front windows to display navigation and weather information and then someplace off to the side a rack of radio gear. 

What I found was quite different.  First of all, no steering wheel at all.  Even though they referred to the place as the “Wheel House” there was no ‘wheel’ at all.  There was a nice cushy pilot chair and the only controls within reach were really just two joy stick sort of things off to the pilot’s left (almost out of reach), along with a radio/telephone even farther out of reach.   In front of the pilot (and a bit away from the pilot seat) was an array of display screens arrayed in a semi circle below the windows.

Control Center of the ship
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Most of the real piloting is done by computer.  The computer keeps the ship in the correct part of the river, straightens out the boat if the wind tries to blow it sideways, and keeps a constant speed by revving up or slowing down the engines to counter changes in river or wind speed.  In fact when cruising down the river the pilot mostly just sits and watches. 

The computer knows the exact draft of the ship (how much of it is below the water line), and it knows the current depth of the river all along its course and plots where the ship should go to avoid the ever shifting sand bars.  If it can’t plot a route where the water is deep enough, it sounds an alarm and stops the ship.

When approaching a bridge, even though the computer knows exactly how much space there is between the water and the bottom of the bridge, radar or similar technologies scan the upcoming bridge and on one of the displays shows the captain the electronically measured height available for the ship and also shows a VR of the upcoming bridge with an arrow on the water indicating where the ship should go and another showing where it actually is pointed to.  Pretty nifty. 

Dashboard
15 Wheelhouse Dashboard  

The bottom of the ship was also a bit different than I expected.  In this case  I envisioned a contoured bottom (like a row boat) with a keel running down the middle to keep the boat from going sideways and at the back end two propellers and a rudder.  I also figured it would have a pair of bow thrusters to nudge the nose of the ship one way or the other to assist with fine maneuvers like docking.  Well, it turns out that none of that exists. 

First of all, it is a flat bottom boat with no keel at all.  Another thing is that there is no real engine room with long drive shafts extending to the propellers.  And there is no rudder.  Instead, there are 3 engines (actually electric motors) on the bottom, two at the stern and one at the bow.  These 3 motor can swivel 360 degrees to make either the front or the back of the ship go in any direction at all.  In fact the ship can make a U-turn in a channel that is only 5 to 10 feet wider than the ship is long.  There is an engine room with a diesel generator which makes the electricity needed to power the 3 motors as well as supply all the electrical needs to the ship in general.

Other than squeezing under low bridges, the trickiest parts of driving one of these things are the locks.  As mentioned earlier the ships are designed to barely fit into the size of the locks on their chosen river.  This means that there is just a foot or so of extra width and perhaps a foot or two of extra length.  So, even with all the smarts of modern computers, getting these ships into and out of the locks is pretty much done manually.  Not too bad in the middle of a windless day, but if there’s a cracking good breeze as they say or at night sometimes it can be a bit dicey.  Of course the computer helps out by showing how much space is left on either side as well as at the front and back but the skill of the pilot getting the thing parked in the lock is the most important. 

Remember, the ship is 443 feet long. That’s almost one and a half times longer than the size of an NFL football field.

Inches to spare in a lock
17 fit in lock

Viviers

Viviers, with a 2020 population of just 3,667 is much smaller than the other towns and cities we’ve visited along the river.  Although there must be some contemporary areas for shopping and such in the suburbs, the core of the town is 100% medieval.  The old town is dominated by the Viviers Cathedral (Cathedral Saint-Vincent de Viviers) on the top of a hill overlooking the River and surrounding countryside.  This Roman Catholic cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Viviers. 

The village's name is derived from the Latin Vivarium, referring to fish farming ponds built on the banks of the Rhône by the Romans to supply Alba Helviorum.  Like all towns, cities, and villages in the area, this one too changed hands many times.  It was the capital of the Gaulish Helvii tribe following the decline of nearby Alba-la-Romaine.  In the 5^th century it was incorporated into the Kingdom of the Burfundians which was then conquered by the Franks.  Things were pretty quiet till the 9^th century when it passed to the Kingdom of Provence and then was incorporated into the Kingdom of Arles (933-1032).  Then the Romans came along in 1032 and were in charge till 1307 when the area was passed to the Kingdom of France. 

The Kingdom of France reinforced the walls which was a good thing as those bigger and better walls held fast during the Hundred Years War and kept the town from being destroyed.  But if they can’t get you from the outside, watch out for an inside job.  In the early 16th century, Bishop Claude of Tournon who was also chaplain to Anne of Brittany, invested greatly into the town.  Later in the same century, Noel Albert, an eminent citizen, seized the town for Protestantism, bringing it into the French Wars of Religion and ransacking the Cathedral. After Albert's execution and the end of the conflict, Viviers' profile was significantly reduced.  The bishops, who had fled the city during the war, only returned to Viviers in the 18th century, after the construction of a large new Bishop's Palace.

Viviers emerged from the French Revolution unscathed as its Bishop, Charles de La Font de Savine, had been one of the few Catholic bishops to pledge allegiance to the revolutionary government.

Once again we opted for the walking tour of the town, which included getting up to the cathedral through a maze of narrow lanes and passageways as we slowly zigzagged our way up to the top.  Once at the top, we discovered that coming in from the other side, one could drive up, but we also found that there was no such thing as taxis, Uber or Lyft in this town and also no busses so unless you have your own car you have to ascend by foot.

After leaving the boat we strolled up a narrow street lined with trees through an open area where the locals play soccer on a large dirt patch. 

Tree line lane leading from the river to the old town
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This led us to what had been the center, and oldest section, of town.  This section was at one time the area inside the long gone city walls but you can still see where many of the buildings were built next to the old wall as their outer side conforms to the curve of the wall.  However, for the most part where the wall had been is now a street.

Oldest section of town.  The street is where the original city wall had been
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From this original town section they gradually expanded the town up the side of the hill all the way to the castle/cathedral at the very top.  As real estate was in such short supply inside the walls the lanes were quite narrow.  Many are not even wide enough for a proper carriage but good enough for horses or hand carts.  The carriages of the nobles would use the wider roads on the back side of the hill to get to the Cathedral.

Narrow Lane
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More narrow lanes
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Wildlife in Viviers
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As the population expanded so did many families who found that their home had become way too small.  This was quite a dilemma as once you went up 3 stories the construction capability at the time would not support a 4^th story and there was no place off to the side to put an addition.  Sometimes you were lucky and could acquire the house next door and put in some doors between the two.  But if that didn’t work out, sometimes you could get the house across the street.  When this happened they would build connections between the two houses bridging over the street.

Bridging over the street to connect two houses on opposite sides
Grande Rue, Viviers, FR

Another interesting thing about the photo above is that the arch supporting the bridge over the street looks like it was originally twice as wide.  The theory goes that at one time, the street too was twice as wide but in the quest for more living space, the front of the houses on the right side were expanded over half the width of the street.

As we continued our gradual ascent every now and again a small plaza would open up.  Many times this is where a town well had been and these became the gathering places for the town folk where they could congregate and socialize.  But, those wells and pumps are gone.  In more modern times, in order to liven up these plazas the residents many times added whimsical paintings on their doorways.

Painted doorways around a plaza
Painted doors Grande Rue, Viviers, FR

Painted Jester door Grande Rue, Viviers, FR

In the most recent decade or so, the population of this village, as well as other villages, has declined as younger people head for the cities and the older folk die off.  This is especially true of historical old sections of town which don’t have lots of bars and restaurants or other entertainment that would tend to be attractive to younger families.  As such, many buildings are abandoned and are slowly decaying into rubble. 

Many abandoned buildings
Off Grande Rue, Viviers, FR

Once you get to the top it is not entirely obvious where the town ends and the cathedral/castle begins.  They just sort of blend together.

Where the Cathedral meets the town
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There was some sort of festival planned for the day we were here, but it was cancelled due to weather.  Nevertheless we could not go inside the Cathedral as it was still set up for the festival.  The cathedral's roots trace back to the 11th century, with a solid Romanesque base.  But later, in the 16th century, Bishop Claude de Tournon introduced Flamboyant Gothic elements, particularly in the choir area, adding a touch of elegance and intricacy and adulterating the original Romanesque style.  Then, in the 18^th century, following damage during the Wars of Religion, the cathedral underwent significant reconstruction and the vaulted ceiling was restored.

One of the main things this cathedral is known for are the “Gobelins Tapestries” which came along in 1858 as a gift from Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert.  These detailed tapestries adorn the cathedral's choir, adding a vibrant touch to the sacred space however even if we could have gone inside we wouldn’t have been able to see them as they were out for restoration.

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(Images by Dan Hartford.--Info from Wikipedia, ChatGPT, other web sources, and pamphlets gathered at various locations along the way guidebooks and commentary by the local guides)