Cathedrals and Cloisters of the South of France (Volume 2) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... III. VILLAGE CATHEDRALS. As a beautifully-wrought sonnet to a great outburst of song, so is the little Rhine, in history, beauty, and picturesqueness, to the river Rhone. From the moment when the Rhone rises in its glacier and trickles down a mountain valley into France, it is so capricious, tumbling, and rushing, that along much of its course boats may not venture, and by a mischievous, half-malicious waywardness that only adds to its charm, it protects the surrounding country from that most terrible of modern European blights, --the tourist. Along its rapid waters one need never fear to hear the sound of high-pitched voices or to see the sign which praises the "fifty-seven varieties." The valley of the Rhone is indeed invaded by the railroad; but between Lyons and Marseilles, the service is so "good" that the ruins of Donzere, Chateauneuf, and Viviers often escape unseen. In the day or two usually spent at Avignon or Aries, the Mistral may arrive, the natives' "good wind," which purifies the land from any miasmic taint; but tourists, fleeing its keen blast, describe the valley as "sandy, dusty, windy," so unpleasant a place that unimaginative persons who have never been there, see in it a French Sahara, with the curious addition of a fairly large, sweet-watered river. There is great beauty on the Rhone; much neatness and cleanliness among those who dwell on its banks, but he who cannot achieve these ends without a tub, will be unhappy there; while those to whom a good salad is spoiled by a dash--or two--of garlic, and to whom cooking in olive oil is "sickening," will often wander hungry in this valley of plenty, and although at night the sheets will always be clean, they will sometimes be unbleached. The Rhone is for the dreamer who loves old legends and histor...