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Seine & Rhone River Cruise Holidays
Seine & Rhone River Cruises
From Paris to the Channel
The Romans made a goddess of the Seine, Sequana, and built a temple to her at its source. The name seems to have been bestowed by Caesar himself, using a transcription of the Celtic word squan, meaning snakelike—an appropriate description for the most sinuous of France's great rivers.
This magnificent waterway is one of the principal routes into the centre of the country. On an island at its very heart, the Parisii—Celtic fishermen of the 3rd century BC—laid the foundations of what was to become Lutèce, the capital city of the Frankish kingdom, now Paris. As time went on, towns and castles were built along its banks, making the Seine valley the cradle of Gothic France. Napoleon summed up the fundamental role of the waterway when he declared: "Le Havre, Rouen and Paris are no more than a single town of which the Seine is the high street".
With a length of 776 km (482 miles), the Seine is one of the shortest of continental Europe's navigable waterways. The fundamental pattern of its flow dates back to the tertiary era and follows the drainage channels of ancient dried-out sea beds, tracing their many twists and turns. Its source is on the Langres plateau, northeast of Bourgogne, at an altitude of 471 m (1545 ft). At first just a narrow brook, the Seine widens downstream of Troyes after being joined by the Aube, its biggest tributary. From this point it becomes navigable by barge. At the confluence with the Yonne, the Seine is just 47 m (154 ft) above sea level—and only 26 m (85 ft) when it reaches Paris, after receiving the waters of the Marne. From the capital, the gentle decline in the level of the Seine gives birth to a broad river of majestic flow and absolute calmness. The Lower Seine is now fully navigable. Between wooded banks and chalk cliffs, through a superb valley whose subtle inflections of light inspired the great Impressionist painters and poets, huge barges negotiate two series of bends. Their serpentine contortions are especially pronounced, so much so that at 180 km (111 miles) from the English Channel as the crow flies, the river still has to cover double this distance, passing Rouen and receiving en route the waters of the Epte, the Andelle, the Eure and finally the Risle. Journey's end is reached at Tancarville, where it runs into the estuary and meets the sea.
Seine & Rhone River Cruises - Further Information
Connections - Elegant River Cruises
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