18 Days in France - Beaujolais

Église Saint-Vincent de Villié-Morgon - Villie'-Morgon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

FOR OUR second day in port at Lyon, we had a wine tasting excursion in Southern France's vaunted Beaujolais region. The drive was over an hour, with a short stop in a little village for a break, a walk around, and a cafe'. I am not really sure why this stop was scheduled, but there was a rather substantial parking lot just off the main highway and just at the edge of this tiny little village. The post-Gothic/Romanesque church pictured here was an easy draw for my photographic eye, though the lighting was really difficult (late morning, into the sun, and fairly harsh). I took it anyway. When I was "curating" my images, I couldn't - for the life of me - remember the name of the village (as it turns out, I am not sure I ever knew it). Google Images to the rescue. I am finding that utility to be very useful. I uploaded a small copy of the exterior of the church to the "app," and viola! The village, Villie'-Morgon, is just about 40 minutes northwest of Lyon, up into the Beaujolais Region.

Église Saint-Vincent de Villié-Morgon - Villie'-Morgon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THE VILLAGE seemed deserted, but the church was open, so I wandered in. I love the simple, symmetrical design of the sanctuary, with its pastel coloring. Not nearly so ornate as many of its counterparts, its understated atmosphere is fitting with the unpretentious little village and even the region.

Chateau' de Nervers - Odenas, France
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A NICE little stop before the "main event." After about 30 minutes, we once again boarded our coach and headed toward the vineyard we would visit that morning: Chateau' de Nervers. Once a hunting lodge owned by French nobility, the 120 grounds today grow grapes and make wine. The wine was nice. But I have to admit, though I like a nice red every once in a while, we are not huge wine connisseurs (though ironically, we have done some of our best travel with a wine group we are members of). It was the usual flight of 4 different wines, starting with a white and progressing to their "signature" blend. Photographically, I made the image above of the chateau, but not really much else of particular note. It seemed like a short day and before we knew it, we were back on the ship having - you guessed it - lunch. 😋

Wine Tasting in Beaujolais, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

18 Days in France - Lyon

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière - Lyon, France
 Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE ARRIVED in Lyon in the morning. It would be our final port for the Viking Lofn. We thoroughly enjoyed our crew, from Carlos, the overall manager (who was everywhere, doing every job on board with great cheer and humor), our crew of great bartenders, the cruise director, and on . . . all the way to our room steward. It may have been the best ship crew I have ever experienced.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière - Lyon, France
 Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

OUR VIKING-included excursion for the morning was another coach/bus trip around the city ("Panoramic Lyon)." We did have an opportunity to stop and get off the bus at a couple different venues, which was nice. We were able to stretch our legs and see a couple sights up close. Our guide was a good-humored guy who started by telling us about a rivalry between Lyon and Marseille, regarding which city is the second largest in France. Most sources give the nod for that honor to Marseille. But like so many different statistical statements, it really depends on the "metrics." If talking about the entire metropolitan area, then Lyon is probably a bit larger (by population). Does it really matter? For our purposes, not one bit. But you could see that he had acquaintences in Marseille and that there was a friendly, bantering rivalry (he brought it up several times).

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière - Lyon, France
 Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

My opening image is the Notre Dame Basillica (Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière), way up on a hill overlooking the Rhone and Saune Rivers. The two rivers join at Lyon. Interestingly, this one is referred to as a "minor" Basillica. Architecturally, there is nothing "minor" about it. It is massive and impressive. It is, however, one of the newer such churches of note around the world. It was built in the late 19th century, on the site of the ancient Roman Trajan Ruins. The photo, taken from inside our moving bus, demonstrates the challenges of such a shot. However, when we arrived on site, the street side facade was undergoing restoration and was covered with scaffolding; not a very photogenic shot. I did like the crypt entrance at the top of the stairs in the center of the entrance though. The view across the river is panoramic, and impressive. That morning, we were looking directly into the sun, though, so I didn't make any memorable photographs from there.The interior of the Basillica, however, was worth taking a few minutes inside. As impressive and ornate as I have seen around the world, I really liked the look here. I was especially enamored with the cylindrical hanging lights throughout the sanctuary.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière - Lyon, France
 Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD some time to walk around the exterior courtyards and use the public restroom facilities. I took a bit of time to walk around and make a few more photographs. The tower - quite reminiscent of the more famous tower in Paris - immediately drew my attention. It is sometimes referred to as the mini-Eiffel Tower of Lyon (it is said to be an exact replica of the third stage of the Eiffel). Ironically, it was originally built by protestant supporters, to offset the overpowering - and strongly Catholic - presence of the massive adjoining Basillica. Today, it is used as a radio and communications tower, and it not open to the public.

Tour métallique de Fourvière - Lyon, France
 Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

AFTER RE-BOARDING our bus, we stopped in the downtown area and walked around for a few minutes. Like many European cities, it has its older sections with pedestrian - only, often cobblestone streets. One of the kind of cool and unique things we saw in Lyon was the passageway - entrances to some of the residential dwellings. Rather than entries directly onto the main streets, there were passageways between two main streets and the dwelling entrances were in those passageways. It made for a much quieter residential spot, and the entrances were protected from bad weather. I was taken by the bicycle locked to one of the railings, giving us just a peek into the life of a Lyon local.

Lyon, France
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AS WE drove back to the ship, our guide pointed out the modern towers pictured here. They flank two very large, public swimming pools. Very popular during that time, as France has been experiencing record high (high 90's F) temperatures this summer. I made my image from the walkway just up from and in front of our ship.

Lyon, France
I made this image in color, but my B&W version seemed better in this case
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE WERE back to the ship by 12:30. Predictably, just in time for lunch. Viking seems to be pretty well planned around their meals. 😋. The rest of the day was free time for most of us (some may have taken one of the optional excursions). It was so hot that it was difficult to get motivated to go out though. I spent a little bit of time later in the afternoon smoking a cigar up on deck. But mostly we just loafed and rested.

Lyon, France
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18 Days in France - Vienne

Our Viking Lofn "rafted" outside another Viking River Boat at our mooring in Vienne, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE WERE still getting used to the cruise stop/port schedule. We are accustomed to the ocean cruise ship schedules which mostly cruise at night and stop at ports during the day, staying put once in a given port. River cruises are less consistent. Part of the reason is schedules can change depending on conditions. Another is that many of the river ports are very small, making in and out scheduling challenging. We had heard about this already, but it is often necessary to "raft" fwo or more boats along the dockside, meaning you may be going through, or up and over, another ship sometimes. So river cruise stops are just less consistent by their nature. Our stop in Vienne appeared to me to be one of those instances. We arrived at our mooring in Vienne, sometime during the dinner hour. There was a scheduled evening walking tour, starting around 9:00 p.m. Sometime during the night, we would leave Vienne and sail onward to our final port of call on this leg of our journey: Lyon, where we would remain docked for the next 3 nights.

Vienne Suspension Bridge - Vienne, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

OUR MOORING was actually across the river from Vienne, at Sainte-Columbe, just at the foot of The Vienne Suspension Bridge (La Passerelle), a beautiful pedestrian bridge across the Rhone. Having already spent a rather long, hot day in Tournon, only 2 of our group opted to go out on the scheduled night walking tour of Vienne. I was one of the participants. I am glad I went.

Vienne Suspension Bridge - Vienne, France
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KNOWING THERE would not be any opportunities in a group setting for a tripod, I opted to carry only my Samsung S24+ phone for this one. I don't usually do a lot of handheld shots at night, not having fully embraced the high ISO capabilities of my Sony a7cr. I probably should. But I got a few that I think are worthy of posting anyway.

Cathédrale Saint-Maurice de Vienne (Vienne Cathedral) - Vienne, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

VIKING PUTS their passengers out for excursions in semi-manageable "groups." On this night, not expecting a huge turnout (and they were right - there were only 2 groups in the end), they did not assign us a group. We just picked one. My newest acquaintance, Randy (brother in law to our other traveling companions Jim and Flo) and I picked a group and set up our "walkies" and off we went. After we exited the Vienne Suspension Bridge, we crossed perhaps Vienne's busiest street and almost immediately came upon the beautiful Romanesque and French Gothic Cathedrale Saint-Maurice de Vienne (Vienne Cathedral). Our walk had started right at 9:00 p.m. (Civil Twilight) and the light was warm and low contrast, flattering the stone work.

Jardin de Cybele (Vienne Archaelogical Garden) - Vienne, France
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BEYOND THE Cathedral, we walked a couple city streets in the heart of the old Medieval City, and arrived at one of its most popular places, The Archaelogical Garden (Jardin de Cybèle). In this spot there are the remains of the ancient Gallow - Roman civilization which is now at the geographical heart of Vienne. The structure you see up on the hill behind the garden is Théâtre Antique de Vienne, and ancient Roman Theatre, which now serves as a venue for musical acts. We did not go up there as it was in use at the time, by none other than Sting, who has often performed there. We could hear the music and the cheering crowd way up in the distance. Built around 40 - 50 A.D., the theatre still bears its stone seating (maybe an uncomfortable concert attendance).

Roman Ruins - Jardin de Cybele - Vienne France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

JUST STEPS away from the garden, we came upon Place François Mitterrand the site of Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), former 18th Century town house of one of Vienne's noblemen (recall from the Avignon Blog that in French, "hôtel" can have a number of meanings, one of which is an important municipal building). The architecture and landscaping is grand; all the more so when lit at night.

Hôtel de Ville, Vienne - Vienne, France
Copright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

CONTINUING JUST around the corner, we came upon Vienne's historically most popular square, Place du Palais Charles de Gaulle, the site for the ancient Roman Temple of Augustus and Livia. Built some 100 years B.C., the temple is an important part of Roman history, and attests to the presence of Roman Civilization so many years ago.

Temple of Augustus and Livia - Vienne, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THERE IS often a special magic in night time lighting. At the same time often masking unwanted clutter around a photographic subject, the lighting creates contrast and shadows, enhancing the textures and colors of these subjects.

Temple of Augustus and Livia - Vienne, France
Copyrigtht Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THIS BASICALLY ended our nightime Vienne excursion. But all around this area, there were shops, restaurants and bars, and evidence of a vibrant night life in Vienne's old downtown. I wished we could stop and visit one or two of the street bars for a drink and to take in the nightlife. I think that if some of the rest of our group had joined us, we might have. We were only about 10 minutes from our cruise ship. Our guide let us know that staying for a while was an option, but it seemed that most of our group opted to accompany her back to the ship.

Vienne, France
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I WAS able to make just a couple more images of this beautiful city on the way.

Vienne, France
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OUR NEXT port of call, the next morning, was Viviers.

A last look across the Rhone to Vienne, as the moon rose over the city
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

We will be away for the next two weeks, traveling again in Spain and France. Of course, the plan is to bring back more photos. I think our itinerary will bear much fruit for that endeavor. In the meantime, stay tuned and I will see you in October!