FAIRY TALE PRINCESSE

On the Loire Princesse, the first cruise ship built for France's longest river, SANJEETA BAINS takes a magical tour of the region's finest medieval sights

- SANJEETA BAINS

STANDING behind the captain at the Star Trek-like command deck of the Loire Princesse, screens glowing and controls vibrating, it’s immediately clear this voyage will be far from a languid drift.

The Loire, France’s last wild river, with its shifting sandbanks and unpredictable water level, was deemed unnavigable by modern ships. That was until the MS Loire Princesse launched - the first French vessel engineered for the country’s longest river.

An innovation award-winner, the Princesse, which accommodates up to 96 passengers, is outfitted with a shallow draft and paddle wheels to allow it to manage these testing waters.

‘The ship was my home for a five-day CroisiEurope cruise through the Loire Valley - a Unesco-listed landscape of chateaux, vineyards and medieval towns

Paddle wheel cruising has always appealed to the romantic in me, but as I discovered, Loire river cruising is no simple fairy tale - it's an unpredictable adventure.

Our journey began and ended in Nantes. After a 90-minute flight from Gatwick and a 25-minute drive from the airport, we arrived at the city centre dock at midday, just in time to board.

After dropping our bags, we headed to La Cigale, Nantes’ most celebrated brasserie with gilded mirrors and sculpted ceilings setting the scene for a leisurely lunch. Out on the streets, creperies are on almost every corner.

Nantes, once the capital of Brittany, was separated from the region in 1941 - a controversial decision that, as our guide Pablo noted, still stirs resentment. Yet the city’s Breton soul hasn't faded.

Pablo describes Nantes as “culturally between Paris and Brittany.’ Walking past its elegant shops, the city certainly carries the refinement of France's capital, nowhere more so than in the lavish covered shopping arcade Passage Pommeraye, adorned with examples of neoclassical statues and delicate ironwork.