QUIETLY FLOWING
Beyond big-name cities such as Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon, river cruises in France offer a seductive selection of attractive small towns, writes Brian Johnston.
Blaye, Gironde estuary
While most cruisers take an excursion to Cognac, a 70-minute drive away, you have reason to linger in this port on Bordeaux river cruises. Blaye will never win a prettiness prize, but has stately French architecture, a rough-edged appeal and happy vignettes of local life: kids leaving bakeries with baguettes under their arms, retirees smoking on benches, chattering cafe-goers. Save time to walk the ramparts of whopping, breeze-blown Blaye citadel, designed in the 17th century by noted military engineer the Marquis of Vauban. Its brooding presence is augmented by flapping crows and the tomb of an ancient king of Aquitaine.
See: vikingrivercruises.com
Viviers, Rhone River
This sleepy contrast to tourist-busy Arles and Avignon has one claim to fame: France’s smallest active cathedral, in which cruise passengers are sometimes treated to a recital from a hooting, thundering organ that shivers your timbers. Yet the town, though unremarkable, has a crumbling and quiet appeal, thanks to its uniform limestone, terracotta-roofed architecture and rambling alleys patrolled by cats. It showcases French provincial life away from the tourist crowds, and is also the jumping-off point for excursions on foot or by kayak into the Ardeche, which, although diminutive, is among Europe’s loveliest gorges.
See: avalonwaterways.com.au
Les Andelys, Seine River
Les Andelys is a prim but pretty country town from a Flaubert novel, which is no surprise: Gustave Flaubert’s best schoolmate lived here, and the pair loved clambering over the hilltop ruins of Chateau Gaillard. The Normandy town is sedate – Madame Bovary would have hated it – but it is decorated with chimney pots and geraniums and enlivened by artists whose country scenes hang in small studios. The location on a wide bend of the Seine as it gurgles through cow-munched meadows is lovely. An eruption of limestone cliffs adds an extra dimension to otherwise flat Seine scenery.
See: vikingrivercruises.com
Angers, Loire River
Sitting just back from the Loire’s north bank on the tributary Sarthe River, Angers was the one-time capital of the Plantagenet kings of England, who controlled large swathes of France. The old town is a medieval showcase of half-timbered houses, gargoyles, cobblestones, chapels glowing with stained glass, and a gargantuan castle in which you shouldn’t miss the splendid Apocalypse Tapestry. Meanwhile, the Musee des Beaux-Arts is one of France’s best provincial art museums, and the lively newer town has great restaurants, cafes and bars. New promenades along the river invite you to stroll. See: croisieurope.travel
Libourne, Dordogne River
Bordeaux river cruises concentrate on fabled wine regions, and the temptation is to scurry off to nearby Saint-Emilion and its surrounding vineyards. Avoid the obvious, though, and embrace the authenticity of this venerable trading town, whose central market – filled with pungent cheeses, white asparagus and crusty breads – has run for 600 years. The city, founded on wool and wine in 1270, has centuries of churches and townhouses surrounded by defensive towers with pepper-pot roofs. Don’t miss the Chapel of Condat, which glows with medieval colours and creatures like a scene from an illuminated prayer book.
See: uniworld.com
Tournon-sur-Rhone, Rhone River
Tournon is in a gloriously scenic spot where the Rhone narrows between rising hills clad in vineyards. It bristles with church spires and is topped by a severe-looking fortress beneath which buzzing shopping streets meander. On the hillside above, a walk from one defensive tower to another provides gorgeous views of vineyards and the French Alps in the distance. Take a pedestrian bridge across the Rhone to Tain l’Hermitage and you can indulge at the visitor centre in upmarket chocolatier Valrhona, founded here in 1922, or at various Cotes du Rhone cellar doors.
See: scenic.com.au