We visit the Ancient City of Viennes

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The Roman presence is everywhere along the valley of the Rhone and one of the major Roman centres is the city of Viennes which was established in the time of Julius Caesar on the site of the capital city of the tribe of the Allobroges. There was no guide arranged, so we could sleep in and have a leisurely start. First we walked around an attractive park then we went round the Gardens of Cybele, which is the site of a large Roman villa, with a lot of the walls remaining for a couple of feet so one could see the layout and also the sophisticated drainage.

We then walked to the large and very well preserved amphitheatre, which is built into the side of a steep hill. Some restoration has been done and every year a large jazz festival is held there. The seating is very steep, and the citizenry must have been pretty fit to climb up to the top, which is where the poor people sat, furthest from the stage. We then climbed up a very steep street to the top from where we had a magnificent view over the town, river and surrounding countryside. It was easier walking down than up, and we made our way through narrow and picturesque streets to the temple of Augustus and Livia, which is also amazingly preserved, with all its columns upright and in place instead of lying about as is usually the case with roman remains. We could not go inside however as bit is closed to the public. We had another leisurely afternoon on board cruising to Tournon. Unfortunately we didn’t see anything of Tournon as we would have had to go on shore in the evening, as the boat left first thing the next morning for the town of Le Pouzin, the jumping off point for the Ardeche Gorges.

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