We left Paris as we ate our first dinner on board and cruised along the Seine, going through several locks. It was pleasant to sit on the sun deck for a while in the evening and when we awoke, we could see the white cliffs of Normandy as we docked in Les Andelys on Monday morning. I believe we were about 50 miles from Paris. I had not realized it, but the Seine is not a straight river, it snakes back and forth a lot between Paris and the Normandy coast.
Les Andelys is a quaint medieval town with the remains of Richard Lionheart's castle, Chateau Gaillard, looming on a promontory above. There is also a church in the village that dates to 1199, the year that Gaillard was completed.
Our outing for the morning was a walk up to the castle remains with a wonderful guide who was able to recreate the era of Richard Lionheart and the knights of the crusades and help us imagine what the castle looked like back then. He was also very knowledgeable about the geology, architecture, and just about any other topic that people had questions about. He also took us through the historic church in the village.
This is a view looking down toward the river from the castle. Notice our boat docked on the bank to the right. You can also see the white chalk cliffs that are characteristic of this region.
We had a fair amount of free time to explore and we even took the bikes out for a little ride before it was time to set sail again.
This is another nice view of the castle ruins.
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