Today we took a 9.5-hour optional tour to the Gorges of
Ardèche, so we missed seeing the town of Viviers and its cathedral. The Ardèche is a 78-mile tributary of the Rhône. Our guide for the day was a British expat by the name of Jeanette. She
was quite a character. She has lived in this part of France for 37 or 38 years with her French husband.
Our first stop was to the Lavender Museum near St.-Remèze, where we saw an introductory film and toured the museum. The lavender wasn't yet in bloom, but we couldn't wait until July to see it at its peak. I did, however, enjoy all of the potted plants they had outside the buildings.
We then drove on to the gorges, where we stopped at a lookout point for a spectacular view of the limestone cliffs, and went past the Pont d'Arc, the very impressive natural rock arch. We passed a marker from a flood from the early twentieth century, and it was probably ten feet above the highway, which was already way above the river bed. The river is prone to flooding (they had to evacuate 1,600 campers in 2018), but it was hard to imagine the water level could get that high.
We returned to the Pont d'Arc to lunch at an adjacent restaurant, the Auberge du Pont d'Arc. After lunch we walked over to the river's edge and enjoyed some free time, watching a few kayakers.
We then drove to the tiny village of Vogüé, designated a national "beautiful village of France." We walked through the narrow alleys, to the church, past the chateau,
Since the boat left Viviers in the early afternoon, we met up with it at La Voulte-sur-Rhône where it made a short stop to let us on board. We then cruised on to Tournon-sur-Rhône. We freshened up after our long day and made it to the lounge to hear Alexandra give a port talk about tomorrow events, followed by dinner in the restaurant. We opted out of heading back to the lounge for entertainment by Roddy.
This greeted us on our return to our room.
Our first stop was to the Lavender Museum near St.-Remèze, where we saw an introductory film and toured the museum. The lavender wasn't yet in bloom, but we couldn't wait until July to see it at its peak. I did, however, enjoy all of the potted plants they had outside the buildings.
We then drove on to the gorges, where we stopped at a lookout point for a spectacular view of the limestone cliffs, and went past the Pont d'Arc, the very impressive natural rock arch. We passed a marker from a flood from the early twentieth century, and it was probably ten feet above the highway, which was already way above the river bed. The river is prone to flooding (they had to evacuate 1,600 campers in 2018), but it was hard to imagine the water level could get that high.
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| Bridge crossing the Ardeche |
This greeted us on our return to our room.
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