Wednesday, August 31st: Our second day, the first full day and our one sea day. Up and groggy at 7:00 AM. Thankfully the cabin steward called before arriving with our breakfast so we at least had covered up. The coffee is excellent and they serve Tiptree jam. Life doesn’t get much better. We have a balcony on deck 7 overlooking the bow. This is pretty cool. We asked the ship to send someone to show us how …
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ABOARD AMADOLCE-Last day blues. Though I’m going off to Paris tomorrow morning, I’m always a bit sad to leave my home-away-from home after cruises like this, when the weather (and the scenery) has been simply gorgeous on both the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. I’ve seen so many stately chateaux and verdant vineyards, enjoyed tasting distinguished wines and savoring the exceptional food that came out of the ship’s kitchen. A bonus for me has been the pleasure of …
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ABOARD AMADOLCE-Two perfect days of tasting wine and delicious food. On Tuesday, we had our usual wine lecture and tasting from our resident expert, Christopher Silva of the St. Francis winery in Sonoma. This time it was Cabernet Sauvignon, about which I knew next to nothing. And now I know a few things that might help me in my local wine shop. My afternoon tour took me to picture-perfect Saint-Emilion where I snapped lots of pictures of …
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ABOARD AMADOLCE-The AmaDolce visited two places: first, Blaye, a quaint little town with a 17th century citadel listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In the afternoon, the ship would dock in Bourg-en-Gironde, built during Roman times and still living inside medieval walls. So in the morning, I strolled the streets of Blaye and found the place pretty quiet. It was a Monday, in August, and many places, except for the fabulous and very fragrant bakeries., were …
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ABOARD AMADOLCE-Morning brought the AmaDolce to the Gironde estuary and the town of Pauillac, the starting point for my tour of the world-famous region of Medoc. The most exciting part of the day for me would be the opportunity to actually see the places that belonged to the names I had only seen previously on fabulous (and usually expensive) bottles of wine: Latour, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Saint-Estephe, Saint-Julien, etc. I snapped photos of some …
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ABOARD AMADOLCE-This is the first full day on my “Taste of Bordeaux” cruise aboard AmaWaterways’ AmaDolce, taking me on the Garonne and Dordogne rivers to some of the greatest wine regions of France—and the world. There would be wine lectures and seminars led by Christopher Silva, CEO of the St. Francis Winery in Sonoma, California. And lots of tastings, of course. Though the AmaDolce is not a new ship, this is a brand new itinerary, in response, …
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When your riverboat cruises past road signs that remind you of high-priced bottles in a fancy wine store, you know you are in France. A week on the 190-passenger Viking Forseti, for instance, begins and ends in Bordeaux, a city in the center of one of the world’s great grape-growing regions. On a voyage last spring, the Forseti floated by Margaux and vineyard-laden fields of villages with names that end in Medoc. One night, we tied up …
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ABOARD THE VIKING FORSETI — We are docked outside of the Place de la Bourse, a massive public square overlooking the Garonne River. The stunning Bordeaux Palais De La Bourse, which reminds me somewhat of Versailles, dominates the skyline. The people of Bordeaux are not looking at the historical monuments, though. They are more captivated by us, the Viking Forseti, as we make the inaugural cruise of the new Chateaux, Rivers and Wine itinerary. From …
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