France: Drink in fairytale views of the Rhone-Alps on a river cruise

It's a little nippy on the Riverview Terrace at the front of the ship but a few hardy souls brave the weather and, generous glasses of the local burgundy wine at hand, settle in to watch the countryside slide softly by.

A gentle, watery world is this, fringed with cycle paths and pollarded plane trees, their branches knotted like arthritic hands. On long stretches the gnarled planes are replaced by stately poplars.

Peppered among these are towns and villages and chateaux and churches and cathedrals, all ancient and cobblestoned and perfectly placed, it seems, among the gold and green and russet of autumn.

It's like floating through a fairytale; inside that majestic chateau, for sure, is a sleeping beauty while the castle-like ruins on the hill far off, surrounded by vineyards, surely once upon a time watched a beast woo a beauty. Tall round towers, topped with Gothic spires, are watched closely in case a rope of golden hair should appear suddenly.

Tournus, when it arrives, arrives in darkness, just a mysterious murky lump alongside the river, topped with what looks like a delicately lit castle but which turns out, on closer inspection the next day, to be the Abbey of St Philibert, a striking Romanesque pile on a hill within the town.

We, meanwhile, are gathered in the lounge going through the ship's mandatory safety demonstration and briefing and, afterwards, a welcome video which helpfully points out to much laughter that the bar opens every day at ... 6am. It's my understanding that nobody took advantage of this facility but I wouldn't swear to it.

The next day unfolds in a manner which is to become very familiar. Essentially either the morning or the afternoon is taken up with a guided tour to somewhere nearby – mostly by coach – and the rest of the day can be spent at leisure.

In the morning we visit Cormatin Castle, 20 kilometres to the west. It's a 30-minute journey which takes us through ochre-roofed villages of grey stone covered in red, orange and yellow creepers through which peek jaunty, brightly coloured shutters.

And then it's on through gently undulating fields and up and over into a valley filled either with the serried ranks of vines or by the local Charolais cattle, a muscled, fluffy white breed whose bulls have been known to grow up to 1100 kilograms.

This, says our guide, is the "entrance door to the south of France", where the architecture starts to echo the start of the warmer weather – although, this being October, we have to take her word for it. She points out 13th century castles, 14th century chateaux, ancient dovecotes and points out that the houses on the other side of the valley have fewer chimneys and more Mediterranean roofs.

Cormatin Castle is haughtily handsome in the way only French chateaux can be – and it comes complete with a moat, a budgerigar-cage folly in the garden, herb garden and a grand history of decay, neglect and rescue.

This is followed by a visit to Le Cos-Piguet, a nearby organic truffle farm, where Olivier Devevre and his wife, Estelle, entertain us with wine and truffle tastings as well as a masterclass in truffle hunting from their dog, 10-year-old Chinook.

In a miracle that's repeated again and again in the coming days the guides and drivers manage to herd us all back to the ship in time for lunch, after which we head out into town on our own to check out the town and the 12th century church above it.

After Tournus we make for Macon, a small town in the southernmost Burgundy region, and a choice of three tours: to the Bresse ethnographic museum and farm; a Beaujolais tasting; or a trip to Cluny Abbey which was mostly destroyed in the French Revolution but which, in its day (1088-1130), was the biggest church in the world and owned 20 per cent of what is now modern France.

After Macon we arrive in Lyon where we eschew all the possible tours (silk painting, cooking demo at the Institute Paul Bocuse or a visit to medieval Perouges) and take a couple of the ship's fleet of electric bikes out for a run in this most exciting of cities.

By this time – and we are about to leave the Saone for the Rhone - we have been on the ship for just five days and, with a week left, it becomes clear that leaving might be a problem – possibly because my burgeoning cheese belly won't fit through the cabin door.

At Roman history-strewn Vienne we hike to a hill above the city and then stroll around the Saturday market salivating at the smells of saucisson, cheese and roasting chickens; in Tournus it's the Valrhona House of Chocolate; at Chateauneuf du Pape we get a masterclass in wine tasting; and in the stunning city of Avignon – the seat of the papacy for more than 60 years in the early 14th century – the highlight is dinner in a majestic hall in the Papal palace itself, complete with string quartet.

Also in Avignon we spend a morning poking around Les Halles, the local covered market, with the ship's head chef Florin Florea, who indulges in his passion for fresh local ingredients before settling everyone down to a mid-morning snack of oysters and champagne.

From Avignon we set out for the seaside town of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the capital of the Camargue region, where we marvel at the flamingoes in the Parc Ornithologique de Pont de Gau before settling down to a traditional Camargue cowboy lunch (think meat, meat and more meat).

Our final stop is Tarascon, from where we strike out for Arles, a magnificent city which in 123BC became one of the Roman Empire's first conquests in what was Gaul. The superb Roman amphitheatre is marvellously preserved and still in use today for concerts and the like. "I saw Sting play here," confesses our guide.

To be perfectly honest, by this time we – and many of the other passengers – are suffering a little from Picturesque Medieval Building Overdose Syndrome. People who couldn't take their eyes off the landscape at the start of the trip now have their heads in books as yet another striking 14th century architectural jewel slides past.

This is possibly why the staff of the Scenic Emerald seem to underplay the castle at Tarascon and why so few of the passengers bother to visit.

This is a mistake as the castle is nothing short of breathtaking. Started in 1401 on the site of an earlier castle, the building was finished in 1449. It was turned into a military prison in the 17th century and acquired by the state in 1932.

Sitting stoutly right on the banks of the Rhone it is unexpectedly well preserved and its massive, 48-metre-high silhouette – a classical arrangement with round towers on each corner - takes me back to my fairytale musings at the start of the trip. It is said to be one of the finest medieval castles in France and for a mere €6 (you get a discount for being a Scenic Emerald passenger) you get to wander around the amazingly elegant and beautifully preserved interior.

Take time, if you go, to go up to the roof, which has magnificent 360-degree views across this seductive countryside.

It is, quite simply, a fairytale ending.

Keith Austin travelled courtesy of Scenic Tours.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

scenictours.com.au.

CRUISING THERE

The 13 Day South of France River Cruise starts at $7395 per person with bookings available from next March. Scenic Tours has a number of flight offers currently available. See the website for more details.