River Cruise in Southern France, Part III

Distinctive rock formation in Beaujolais region

     We had looked forward to our last full day of touring in France and the only optional tour we had chosen to add to the itinerary, a tour of the ruins of the Abbey of Cluny, the most influential church in the Christian faith in the 11th century. But our morning started with one more delightful included tour, a scenic ride through the rolling hills of the Beaujolais district and a visit to a a beautiful family owned (for many generations) winery, including a tasting with a wine expert.

Winery Entrance

     I'll let a few photos tell the story of the winery and the lovely countryside where we enjoyed strolling at a stop along the way (Viking seems to give careful thought to making the necessary rest stops on longer day tours pleasant).

     

Our group at the winery

     The Abbey of Cluny was originally founded in 910 AD and grew until it became the mother house for over 1,000 monasteries in the 12th century. Our local guide was charming and exceptionally well-informed--clearly a true admirer of this remarkable medieval abbey and a devoted student of its history. Some of the majestic buildings still stand and are used for, among other things, an architectural school. Eager students dash here and there, adding life and creativity to the mix of impressive old buildings and ruins.

     Sometimes on journeys, I prefer to fully take in the beauty and history of a place rather than to work at capturing multiple photos. The abbey was one such experience: inspiring and moving. So, I have a few photos to show you, but often just listened, watched, and marveled. In addition to the photos of that day, I often savor the many lovely images I have in my memory of our tour of the Abbey of Cluny.

13th century food storehouse for abbey and village

Inside the abbey's Gothic chapel, built around 1460

Courtyard outside the cloisters

     My two previous posts from our Viking River Cruise in Southern France are here. I've enjoyed reliving the journey with you.

Question of the day: How do you prefer to balance experiencing and taking photos when you travel?

River Cruise in Southern France, Part II

Medieval era fortifications and tower in Viviers

     Two more posts will show you some of my favorite scenes on our Viking River Cruise in southern France; today some sights in a medieval village and in a large conservation area and next time, the remarkable last day of touring, when we enjoyed a morning at a historic, family-owned winery in the Beaujolais region and then visited the inspirational site of the Abbey of Cluny. One earlier post from our river cruise is here.

     One of our favorite shore excursions was a morning in Viviers, a small village with a remarkably intact medieval city center. Our delightful, funny, amazing story teller guide made the visit extra special. She lives in one of the old homes--she showed us the location--where an aunt had participated in the French Resistance during World War II and where Jewish people had sheltered as they were being guided out of the country by brave French citizens. 

Renaissance era house in Viviers, Maison des Chevaliers

View from Medieval wall, Viviers

     




















    







 A steam train ride deep into a protected river gorge by steam train (the area is not accessible by car) on a beautiful day made another morning memorable. The Doux Valley is a protected conservation area--a pristine wilderness area a short ride from the charming city of Tournon. The three photos below are just a few tastes of the serene, yet dramatic views we enjoyed during this scenic ride.  

River Cruise from Arles to Lyon in Southern France

View of Vienne, France from Mont Pipet

     In early September, we enjoyed a Viking River Cruise in southern France, from Arles and Avignon north to Lyon. Warmer than normal weather accompanied us all the way, and interesting shore excursions with local guides alternated with either cruising along watching the lovely French countryside slip by or an overnight docked at a town or city with extra time for strolling.

A town square in Vienne

     
     









     On board the ship, Viking's excellent service, superior chef, and comfortable accommodation spoiled us royally. Since we are accustomed to budget travel, the luxury was a treat. I had saved for quite awhile to try a river cruise, and we loved it! One reason for its appeal was that we could glide from one place to another, see some highlights of Provence and the Beaujolais region and still curl up in the same comfy stateroom every night (much more convenient and relaxing than travel by car, bus tour, or train).  

In the lock, as seen from our stateroom's veranda

Approaching a lock

     

     

     Today, I'll show you various spots--not necessarily in order--and some of the interesting aspects of river cruising. For example, in the relatively short distance our eight day tour covered, we passed through 15 locks. The captain's expertise was amazing as we slipped through, sometimes with only a few inches clearance on each side.

Lyon

On the Rhone River in Lyon

A sunset in the countryside of Provence, seen from our veranda

Prince Edward Island, Canada--Gentle Natural Beauty and Anne of Green Gables

     Besides enjoying Nova Scotia in August (see an earlier post about a gorgeous Canadian National Park there), we also spent four nights on Prince Edward Island. Many people know Prince Edward Island as the setting for a series of classic children's novels from the early 1900s, beginning with Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, on which popular movies and television specials have been based. The author lived near Cavendish on the island's north shore as a child and chose her friends' nearby house as the home which took in the imaginative, fictional orphan Anne. The house and grounds are restored to the late 1800s as in the stories and are fun and interesting to visit (more so than I expected). 

     The first photo above shows the Wood Island Lighthouse as seen from the ferry as we approached. Built in 1876, the lighthouse still operates as well as housing a museum. For fun and variety (as well as convenience, given our planned touring route in Canada) we used the ferry going to Prince Edward Island and the impressive Confederation Bridge leaving the province. Two photos from the Green Gables site are followed by other island scenes.

     Prince Edward Island claims to have the warmest salt water north of the Carolinas (it felt wonderful) and has a variety of lovely beaches, some with white sand; others rimmed with red sandstone cliffs producing reddish sand. Our central location on the south coast in the provincial capital, Charlottetown, allowed for easy exploring. Lazy drives and detours onto unknown gravel side roads led to a surprising range of sights, from lush farm land (often planted right to the edge of a seaside cliff or nearly to a beach area) to gentle forests and meadows. 











     Prosperous towns and villages, with thriving fishing, shell fishing, and tourist services all seemed to have lovely historic churches and other buildings, not to mention delightful cafes and shops. St. Augustine Catholic Church, built in 1838, is the oldest church in the province. Many Protestant churches also grace the towns and countryside, including a number of United churches, a merger that includes Presbyterian, Congregational, and other denominations.

St. Augustine Catholic Church

Interior of St. Augustine 

A typical country United Church

     More details, both from Prince Edward Island and continued exploration of Nova Scotia, will follow in future posts. Happy travels!

Question of the day: Have you heard of the Anne of Green Gables story or movies? I have been amazed at the number of people who have mentioned knowing her story.

Canada's Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Beautiful Nova Scotia

View from the road around the park

     We recently returned from a long-awaited (and long saved-for) 2 week exploration of areas in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada. These provinces, roughly east of Maine (map below), treated us Floridians to gorgeous mountain vistas and clear, refreshing days in the mid 70s with overnight lows in the low 60s or a bit cooler. This trip was so enjoyable for us that I could write a long account, but that would bore you - - and still would fail to capture our full experience. A couple of future posts will describe some particular experiences and locations other than this park.

View from the road

     Rather than start with a description of our itinerary, today I will post a few photos from a large Canadian national park on the northeastern end of Nova Scotia (you should be able to click on them to enlarge them). We spent 3 nights in this area midway through our time in Eastern Canada. Rugged mountains and high plains are never far from ocean views in this park. We hiked several trails and drove the scenic coastal road. No photo can capture the majestic scenery and breathtaking vistas we enjoyed, but I'm hoping you enjoy this taste of Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Coming out of the forest on the  Skyline Trail

Walkway from the end of the Skyline Trail

     

Vegetation along the Bog Trail

On the Bog Trail

Blogger is being stubborn today--can't get it to arrange the images nicely. Frustrating, but will publish anyway. Sorry.
No question of the day this time. Thanks for your visit.

A New Orleans Vacation

We have returned from several days in New Orleans, a delightful vacation break! Today's photos are all from the French Quarter, which we visited a couple of times, riding the excellent street car system to various destinations from our hotel on a quiet, beautiful, tree-lined block in the architecturally rich Garden District. I think we enjoyed the best of both worlds by visiting the razz-ama-tazz in the daytime and staying in a quieter (though still urban) area. Historic mansions made exploring the Garden District fun, and Magazine Street, a few blocks from our hotel, is famous for antique shops, boutiques, and galleries as well as some lovely restaurants. We strolled down to the Lilette Restaurant there for an elegant, delicious French meal our last evening in town.

Our first afternoon, we hopped on the streetcar after settling into our room (a $3 day pass got us all the rides and transfers we wanted--a real bargain--and no parking headaches or expense), riding to a stop near Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter. A mule-pulled carriage with a friendly, lively driver provided us with an orientation tour of the Quarter--a fun, relaxing way to get a feel for directions and to learn about the area. The photo of the building corner gives a flavor of the lovely places and beautiful balconies there. Then we stood in a verrrrry long and slow line for the famous beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde nearby--quite tasty, but once was enough for us. Besides, they are so filling that a serving of 3 beignets each around 5 PM left us too full for any dinner that evening!

Jackson Square's main attraction is the St. Louis Cathedral, seen in two photos, outside and in. Historically fascinating, the basilica remains an active force in the life of the city today. The final photo shows a jazz group performing across from Jackson Square. The stairs on which the listeners sat lead up to the promenade along the mighty Mississippi. In a future post, I show you photos from our paddle-wheel boat ride the next day.

Although I love to travel, this particular trip was more my husband's desire than mine. However, I kept an open mind and was rewarded with a much richer, more interesting experience than I had expected. Of course, there is amazing food and the well-known nightlife in New Orleans, but there is so much more--in historical neighborhoods, natural beauty, and southern charm. We both thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

Question of the day: If you have visited New Orleans, what were your impressions of the city?

Exploring--Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park, Part III and a Painting

This is my third and final post recalling our awe-inspiring day hike in Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia about a year ago. The photo on the right is one of my favorite views of one of the lakes. The breathtaking color is absolutely true to life; other than cropping, I never adjust the photos I show you or tinker with their colors. The actual tones and shades of the water in the park vary, but this clear aqua color is common there due to minerals dissolved from the limestone prevalent in the surrounding mountains and this beautiful valley. You can read further details about Croatia's magical national park in the previous two posts.

The painting at the top is a small (5" X 7") study created by simplifying the foreground in one photo (leaving out some tree trunks and the rushing water) and adapting a distant waterfall from another. Given the countless, varied waterfalls and rich virgin forest throughout the park, we saw other scenes like that portrayed in the painting, so my adjustments were not unrealistic. Mixing a color that worked for the water in the lake was difficult because I did not want a garish, swimming pool hue and yet wanted to be true to the startling reality. It seemed to work best to go greener because an exact duplication of the water color in the photo looked unreal when viewing the painting on its own.

For some reason, I have been slow to paint a larger landscape using this little study. I think that perhaps working on the study was enough for the sake of my memories. Beyond that, once we returned from that wonderful trip, North Florida's unique beauty recaptured my creative spirit with gratitude and joy for Home.

Question of the day: Isn't it a joy when travel stretches us and deepens our appreciation for other places and yet renews our love for our own nation and home?

Exploring--Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park

Memories . . . In early autumn last year, we were privileged to travel in Eastern Europe for four weeks. Croatia's magical Plitvice Lakes National Park was a highlight of our time in that beautiful nation (formerly part of Yugoslavia). For the middle two weeks of our trip, we joined a guided tour of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina sponsored by the Rick Steves company (of public television fame). If you are interested in earlier posts about those destinations, simply enter "Eastern Europe" in the search box, above left. As I reminisce about that wonderful journey, I will post a time or two about our overnight visit and long trek in Plitvice Lakes National Park, one destination I had anticipated eagerly. This stunning park exceeded even my high expectations.

Photos cannot capture the full majesty of the lush, heavily forested park with 16 terraced lakes and countless waterfalls. The amazingly clear water shines in brilliant aqua or clear greenish tones due to the limestone-laden soils and rocks in the area. Bears, wolves, lynx, wild boar, and a rich variety of other animals, birds, and fish populate this protected area, one of the last remaining virgin forests in Europe.

We arrived late one afternoon, settled into a large, comfortable hotel in the park, and enjoyed a pre-planned "potluck" happy hour on the lake shore with our tour group, for which we had each purchased wine, sausage, cheese, chocolates, and other delights during the day. Dinner in the hotel was tasty, but hardly seemed necessary after that. Following an early, sumptuous breakfast buffet the next morning, we stowed our luggage on the tour bus, hoisted our day packs, and boarded a shuttle bus to a ferry dock. To avoid the crowds at this popular park, our excellent Rick Steves guide, Saso Golub, wisely guided us to begin at the furthest point of our trek, via a ferry across one of the larger lakes. His strategy worked beautifully--we saw the most dramatic falls before others crowded in, and we hiked in the opposite direction of the heaviest flow of visitors. The park offers a variety of hiking options on wide walking trails and sturdy plank walkways over rushing streams and gullies. The cold clear air of the early morning gave way to bracing, cool, delicious temperatures, perfect for hiking.

If you want to see more of the park and to learn about its dynamic ecosystem and shifting bodies of water and land formations, check your local public library for a DVD, which I think was originally a PBS program, Nature:Land of the Falling Lakes. In Plitvice, the water gradually wears down the land so that the lakes, streams, and waterfalls actually move over time. Then, the limestone deposits that erosion leaves in the water gradually build up again on fallen trees and branches underwater and on the lake bed itself so that over time, natural earth dams and eventually, new land areas are formed.

Next time, I will share a few more photos and memories from this magnificent park. Although we have grander individual waterfalls, vaster mountains, and deeper valleys in our beloved USA, the cumulative delights of the sheer numbers of waterfalls and rapids around every turn in Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and the "forest primeval" atmosphere are unique and quite magical.

Question of the day: What natural preserve area has given you lasting memories?

Exploring--Far From Home--Beautiful, Haunting Mostar

Bosnia-Herzegovina may not be everyone's vacation dream spot, but it was a highlight of our long-anticipated 4-week journey in Central and Eastern Europe this past September and October. We were privileged to see the river valley city of Mostar with its iconic bridge as an unexpected bonus added to the destinations we had originally intended to see. Sometime soon, I will blog about budget travel and creative travel planning and will perhaps say more about how we happened to journey to Mostar for one memorable overnight stay. 

For now, more about Mostar itself, a city where Turkish-style and Serbian Orthodox East meets a fervently Catholic Croatian West. Mostar suffered greatly in the wars of the 1990s. It had long been a sophisticated, peaceable mix of cultures and religions with as many as 75% of the adults married to someone of another background or culture. All that changed in late 1991 when Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from the rapidly disintegrating Yugoslavia, and the Serbian minority immediately seceded from the fledgling nation with its Bosnian Muslim majority. Soon, the residents of Mostar were bewildered by bloody fighting among former neighbors, incited by violent partisans from all sides. The Serbs fired down from the hills to one side of the city and Croatians from the other. Even members of mixed families were forced to choose a single ethnicity and to defend it against attacks from the others. 

Our local guide, an articulate, professional Muslim woman (in modern European dress, make-up, and hairstyle) described how the snipers on the hills would pick off anyone who ventured out to aid the wounded or to bury the dead. The cemetery pictured above had been a city park until residents began secretly burying their fallen there in the darkness of any moonless night. No markers were erected until after the war--now hundreds of headstones of residents from the very old to infants, mostly death-dated 1992-94, crowd several former city parks. Our guide also recounted personal stories, employing a sardonic humor, about how the tough, enterprising Mostar residents survived in unimaginable circumstances. "Our humor may seem shocking to those who have not experienced these things," she said, "but it was as essential to our survival as our meager food and water." 

Today, Mostar is peaceful and rebuilding itself as quickly as war-ravaged resources will allow. In one photo above, you can see a heavily shell-damaged building which is partially restored to the right of a brand-new structure replacing the rubble of a destroyed older building. The 16th century Ottoman bridge (the identifying image of Mostar) in the other photo has been painstakingly rebuilt with precisely the same tools and methods as the original using limestone hewn by hand from the same quarry the Ottomans used. As a beloved symbol of a proud and diverse city, it had been deliberately targeted and finally destroyed in the war. It is a moving and lovely sight.

We visited a beautifully decorated mosque where our guide answered our questions frankly, allowing us to glimpse the deep personal significance of her own progressive, sincere faith. On our way to an excellent dinner in the Old Town, a delightful stroll along Coppersmith's Street offered art galleries, craft stalls, spices, and more in a cheerful jumble reminiscent of a Turkish bazaar. Musicians played on exotic (to me) instruments, children ran in noisy joy over the worn cobblestones, and locals enjoying a drink or water pipe laughed and gossiped in several languages at sidewalk tables. Nearby, the silvery river and the restored Old Bridge were stunning in the fading evening light. Earlier, our guide had given us a tour of an amazing Turkish-style house with a beautiful courtyard and garden and lovely wood-paneled and tiled rooms. Our group got silly trying on the authentic ethnic costumes she provided from displays there. All these were particularly poignant experiences given the recent tragic events.

For readers curious about accommodations, the Rick Steves tour we had taken into the country put us up in the large, sleek, well-run Hotel Ero, where international journalists stayed during the war and which was one of the few large buildings in the central city to escape serious damage. According to a Rick Steves travel guidebook, there also are several new, friendly, affordable small hotels in the city center.

I think that my next post will leave the "Exploring" theme for awhile. I'm thinking of shifting gears to writing about the delights of learning something new--although, come to think of it, creative exploring has always done that for me, too. I certainly found exploring Central and Eastern Europe to be a rich learning experience with varied lingering impressions. Oh, and in case you are impressed with my memory of events, don't be. Although it requires discipline, I am thankful to have recorded at least some of the details of travel experiences in journals over the years. 

Question of the day: How have creative journeys shaped your perceptions and the person you are today?