A Week in Provence

The River Royale docked in front of the University at Lyon with my borrowed bike as witness.

Introduction to the river  - Part One
How can anyone adequately  describe something as ethereal as charm?

By Walter Brooks with photography by Pat Brooks,
Aboard the River Royale

Since 9/11 and Iraq, many, if not most Americans, feel ambivalent about visiting Europe, and the US-French connection has always been at best a love-hate relationship.


The journey began in Arles where Van Gogh painted his most memorial works. Click the scene above to see larger.

Vincent Van Gogh was a patient at this hospital.

Here's how he saw the same scene.

Meals aboard River Royale were memorable, like this Tuna Puttanesca with fresh spinach and Provençal potatoes.But a wise American cruise company has changed all that in the most dramatic fashion.

UniWorld tames Europe for Americans

We spent last week on the Rhône and Saône Rivers of southern France aboard the LA-based river cruise company Uniworld ship River Royale to try out their brand new luxury river cruise ship which strongly resembled a luxury hotel afloat.

After a dozen forays into the continent with ever increasing doubts, we overcame our resistance due to an unquenched desire to see the area called Provence about which countless others have written with unreserved praise.

Our surprise and delight was complete. UniWorld only promotes these cruises to English-speaking countries, so there is none of the counter-culture or xenophobia encountered in most other European tours by Americans. And let's face it; we aren't as popular today as in the past.

The Meals and the Accommodations aboard

Despite its US origins, Uniworld manages to make this tour feel French, with none of the Gallic down side.

The meals were superb - as good or better than any we've eaten on dozens of cruises.

And this beautiful ship was launched this Spring. The cabins are large by river cruise standards, and boast a bathroom better than any others.

The attention to detail is quite amazing.

Each cabin has three or more different electric sockets to accommodate any equipment. Simply plug in you laptop, fire it up and surf via wi-fi in your room. The very helpful crew even brings aboard copies of the International Herald-Tribune and USA Today at ports where they are available, and the 24-hour a day, fresh coffee made the lounge area outside the dining room seem like your local Starbucks.

Plus, unlike any other European hotel, afloat or otherwise, these cabins have a flat screen TV which offers a dozen America channels, movies and one French language channel as well.

The cabins on the top deck have sliders to the outside.

In a dozen or more previous trips to Europe, we have never received better or friendlier attention, and the UniWorld's French crew acted more "American" than most our fellow countrymen.

Add to this classic Continental charm and you will finally find the France of your dreams aboard the new River Royale which roams Provence on the Rhône and Saône from Arles to Lyon.

What is Provence?

 There is no French department or administrative region which bears that name, yet when you hear the word, you think of oleanders, olives, and lavender. You imagine a slower of pace of life, lunch under the shade of plane trees, relaxing over a tiny cup of black coffee at a sidewalk café, long walks through a forest of oak and chestnut trees. You may even think of tiny villages clinging to the side of a mountain, a church tower with a wrought-iron campanile where the mistral winds finds little to slow it, or a narrow cobble-stoned streets.

Provence is all of these and more. It is charming, laid-back Arles, crowded Avignon which bewitched Roman legionnaires, popes, and countless artists. It's wonderful food, a hundred different wines and cheeses and some of the prettiest scenery on earth. After all, even Charles de Gaulle once said, "How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?"

The Voyage begins at Arles

The one excursion not included was a visit to this very ancient Roman viaduct.

And no one takes more remarkable photos of children than my wife, these three in Avignon. Please click the children to see the scene larger.

Our ship on The Rhône as seen over the rooftops from the Popes' Palace.

People wave from the famous Pont d'Avignon.

Some bridges are so low that Capt. Louis has to drop his superstructure and take the helm on deck.

The week-long voyage of the River Royale begins in Arles where we spent two days mesmerized by the colors and charming of this ancient city. A color blind fool could have taken a thousand gorgeous photos by simply clicking away with their eyes closed.

This town is that lovely.

Arles is the gateway to Camargue, the land of the Gypsies and meeting place of the Camargue cowboys. Today the ferias or bull runs and bull fights are held in this very same arena with 12,000 seats that was the scene of the Roman games in the first century.

Arles has never stopped attracting artists. Vincent Van Gogh stayed here with his friend Paul Gauguin, as well as Paul Cézanne and where Pablo Picasso, a great lover of bull fights, was inspired by the fights in the ancient Roman arena here to do two paintings and 57 drawings.

During our seven days and nights on this tour there was only one excursion which was not included in the price, and there were one or two every day.

On to Avignon, the City of the Popes

As some of our passenger took a bus to see a remarkable Roman three-level viaduct, the rest of us sailed a few miles north on the Rhône to Avignon, the City of the Popes.

That evening was the one formal gathering, and even that was mostly casual. And this cruise company is not stingy with the free drinks to toast Captains Louis and Pascal and their crew.

The next morning included a guided tour of Avignon with a visit to the impressive 14th-century Palace of the Popes, and the famous Pont d''Avignon. Avignon was the center of the Catholic Church in the 14th century, when its "Palais des Papes" was the equivalent of today''s Vatican. Seven Popes reined here before the Italians got a French king to agree to move the church  back to the Vatican.

Take your time wandering these ancient streets. The courtyards of the private mansions and the renovated facades will charm you. One of the most elegant streets is the Rue Joseph Vernet next to the Calvet and Requiem Museums. Visit the Antiquaire quarter, the Place de l'Horloge or the Chemin de Ronde which will take you to the Rocher des Doms. From the top of the ramparts you can understand why the site was chosen for a fort - Avignon stands high above the immense plains of the Rhône River and is the strategic point of the whole valley.

Avignon is a delightfully, clean and photogenic city. The shops are arresting, but the US economy is responsible for a fairly unpleasant exchange rate. The Euro is now worth $1.33, thus your money buys less.

The one huge exception is French wine which sells for far less here, and any good husband will carry home as many bottles as his wife requires.

And wait until we introduce you to Eric, Christian, Julian, Dominic, Alice, Oliver and their merry crew mates in our next dispatch, but before we leave, here are four more scenes final scenes from the streets in Arles.

NEXT WEEK: On to Lyon and Paul Bocuse