Tuesday and we are sailing through the Rhône river valley.We start our morning with eggs, coffee, croissant and an offering of other pastries. Sausage (chicken, beef and pork), bacon and oatmeal are also available. At 9:00 AM, we set out on a motorcoach panoramic tour of Lyon. We walk through the old town shopping area, in 1466, Louis XI set up Lyon’s first silk manufactory. Due to the roads and rivers, Lyon, emerged as the largest French producer of silk cloth. In 1540 Lyon was granted a monopoly on silk manufacture by Francois 1, and by 1620, there were over 10,000 looms in the city. At the height of Lyon’s silk production during the 18th century, it is estimated that more than 15,000 workers were involved in the industry. Lyon based designer Phillip de Lasalle invented a device called the semple, a key part of the mechanism that controlled the pattern woven on an individual loom; this led to the development of the Jacquard loom in 1801, which could be programmed to weave even more complex patterned textiles.
We wandered out of old town and after the tour, we stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a coffee and a glass of wine. then back to the ship for another sumptuous dinner. As there is a lot of food on this trip, we will try not to bore our readers with pictures and descriptions of food at every stop. Trust us to say that the food has been amazing. We will continue to feature some special highlights.
Lyon lies just to the south of the province of Beaujolais, divided into 12 appellations and further subdivided into three categories of wine; Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and Beaujolais cru. The wine making region is larger than any single district in Burgundy, with more than 55,000 acres of vines planted in a 34 mile stretch of land 7-9 miles wide along the Rhone. Beaujolais and Beaujolais Noveau wines are from the southern half of the region and the none of Noveau wines can be made using grapes from the cru regions. Wines from the Beaujolais Villages appellation are higher quality and represent 25% of the total production. Beaujolais cru wines are the highest quality available.
Lyon has a great culinary history stemming from the 16th century marriage of French king Henry II to Italian Catherine de’ Medici. Catherine brought her own cooks from Florence who began using local ingredients for the royal food. Bringing such traditional dishes as potatoes Lyonnaise, coq au vin and any number of specialty sausages. the fruity Beaujolais wines or a bold Rhone red augment all of these foods.
The Viking Heimdal casts off from Lyon at 2:30 PM and heads down river to our next port, Vienne.
Wednesday morning we are docked in Vienne, having arrived around 6:00 PM the previous evening. The offering today is a walking tour of the town of Vienne, one of the oldest towns in France. There were two types of walks, the easy one and the gruelling one. Everyone but Don, Deb and Mark took the gruelling one because they like to show-off their senior agility skills. Don took the easier walk but, as he has a bum knee, that was to be expected. Mark also has a good excuse, as he spent 4 nights in hospital with pneumonia. Deb, on the other hand, is just lazy but used Mark’s illness as a reason to skip the walk. Somethings never change!
There are still Roman artefacts dating from the 1st century, and it is considered the gateway to the French countryside. Its Roman amphitheater, nestled in the hills of Mont Pipet is one of the best preserved in the nation. Other landmarks include the Abbey of Saint Pierre and the Church of Saint-Andre’-le-Bas.
The St. Maurice Cathedral, also known at the Cathedral Saint-Maurice occupies a spot where a church has stood since the 4th century. The current cathedral, begun around 1130, rises majestically from a terrace overhanging the Rhone; it is a national monument of France. It took almost 500 years to construct the entire cathedral, but was damaged by the Protestants in the French wars of religion (1562-1578.)
In 1312, Pope Clement V organized the council of Vienne, whose principal outcome was a papal edict abolishing the Knights Templar. the Pope was strongly pressured to do this by Philip IV of France who owed the Templars money and coveted their land. during the first centuries of the current era, the city embraced Christianity; its first Bishop is said to have been a disciples of the Apostle Paul.
After learning all of the above, we were exhausted (the wine at lunch did not help) so we all went our separate ways which included Mark wandering around, Howie for a nap, Lee wandering around, Glenda rounding up the passengers for a sing-a-long and then, possibly, for a mutiny due to only marginally good food. Don was napping (but not with Howie), Ann was on another tour or looking for another tour and Deb was trying to find a quiet spot to put her feet up. This did not happen and she ended up talking to a woman from New Jersey who wanted to tell her how wonderful her entire life is non-stop. Where was Glenda when Deb needed her?? She showed up and made a comment about Trump. That stopped the tirade.
Dinner this evening included Coq au Vin, Cream of Chestnut soup, Pike Perch with a parsnip purée, and a delicious Potato & Chanterelle mixture in a pastry wrap, with a creamy mushroom sauce. The dessert of favor was a Cassis Bavarois - moist sponge cake with layers of black currant jam and mousse.
During the afternoon, we had cast off and by the early evening, we were docked at our next destination, Tournon sur Rhone.
