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Facebook: @The<strong>Weekender</strong>Spain<br />
FRIDAY 30TH AUGUST 2019 21<br />
RIVER RIDE TO THE FRENCH RIVIERA<br />
GLIDING along the river with<br />
a cocktail in hand, as stars<br />
twinkle above me, I’m certain<br />
there is no better way to<br />
travel.<br />
Exploring a new destination<br />
each day of a holiday usually<br />
means living out of a suitcase<br />
and spending hours on the road<br />
every night.<br />
But memories of cramped<br />
coaches slip far into the distance<br />
thanks to Avalon Poetry<br />
II, the cruise ship which is<br />
smoothly transporting my partner<br />
Hayley and me to many of<br />
the highlights of the Provence<br />
region in the <strong>South</strong> of France.<br />
The popularity of European<br />
river cruising has rocketed in<br />
recent years, and our dusk arrival<br />
into Avignon makes it<br />
easy to appreciate why.<br />
Our visit coincides with the<br />
city’s annual arts festival and<br />
our immersion in the event<br />
begins even before we dock,<br />
thanks to musical performances<br />
taking place alongside the<br />
river.<br />
We come to a stop right next<br />
to a fairground, so I finish my<br />
pina colada and in just a couple<br />
of minutes, Hayley and I are<br />
hundreds of feet in the air on a<br />
Ferris wheel, struggling to believe<br />
how much fun we’re having<br />
as we look down at the busy<br />
streets below.<br />
Arrivals like this aren’t possible<br />
on big cruise ships. Due to<br />
their size, they often dock so far<br />
away from city centres that you<br />
have to take a taxi or bus to get<br />
to where the action is. But river<br />
cruising means we can dash off<br />
the boat and find ourselves immediately<br />
where we want to be.<br />
Avalon includes a guided<br />
tour for every city and town visited,<br />
so the next morning we’re<br />
taken to the sumptuous Palace<br />
of the Popes.<br />
In the 14th century, Avignon<br />
was the permanent residence<br />
of six successive popes. The<br />
prestige and pomp of the role<br />
is clear as we walk around<br />
the private chapels and apartments<br />
of their official residence.<br />
Convenience is one of the<br />
main advantages to this form<br />
of travel. Our hotel room – and<br />
all our belongings – sail with<br />
us. Croatian waiter Tomislav<br />
knows my name, and my favourite<br />
drink. The time spent travelling<br />
feels genuinely enjoyable<br />
rather than a necessary chore<br />
to get to the next port.<br />
Modern ocean cruise liners<br />
are equipped with cinemas,<br />
swimming pools and a dozen<br />
bars, restaurants and cafes, but<br />
being one of thousands of people<br />
can be a touch overwhelming.<br />
Poetry II carries just 128<br />
passengers, so the chances of us<br />
bumping into the same person<br />
twice are pretty high.<br />
Most of our fellow travellers<br />
hail from the US, Canada, Australia<br />
and New Zealand – with<br />
a few Brits added to the mix –<br />
and by the end of the week, we<br />
know many of them well. Bob,<br />
an eccentric Kiwi, has a seemingly<br />
unlimited supply of tales<br />
from a lifetime of travelling the<br />
world flying hot air balloons for<br />
a living, while Sue and Kyra –<br />
a mother and daughter from<br />
Vancouver – are full of excitement<br />
after “abandoning” their<br />
husbands for this once-in-alifetime<br />
trip to Europe.<br />
Many of the long-haul travellers<br />
tell us they opted for a river<br />
cruise because they were anxious<br />
of making their own way<br />
around a foreign country.<br />
British holidaymakers probably<br />
feel more comfortable negotiating<br />
French customs and<br />
etiquette because it’s only a<br />
short hop across the Channel,<br />
but one big advantage of river<br />
cruising is it removes a lot of<br />
uncertainty over how much the<br />
trip will cost. On top of the daily<br />
excursions, the price of the<br />
cruise includes three superb<br />
meals a day, plus beer and wine<br />
with dinner and an unlimited<br />
supply of hot drinks and cake.<br />
Pretty much the only time<br />
we have to dip into our spending<br />
money is at the very start<br />
of the holiday, when we spent<br />
a night in Monte Carlo before<br />
boarding the ship. The principality<br />
– on the coast of the sparkling<br />
Mediterranean Sea and<br />
surrounded by France – oozes<br />
wealth, from the yachts and supercars<br />
to the luxury stores and<br />
flashy restaurants. The feeling<br />
that we’ve entered a distant<br />
world only grows when we step<br />
into our hotel, the Fairmont, to<br />
see Mo Farah in the lobby inspecting<br />
a white Aston Martin<br />
DB9. We resist the urge to take<br />
a photo and stroll casually past<br />
the Olympian, trying to look<br />
like this is a perfectly normal<br />
holiday experience for us.<br />
Monte Carlo is great – especially<br />
if you have the bank balance<br />
to fully enjoy it – but the<br />
comfort of our cruise ship and<br />
beauty of Provence is the undoubted<br />
highlight of our trip.<br />
Avalon Poetry II moves so<br />
quietly that when we wake up<br />
after the first overnight sailing,<br />
I suspiciously pull open our<br />
cabin curtains to check we really<br />
have travelled to Arles.<br />
Nicknamed the ‘Little Rome<br />
of Gaul’, the city is packed with<br />
heritage from the time of the<br />
Roman Empire.
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