Exploring the Smaller Side of France with Viking

I may have never worn a corset, but as I stood in Éric Bergère’s tiny atelier in Arles, France, gasping slightly as he tightened the drawstring on a dress I was trying on, I understood the idea.

I had passed the shop earlier that morning on a walking tour of Arles organized by the crew of the Viking Buri, the ship taking me on a journey along the Rhône River. My plan had been to stop by on my way to the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, where I planned to spend the afternoon gazing at paintings and drawings Van Gogh had created right here in Arles.

That all changed when I walked into the shop, where I spent at least an hour in the dressing room, trying on dresses, skirts and blouses that arrived in a steady stream through the curtain. Between my embarrassingly bad French and Bergère’s nearly nonexistent English, I learned that he had started his career as an artistic director at Hermès before moving on to Lanvin and other design houses. Eventually, he launched his own brand, Dou Bochi, and opened this shop. I was captivated by his story and the clothing, which he painstakingly designed without buttons or zippers (hence the drawstring) and had sewn in the South of France.

By the time I made my decision and purchased the dress (which I wore to dinner that night), it was so late that I had to cut my time short with Vincent. I longed to linger, but I couldn’t be late getting back to the cruise port, where my ship, the Viking Buri, would be casting off soon. But I wasn’t disappointed. My time with Bergère was the kind of experience I crave when I travel—unscripted and authentic.

Cruise brochures will tell you that hopping aboard a ship offers the advantage of unpacking once and seeing a variety of locales. That’s true, but there’s more to it: River cruises take me to places I never would have discovered on my own. Even better, at every port, Viking made it easy for me to immerse myself in the locale, either on my own or as part of a group.

In Tournon-sur-Rhône, for instance, I joined a guided hike through the vineyards of Hermitage, which produces some of the best Syrah in the world. Though any visitor to France can probably find a vineyard open to hikers, with Viking, all I had to do was show up—no figuring out where to go, waiting for an Uber or worrying that a rental car would be broken into. And since we had a guide, we had a double bonus: Not only was there no chance of wandering off the trail, but we also learned a lot about the region.

I wasn’t surprised that we ended the hike with a tasting of several local wines, but what really impressed me was the lack of any mechanism to make a purchase. If we liked the wines well enough to buy them, we could find them at a nearby shop.

Two days later, the tiny village of Viviers—population 3,600—charmed us with its beautifully preserved fifth-century streets, centuries-old mansions decorated with elaborate carvings, and a hilltop park that looked out over the valley. As we climbed the steps to Saint-Vincent’s Cathedral, our guide explained that although the 12th-century structure is the smallest cathedral in France, it is home to a grand organ built by John Abbey, an English craftsman known for crafting or rebuilding organs in some of France’s grandest places of worship, including cathedrals in Reims and Versailles and Paris’ Saint-Eustache Church. Listening to an impromptu organ recital as I gazed at the cathedral’s stained-glass windows, I reminded myself that I never would have discovered this lovely town on my own.

In Avignon, I should have taken the offered excursion to the Pont du Gard, a remarkably preserved first-century Roman aqueduct that can be challenging for visitors to reach. As with the vineyard hike, everything was handled, from transport to the site—it’s located about 30 minutes outside of town—to a guided exploration. Instead, I opted for a run that took me around the medieval ramparts and into the warren of streets that comprises the walled city. That easy access to the port is another great advantage of river cruising—if I didn’t feel like going on an excursion, there was always a city or village within walking distance to explore.

There are dozens of reasons to book a Viking river cruise. If you’ve never been to Europe or are nervous about planning a trip, Viking has you covered from the moment you arrive at the airport in your home city until you return. The guides are well-informed, the food delicious, and the cabins comfortable. There are wonderfully unexpected extras, too, like impromptu wine tastings, a special menu addition because the chef saw something irresistible at the market, and unannounced stops during excursions, such as our trip through the Valrhona chocolate factory after the vineyard hike.

For me, though, the best reason of all is the opportunity to wander through tiny villages and mid-sized cities that I would not have had the confidence to find on my own.