Les Andyles and Château Gaillard

The ship left Rouen at around 2:00am and headed for Les Andelys. At 6:00am Thomas and I woke up and got ready for the day. Then at 7:00am we met Deanne and Dave in the dining room for breakfast. While we were eating we arrived and docked in Les Andelys (sometime around 8:00am). Once we finished eating we went back to the cabin grabbed our things, picked up our cards at the desk and then left the ship to meet our guide for a tour of Château Gaillard.

Our tour started at 9:00am. The guide explained we had to walk uphill to the Château but that we would take it slow. As we headed up the road our guide gave us some history of both Les Andelys and Château Gaillard. It really didn't take us very long to reach the top of the hill. The views from the top of the hill were incredible. I ended up taking quite a few pictures. The tour guide gave us some incredible history of the Château and of Richard the Lionheart. This was incredibly fascinating and a highlight of our cruise. The Château is in ruins but is still enchanting and beautiful. We only toured the outside of the building but we did have an opportunity to go inside for 3.20€, which I didn't feel like paying. So once the tour guide was done we took a little time and enjoyed the views some more. I think we spent about an hour and a half up on the hill and then we headed back to town.

Now let me explain something, Les Andelys is actually two different towns - Le Petit Andely and Le Grand Andely. Le Petit Andely is situated at the base of the hill from Château Gaillard. And Le Grand Andely is about two kilometers down Avenue de la République.

Entrance to Le Petit Andely Église Saint-Sauveur

We decided to spend some time in Le Petit Andely and not walk up to Le Grand Andely. We visited Église Saint-Sauveur du Petit-Andely and did some window shopping. Thomas and Dave decided to head back to the ship after we left the church and Deanne and I stayed in town for about an hour more. As we approached the ship Dave and Thomas waved at us from the Sun Deck. Deanne and I headed to our cabins to put our stuff away and then we went and met Thomas and Dave. We talked for about 40 minutes and then the four of us headed down to the dining room for lunch. After lunch Thomas and I went to our cabin to relax for a bit. We read, I edited photos and we just enjoyed the view as we sailed along the Seine toward Mantes-la-Jolie. [As a note - the ship left Les Andelys and headed for Mantes-la-Jolie at around 1:00pm.] At 2:00pm I went to the lounge to hear about the disembarkation details. After this talk they had a French teatime. Thomas, Deanne and Dave joined me for the tea. Around 4:30pm we all returned to our cabins and rested for a while. Then at 6:15pm we went back to the lounge for the Captain's Cocktail Party. So we had champagne and visited with each other and some of the people we met while on the cruise. While at the cocktail party the ship docked in Mantes-la-Jolie. At 6:45pm we had the daily briefing and then at 7:00pm we headed to the dining room for dinner. After dinner we returned to the cabin very tired and happy - it was a great day. It is now midnight and it is time to get to sleep. We have one more day in France and it will be a long one.