The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was walk over to the sliding glass doors, pull the curtains back, and take a look outside. “We’re moving!” I couldn’t feel anything that gave away the ship’s motion, but the lush greenery on the banks of the Seine was passing by at a pretty good clip. We were on our way to Les Andelys.
Sometime last night, our ship left its mooring in Paris to start us on a river cruise through Normandy. Now we must be somewhere on the Seine between Paris and the little town of Les Andelys now. I got cleaned up and went up to the top deck to get a better look. From there, I could see up and down the river while the crisp morning air in my face helped wake me up the rest of the way.
There’s Something about Being on a River
There’s something special about being on a boat on a river. I can see how some people get hooked and make it their life’s work. It’s probably easier for a pampered passenger like me to appreciate than a guy who’s hard at work, though, eh?
When most people think of the Seine, images of the Pont Neuf and other picturesque Parisian bridges are probably all that come to mind. But the Seine goes way beyond Paris. It starts in Burgundy, in eastern France, flows down through Paris, then through Normandy, finally emptying into the Atlantic ocean at Le Havre. It’s a 480-mile trip.
The Seine has been used to transport goods to and from England and beyond for hundreds of years, but navigating the river was dicey back in the day. In the 1800’s, a series of locks were installed to manage water levels. Today, sea-going vessels can come up the Seine as far as Rouen. Smaller, (but still big by my standards), ships can go all the way to Paris and beyond.
We went to the dining room for breakfast, and munched on all kinds of breakfasty things as we watched the lush foliage go by. It’s a great way to have breakfast. By the time we had finished, we were approaching our first cruise destination – the town of Les Andelys.
Les Andelys Back in the Day
Later that morning, we boarded a bus and took the short ride into town. We fell in with one of the groups of 20-or-so people who were assigned to a guide. Like many of the guides on these excursions, our guy was a local and a history buff.
If you know a little French, you probably noticed the “Les,” which implies that there’s more than one “Andely” here. There used to be. They were two separate towns – Big Andely and Little Andely. The two towns were officially joined hundreds of years ago, but in some ways, they’re still not completely unified.
You won’t find this in the guide books, (at least I never ran across it), but there are two main groups of folks in Les Andelys – people of English descent and people of French descent. It’d probably be more accurate to say, “people who consider themselves of English descent and people who consider themselves to be of French descent.” And even that would probably be wrong. See… it’s complicated.
The Romans Come to Town
Let’s take a few steps back. Keep this to yourself, but this place, Normandy, has a checkered past. Throughout history, people all over the world have been warring against each other. If we made a list of the places where the most fighting has been done, Normandy would be pretty high on the list.
Before the Romans arrived in the 5th century, various tribes inhabited the area. (There were about ten of them). They were no match for the Roman army, so it wasn’t too long before they were all “Romans.”
Judging by the ruins left behind, times were probably relatively good. It was a relatively peaceful period, because no one messed with the Romans. But after the fall of Rome, the place was up for grabs.
Eventually, people called the Franks became the dominant group in the area. That is, except for when the Vikings came to town. And in the 9th century, the Vikings came to town a lot. In summertime back in those days, Viking boats would make their way from the English Channel up the Seine. You didn’t want to be hanging around when they showed up.
Enter the Vikings
It wasn’t that the Vikings were particularly bad. Those were pretty rough times for anyone on the losing side of a skirmish. But the Vikings were tough. And as far as I can tell, when the Vikings and the Franks tangled, the smart money was usually on the Vikings.
Over the years, Vikings made their way further and further up the Seine. In 841, they took the city of Rouen, which was a major city even way back then. In the year, 911, they made their way to the outskirts of Paris, but the Franks beat them back. Then the Vikings lost a battle in nearby Chartres. That defeat may have put the Viking leader, Rollo, in the mood to negotiate. And the Frankish king, Charles the Simple, had a deal for him.
Rollo could have what is now upper Normandy, and in exchange, he would agree to be baptized and to protect Paris from further attacks. Rollo agreed to the deal, and Paris was no longer at risk of Viking attacks.
Vikings were also known as “Norsemen” or “Normans,” so the area would come to be called the Duchy of Normandy. They no longer threatened Paris, but there wouldn’t be peace in the Seine Valley. Not even close.
To be continued…
