Day
1 - Sunday: Avignon. Late
afternoon transfer from the TGV station or a specified local hotel to the barge
moored just outside the Avignon ramparts. Take time to settle in and enjoy a champagne
welcome. Your first gourmet dinner on board will give you a taste of the great
cuisine and wines to be served during your cruise.
Day
2 - Monday: Avignon to Villeneuve lès Avignon.
Learn the secrets of French chefs during a private hands-on cooking class at the
4-star Hotel-Restaurant La Mirande in Avignon. Then on to Châteauneuf-du-Pape,
where you'll have a guided visit followed by a tasting. Back to the barge and
cruise to Villeneuve lès Avignon. Dinner on board the barge.
Day
3 - Tuesday: Villeneuve lès Avignon to Vallabrègues. This
morning, visit the imposing Roman aqueduct “Le Pont du Gard” and learn
about ancient building methods in its nearby interactive museum. Return to the
barge and cruise to Vallabrègues, a quiet and charming little port, where
you can take a walk or a bike ride or play pétanque (like bocce ball) under
the plane trees. Dinner on board the barge.
Day
4 - Wednesday: Vallabrègues to Arles.
Today, you have an appointment with the Chef Pascal Volle at the famous Provencal
market in Saint Rémy. With your baskets full of sweet-smelling and colorful
ingredients, on to the Domaine de Valmouriane for the second cooking class of
your cruise. Back to the barge, sail through the huge 36-foot high lock at Beaucaire
and on down to Arles, the open-air Museum of Provence. Dinner on board the barge.
Day
5 - Thursday: Arles to Gallician.
Our last cooking class will take place among the olive trees at Château
Virant. There, the owners, the Cheylan family and Chef Eric Sapet (former Chef
at La Tour d’Argent, the famous 3-star Michelin guide restaurant in Paris)
will reveal the secrets of olives and olive oil in Provencal cuisine.. Afterwards
enjoy an impressive cruise as the barge heads for the Camargue via the Rhône
River, the Petit Rhône and the Canal du Rhône à Sète,
ending at the quiet village of Gallician. Dinner on board the barge.
Day
6 - Friday: Gallician to Aigues Mortes.
Visit a manade, a typical Camargue ranch, where gardians (the local version of
Wild West cowboys), show us how they tend the herds of bulls on their superb white
horses. Then, enjoy a lazy cruise on the canal to your final destination: Aigues-Mortes,
the 14th-century walled city from which St Louis set sail on his Holy Crusades.
Farewell dinner on board the barge.
Day
7 - Saturday: Aigues Mortes to Nîmes.
After breakfast on the barge, departure to the pre-arranged transfer point.
This
itinerary is subject to change without notice and may be adapted to special requests
for charters.
Highlights
- 3
cooking classes
- Wine
tasting in Chateauneuf-du-Pape
- Visit
of Pont du Gard (a Roman aqueduct)
- Market
in St Remy
- Visit
a manade (a cattle ranch)
For
additional details and registration, see the main Provence
- Camargue II cruise description.
For
a land-only tour (no barging), please see the wine
tours on our custom vacation website.
