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ABOVE: One of the high points of the cruise
was a guided night walk through the medieval (and largely abandoned) town of
Viviers.
Viviers, France
Continued
from: Vivarais Railroad
The MS Maribelle sailed from Tournon sur Rhône
at 12:30 p.m. and arrived in Viviers around 6 p.m. The quay was about a
10-minute walk from the town along a tree-lined promenade.
Viviers consists of a lower town,
where tradesmen and artisans once lived, and an upper or religious town that was
the seat of a bishop during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance The upper walled
town is an attractive warren of narrow cobbled streets with stone houses, a
cathedral, and a castle terrace that offers spectacular views of the rooftops
and river below.
After dinner, hotel manager Chris
Hillebrand and cruise manager Marc Sullivan took passengers on a nighttime
walking tour of the upper town (see photo above). With fewer than 3,000
inhabitants in a city that once had more than 30,000, Viviers is eerily quiet at
night. It's also in remarkably good condition for what is practically a ghost
town, thanks to money that the French government has supplied for renovation and
infrastructure. (The town looks ripe for gentrification; all it needs is a
handful of rich Parisians or foreigners to generate buzz and start a real-estate
boom.)
For more
information on Viviers, which has been capital of the Vivarais region since the
5th Century, see:
Cruise
Photos: Viviers
europeforvisitors.com
These are from the 169 images in my MS Maribelle
Photo Gallery.
Tourisme à Viviers
This illustrated page from the Office de tourisme de Viviers is in French, but you can translate with
FreeTranslation.com.
Next page:
Avignon
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