Friday, 8 October. The morning was hazy and cool. There were to be three separate walking tours, starting at 8:45. Each involved a different degree of difficulty. Jane choose the intermediate one, and I chose the most arduous one. That one required following multiple steps and a dirt path up the hill behind the town. We stopped at each of two round stone towers (16th century) overlooking Toulon, the second with a statue of the Blessed Virgin on top of it.

The early haze was burning off as we walked, and soon it was sunny and getting warm. The group wound its way back into the center of town where we were turned loose.

I joined several others in heading for the Chateau. This is where Jane's group had gone, simply walking through town from the ship. Most of the present structure was built in the 16th century, but there are sections remaining from the 14th century and even the original 10th century castle. (I could not tell the difference.) That original castle was situated on the site of an ancient Gallo-Roman watch tower. The Chateau is now a museum.

The ship sailed for Viviers at 11:00. We were glad for a chance to relax and read on the deck. The countryside had become increasingly more hilly as we sailed south, and now there were even some small mountains.

We arrived at Viviers at 5:45 and again had a choice of walking tours. I chose the more difficult 60-minute walk heading up to the cathedral above the town. Jane took the less arduous 40-minute walk that stayed in the lower town. (The guide told us that the church here was used as a model for the village church in the movie Chocolat. We saw the movie again after visiting Viviers but could not recognize anything.)

The lower town was very flat. Many of the houses appeared to be in bad condition, not really surprising since some were more than 400 years old. But the process of gentrification had begun. Our guide told us that people from the big cities were buying up the old houses in Vivier and restoring them. We saw several examples.

The climb to the cathedral was easier than the walk behind Tournon had been. It was entirely through the town's narrow streets and included many steps. The cathedral itself (1822?) was unremarkable, but the setting high above the town and the river was imposing. There was actually a large, flat area a short distance from the cathedral, like a small plateau. It was surrounded by a stone wall and overlooked the town.

We got back to the ship just in time for dinner at 7:00. There was a port talk at 9:00, followed by the hilarious hour-long crew show.

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