Who knew "Ze Fronch" had a history?

OK, as most of you are aware, Mrs J put together a wine cruise a few weeks ago that sponsored the winemaker from Untamed Wine Estates, a winery near our old hometown of Fredericksburg (TX for those who didn't know).  The river boat could hold about 140 guests, 50 or so of which were from our area of Texas.  The wine tastings were very well attended with our group and a growing group of other passengers.  The first session a few non-Texans came in and asked if they could join.  The winemaker said "of course".  Word got around pretty quick and the room filled up. Lots of fun and meeting new folks from around the world.  But when not tasting wine, we spent a lot of time in various French small towns.

We got on board the boat at Lyon France, sailed down the Rhone to Arles, France, got on a bus to Marseille and flew home.  Sounds boring doesn't it.  Well, yes, the flight over and back were boring. 

Source

 However....As an amateur historian at heart, I was looking forward to seeing the historical sites.  Suffice it to say there was an awful lot of history to be seen on the Rhone river.  Our ship was the AmaWaterways AmaKristina, a very nice comfortable ride with but few  guests on board (~140, the boat's limit).

 

Amakristina

 The views were awesome!

This was a typical view of the hillsides along the Rhone River.    Lots of castles like this one.  The vineyard is a lot (LOT, LOT) steeper than my phone could capture.

 

Below is a picture of the entry to a bridge across the Rhone near Lyon France.  If I recall correctly, and that's a big IF, this was build in the 12-1300's.  Impressive even now.

 

 

The picture below was of a battlement that guarded the gates to one of the early towns we stopped in.  Probably Viviers.  Notice the skinny gate below the towers.  Not many invaders could come through at any one time.

This was the other side of that gate.  Notice it's a fairly long, skinny passageway.  Again,  invaders would have a hard time getting through.  That would be Mrs. J in the photo.  If she'd have spread her arms, she'd be very close to touching both walls at once.

 

 

 

As we walked out the other side of the town wall, the pictures above were of the view of the castle where the battle would be fought, or at least where the town folks hoped it would be fought. This was the invaders point of view looking up at the castle.  

 

 

 As we walked up to the Castle, (which provided quite a bit of exercise to work off the excellent Cruise Food), we discovered a bit of middle ages artillery, a trebuchet.  Hadn't ever seen one in person, but recognized it from stories.  Very cool, unless you were on the receiving end.

 

 

Not sure exactly what this was there for (no plaque explaining anything) but it looked pretty cool. 

 

 

This was the view from the top, at least a thousand feet up, maybe more.  Yes, Sarge, we walked up.  Yes, I took a couple of extra-strength Tylenol that evening.

 

We did a bit of winery exploration and wine tasting over the next week or so.  Excellent wines, Unbelievable scenery with a nap or two included.  BP was quite low. 

The final morning of the cruise, we took a tour of our last town, Arles.  Our guide was very educated in the history of his region.  Kept me pretty enthralled and could answer all my questions. (And I asked a lot...an awful lot.)  

This isn't a great picture as I couldn't get it all in.  According to him, the top story (not shown in the picture. It didn't turn out) was built in the 1600's, the lighter story in the picture was built in the 1300s and the bottom story in the picture was in the 00s.  That was extremely thought provoking.  But we're on the edge of the Med and not very far from Rome, so quite probably true.

The guide also showed us this site.  If you notice in the center of the shot, there are some parallel lines.  According to the guide, those were likely caused by chariots, back in the day as it was at the same level as the lower levels above.

 

So, a very educational, relaxing, entertaining, restful, enjoyable trip.  Well.  Enjoyable except for the LOOONNNNNGGGG flights to and fro.  But we'd do it again.  3rd cruise on AMA Waterways....Highly recommended.

Peace out, y'all!