Day 4, Saturday, June 25, 2016 - Viviers

In the morning we had a tour of the ancient city of Viviers (they are pretty much all ancient). Our guide was an English woman who has lived in Viviers for over 35 years and has not lost her acerbic English sense of humor. We walked up narrow cobblestone streets past 15th and 16th century stone houses, some of which had been meticulously restored and unfortunately quite a few that were in serious disrepair. The government regulations can make it quite difficult to modify old buildings.

At the top is a very small cathedral which is overseen by the bishop who still resides in town.

Top of Viviers

Near the ship there was a bakery with beautiful pastries and I just couldn't resist having an espresso with this decadent pastry - it was delicious.

We left Viviers at noon for the trip to Tournon which took all afternoon. We just relaxed on the open terrace at the front of the ship, enjoying the scenery. We passed through numerous locks along the way. At one point while going through a lock, I felt something on my arm and discovered that a tiny shrimp had fallen on it from the overhead gate!

One of the things notable about the current Rhone river is that it is almost completely contained by levees and locks. Each of the locks has an associated dam and hydroelectric power plant. The locks are quite high, up to 75'. When you come out of the high end of the lock, the levee is so high that you are looking down at the trees on each side.