Burgundy and Provence

Thursday
Tournon and Tain l’Hermitage

Thursday started off with a short talk on Vincent. That “Vincent” would be Mr. van Gogh. The talk, by Janet-the-Guide, was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot. There were a lot of nice images projected on the screens in the lounge, some of his painting, and some just of him at various stages of his life.

The walking group I was with started off crossing the bridge and gathering in a courtyard near a Lycée, one of those iconic French schools. The building wasn’t particularly notable, though the chapel was interesting looking. We learned a little about French education institutions and practices, but the thing I remember most was the inscription over the door: Gabriel Faure. Of course I thought it was Gabriel Fauré, the composer, but I should have noticed the different last name. Turns out the school was named for a twentieth-century writer.

We had a nice walk through the center of the town, including going around the medieval Castle, now a museum. We moved on to a small square and went inside the church of St. Julien. The east window was really striking, and the images seemed much newer than the building itself. We spent some time in a small chapel with 14th-century frescoes that had been preserved in their original state. Well, the parts that hadn’t been lost were preserved, not subjected to any sort of invasive restoration. I thought they were wonderful, though they didn’t have the immediate impact of the window.

When we left the church, we completed our circle through Tournon and started back across the river. Here we were in the Côtes du Rhône wine region, and the hillsides across the way were covered in vineyards. We were a good bit further north than our first wine experience, and we were headed for another wine tasting. Before lunch, which seemed a little strange, though I certainly wasn’t going to turn anything down. We made it to a wine shop and tried a few local wines, mostly syrah in this part of the Rhône valley. Very nice with chocolate, as we found out. Judy’s group had a slightly different route, and she followed her tasting experience with a visit to a chocolate factory, a choice I declined in favor of getting back to the ship for lunch.

The rest of the day was lazy and quite scenic. Before we set sail, I ran back across the bridge to get a couple of photos of the organ in St. Julien, The rest of the afternoon was spent moving from one end of the ship to another as we passed by more vineyards, hillsides, and valleys on our way past Lyone to Macon, our next docking spot. This was actually a departure from the itinerary this cruise had followed earlier in the season, because normally the ship would have docked at Lyon for the night. However, this time the Armistice Day holiday on November 11 meant that some locks we would be traveling through would be closed. The change in plans just meant the next day would give us a chance to visit Beaune and surrounding vineyards a day earlier.

Who could complain?