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Travel Talk
Burgandy and Provence – a River Cruise
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
“Le Café le Soir” the café......As it is today that Van Gogh painted
Grapevines grow in the rocks in this region
Some cheeses for sale at the Marketplace
Old buildings are preserved and still lived in
Eiffel Tower
Arc de TriompheOur stateroom is pleasant, 172 sq. ft. with ample storage for clothes. Our ship the Avalon Scenery has 67 staterooms and 2 junior suites. We will travel from Arles to Chalon along the Rhone River. A guided excursion is included each day of the tour. What a fabulous way to see a part of Europe, with less than 200 passengers on our ship, you are never fighting the crowds, or looking for a place to sit.
Our ship stays in Arles overnight. An after dinner walk made us think the place was near deserted, but the next morning as our guide took us on a walking city tour, we were amazed at the liveliness of the city. Arles was the city where Van Gogh did many of his paintings while he lived there for 2 years.
Avignon is the next stop on the Rhone River. A visit to two wineries in the Chateauxneuf du Pape region with a tour of the vineyards as well as the wine cellars and some wine tasting were enjoyed. Then it was off to an Olive grove for the history of olive oil making and tasting.
Viviers, a very small town of 3500 people revealed a medieval cathedral still in use and we were treated to an organ concert by Valer Y Imbernon, a well known organist in Europe. We then enjoyed an evening visit to a “ganguette” (a summer time outdoor dancing and eating event), joining in with the locals.
On to Tournan for a quick tour of the city and a walk through the marketplace that takes place twice a week with fresh produce, meat and breads bought and sold by locals. Back to the ship where we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon up on the sun deck, watching the beautiful scenery go by. By late afternoon we had reached Vienne, our second port of the day, exploring the sites.
Our last day on the river cruise is spent in Lyon, France’s second largest city. We explore the city on foot and go for one more winery tour along with a stop in a very quaint Tuscan style village called Oingt We sail on to Chalon where we disembark the next day.
A 3 hour coach ride brings us to Paris for a two night stay. Our hotel is located in the Latin quarter located on the Left Bank . Two days is definitely not enough to see Paris, but we manage to go up the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, explore the Louvre, check out the Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the Opera Houses, walk the Champs Elysees, do a short Seine River cruise, a quick city tour by car and we walked for hours upon hours in this great city, seeing as many sites as we can, enjoying cafes as we go. What a treat to be there. August is warm, but the city is not so busy since most Parisians go South for the month of August.
Our trip ends all too soon, but we will remember with fondness the time on the ship, sitting up on the sun deck with a glass of wine as we watch the scenery of vineyards, farm land and more pass by, the fun we had touring and seeing the different towns and wineries and the excitement of being in Paris. We will go back.
If you would like more information about this River Cruise Itinerary or other river cruise itineraries, please contact me. Join our hosted group, May 25, 2010 Vienna to Bucharsest along the Danube River to the Black Sea.
Vellinga\'s Travel / Cruise Holidays is a full service travel agency taking great pride in our relationships with our customers. We love travel and cruising, and it is our aim not just to satisfy our customers, but to exceed all their travel planning needs. We have been providing excellent service for over fifty years to the Chatham Kent area.
