A fair amount of driving south to the Rhone River saw us arrive at the tiny medieval town of Chateauneuf du Rhone (not to be confused with Chateau Neuf de Pape) in the Drome Department of the Auvergne-Rhone Alpes Region. It is just across the Rhone from Viviers in the neighbouring Ardeches Department and while we were only staying the one night I took time to briefly explore both villages.
The most noticeable feature about Chateauneuf du Rhone appeared to be it’s castle ruins and that was to be my first objective. Unfortunately, I chose a wrong route up to the castle (requiring a bit of a scramble); only to find an easy path at the top which contoured around the back of the hill all the way to my starting point. That was not the most promising start and, honestly, if it is the castle that you are interested in seeing, the short hike up the hill really isn’t worth the trouble. There’s simply not enough left of it to justify the effort.
Having said that, the views down the Rhone Valley weren’t bad and I could see that the neighbouring village of Viviers (and in particular it’s Cathedral of Saint Vincent) was within easy walking distance; probably no more than a couple of miles away over an impressive looking bridge (and, sad as it may sound, I do like bridges). That then became my next objective.
My bad luck that day continued. The weather closed in; the rain got heavier; I got wetter and; the Cathedral of Saint Vincent was closed when I arrived. Not the best introduction to somewhere new. I took shelter until the rain abated and then made my way back to Chateauneuf du Rhone to look for a restaurant or bar where we could eat that evening (pausing briefly to watch a couple of river cruise boats motor under the bridge).
As for the village of Chateauneuf du Rhone, everything in the village seems almost as old as the castle ruins (it really is a medieval village) but, we found a friendly restaurant-bar for the evening that did an outstanding pizza and the accompanying Ardeche Viognier was as good as it gets – so much so, that Vanya promptly purchased 10 litres from a local supermarket.
I’ll end this brief entry (we are, after all, only passing through on our way south) with a few more photos of Chateauneuf du Rhone but, following an admittedly short stay in the village (and in cold, wet weather too), I didn’t see much in the place to make me want to return. From what little I saw in Viviers, I think it is worth revisiting (when the weather is a little kinder). There has to be a reason for the Rhone River cruises to unload their passengers there every day.
