Cruising the rivers of Burgundy

Having just completed my certification in wine, I was very excited to visit some of the top wine regions in France. Burgundy for it's Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs, Rhone for it's Syrah and Provence for famed rose's. What I came to learn is that cruising along the Saône & the Rhone rivers is about so much more then wine. 

Traveling in October just coming off of a year and half pandemic after France just reopened to travelers, we did not know what to expect. Being prepared for anything and everything, we learned that travel was much easier then we expected, it felt very normal traveling again and locations were uncrowded. 

We spent the first couple of days in Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region. We fell in love with Dijon. The centre-ville of Dijon is a quaint University town with cobble stoned streets and half-timbered houses. The former palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, today are government offices and feature a museum. A highlight was climbing the 316 circular steps of the former palace's Phillipe le bon tower for amazing Birdseye views of Dijon and the local area.  Dijon's charms did not disappoint from the historic sites to the gastronomy and of course the local Dijon mustard. 

From Dijon a wine tour of the Burgundy Cote d'Or was a must on our itinerary. The day started in the northern Cote de Beune wine appellations touring the vineyards that were recently harvested. Being fall, the vines were gorgeous with varying colors of reds and oranges. We sampled local wines in the wine caves of Vougeot, the oldest wine appellation in Burgundy before heading to the capital of the region Beune. 

We spent a couple hours in Beune which is filled with wine taverns and cafes enjoying a local lunch of Croque Madame and escargot with some local vins before our second tasting at a local negociant where we sampled various wines from the region. Our wine experience was fantastic and highly recommended. 

After fully immersing in Dijon it was time to board our AmaWaterways river cruise in Chalon-sur-Saône. We spent the rest of embarkation day exploring the ship and the local town on a self-guided tour provided by the local tourism office near the ship quai. 

River cruising was definitely the way to go for exploring this region. A expanse itinerary, we traveled 250 miles over 7 days. Unpacking once and knowing at the end of the day there were friendly faces and fabulous locally inspired meals waiting for us made the entire week seamless. 

The highlights of our river cruise were;

- visiting a fabulous almost storybook medieval Château de Couches in the Chalonnaise region of Burgundy. 

- historic villages with fortresses that were former homes of the Bourgogne Dukes

- fabulous excursions to beautiful religious sites including cathedrals, Cluny Abbey in the southern Burgundy region and the Papal Palace in Avignon region of Provence.

- fabulous city visits in Lyon and beautiful and quaint winery villages in Oignt a small picturesque commune overlooking the famed Beaujolais wine region. 

- hiking through the former Roman antiquities in the towns of Vienne, Avignon and Arles and Orange in the Provence region. 

- cycling along the breathtaking Saône river.

- sampling the fabulous gastronomy served onboard our ship and while visiting the various towns sampling local cheeses in Burgundy, meats in the Rhone region and pralines in Lyon.

-  last but not least, the wines. Discovering some fantastic wines and not just the typical wines of the regions. We really immersed into some of the local favorites with structured wine tasting that were part of our itinerary, a side trip we arranged to Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the fabulous wines that were served with our meals on board. 

We were sad when it was time to leave the ship. We had met some fantastic people on board (passengers and staff). The memories we made and the locations we visited it was truly a fantastic experience. 

We wrapped up our time in southern France spending a couple of nights in Aix-en-Provence. Stopping at the medieval village carved into the rocks of a mountain. Les Baux-en-Provence was surrounded by olive trees and local Grenache vineyards. Aix was the perfect ending to our travel story. Exploring for hours the Grand Market, the local shops, cafes and taverns and Place des Cardeurs in the vieux city section. Good to know is that the city of Aix really comes to life after dark. 

I truly loved this experience and this itinerary. I would not have changed anything about our experience, However, if I were to do this again, I would start the cruise in Arles. Especially in fall, traveling north on the Rhone and onto the Saône, when the beauty from the colors and landscapes get more and more beautiful. 

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