There are tens of thousands of villages in France, and most of them have been inhabited for centuries.  Many had been settlements since Roman and even prehistoric times.  So you might think that the towns where medieval dwellings, churches and castles have been protected from demolition would be similar.  Yet Tournon’s character differed greatly from that of Viviers, the second town along The Rhône that we toured on our way south along the river.

         Viviers was even smaller than Tournon.  Its population was under 4,000.  Our guide resided in Viviers, but she was one of the few who did.  We learned that Viviers was almost deserted, though some people maintained weekend or holiday homes there.

         There were no jobs for the young, who were generally disinclined to stay where there was a dearth of amusements as well as employment.  As the town’s population had dwindled, Viviers could not afford to improve its infrastructure to the national standards enforced by the Ministry of Health.  The water supply was inadequate, among other deficiencies.  There was a single place left to buy food, at a butcher’s shop.  A person had to leave the village in order to obtain essential supplies and services. 

HL on Viviers' main thoroughfare

          Everyone in the tour group commented on Viviers’ cleanliness and serenity.  There were no broken cobbles or fallen walls. Inarguably, it was picturesque.  It could have been the set for a movie with its action set in the Middle Ages, one that omitted the period’s squalor from the screen.  I thought that Viviers was eerie.  Whereas Tournon was a place where people engaged in a full range of human activities, Viviers was a dead town reanimated as a tourist attraction.

Saint Vincent's was the smallest cathedral in France.  It was one of the few public edifices in Viviers that was open all year.  The architecture was a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, and 18th Century styles.  Pipe organ concerts were held there regularly.

         There was a market being held near the quayside, and it was by far the liveliest scene in the town.  It was held weekly in the Summer months, when tourists might lay aside their cameras to do some shopping.  Near the market was a sign for the Street of the Sorcerers, but there was no time left for me to search for it.  Neither our guides nor anyone else whom I asked seemed to know anything about it.

The market made Viviers feel less petrified. 

This street's history might well merit some research.

          From Viviers, we sailed for Avignon.  To do so, the ship had to pass through a series of locks, including the deepest (or tallest?) one on the Rhône.  A ship entering the Bollène lock, or ecluse, drops more than 20 meters.  HL and I were not the only passengers to stay on deck to watch as we descended.

We did not want to miss the M/S Chanson’s passage through the Bollène lock.  The captain and crew managed the ship with their usual sang-froid.