Month: October 2025

Had a busy day today, but the weather was a bit rainy. Our first adventure was a trip to the ruins of Cluny Abbey. The ride to the abbey would have be truly spectacular if it were not raining. The vineyards were a beautiful golden color and the rain only muted this a little. We also drove past the fortress at Berze-le-Chatel. A remarkable fort perched high on a hill.

Burgundy Vineyards in fall

Fortress

When we got to Cluny, it was still raining, so it was umbrellas and rain jackets. Fortunately much of the tour was inside, but we still got a little wet. The most interesting thing was the monks built a huge church and complex in the middle of nowhere. Before the church itself was partially destroyed after the French Revolution, the church was the biggest in the world. The French used the site as a stone quarry and it took about 40 years to destroy much of the church. Fortunately, much of the transept, the top of the cross in most classic churches, was intact.

Cluny Tower and partial transept

Walking in the rain touring Cluny

Inside Cluny

One of the Cluny outbuildings

In the afternoon, we went to taste some Burgundy wine. First, burgundy wines are all either chardonnay or pinot noir. But based on where the grapes are grown, the wines made from the “same” grapes can taste very differently. We tasted three whites and one red. All were very good, but we liked the Pouilly-Fuisse best.

Wine chateau

Cellar

Us at the Chateau

Vineyards at the Chateau

After the wine tasting, we drove by the landmark Solutre-Pouilly. This is a formation that many people climb. Fortunately the rain stopped and we got out and took pictures.

Solutre-Pouilly

Then drove back to the ship through more beautiful wine fields. This was a busy day and tomorrow will be less busy.

The decision speed up and go directly to Trevoux turned out to be good one. We had just about 6 inches of clearance as we sailed under the low bridges.

Sailing on the Saone River toward Trevoux

This afternoon we left Trevoux to tour Vieux Lyon on a tasting tour. Vieux Lyon is the largest intact Renaissance district in the world. It has also be designated as a UNESCO site. The district has narrow streets and tall buildings as the citizens had to maximize the space between the Saone River and the hills next to the river.

Narrow street in the Vieux Lyon

Next we stopped by a Patisserie to buy a Brioche bread baked with red almond pralines. Very tasty!

Guide buying our first tasting treat

We then went through some of the passages that are unique to this district and into a courtyard to see one of the towers constructed to minimize space. The towers have a circular stairway that connects galleries to the individual units.

Stairway Tower

We then made our way to the next tasting spot. There were a selection of local sausages and cheese along with the lovely red pralines and some wonderful local red wine.

Second tasting

After having a snack, we walked by the oldest house in Vieux Lyon and then to the Gadagne House. The indoor courtyard at the Gadagne House was amazing.

Oldest house in Vieux Lyon

Courtyard at the Gadagne House

We then had a few minutes to buy a few souvenirs before getting on the bus to go back to the ship. Tomorrow we visit Cluny Abbey and do a Burgundy wine tasting.

We docked in the small village of Viviers on the Rhone. Our tour today was to a truffle farm. The ride out to the truffle farm through the countryside was very pretty. The first view was the Cathedral Saint Vincent perched high on the hill over looking Viviers. Also we learned the Viviers was not bombed by the Allies because the bridge over the Rhone had been blown up by the French Resistance a week before the bombing campaign to blow up all the bridges across the Rhone.

Viviers Cathedral

While at the truffle farm we learned about the different types of truffles, mostly based on the time of year they are found, as well as how truffle trees are cultivated. The farmer inoculates new oak tree saplings with truffle spores. It takes ten years for a truffle tree grove to mature to produce enough truffles to be economically viable. In the meantime, they plant rows of lavender between the trees to have a crop while waiting for the trees to mature. They also train dogs to locate the truffles which grow underground.

Truffle dogs in the truffle grove

Linda holding an Autumn Truffle

Truffle farmer holding found truffles

Truffle Farmhouse

View from the farm

Left the farm and went back to the ship. That afternoon, we learned that because the Saone River was rising, we were going to miss our next stop at Vienne and sail directly to Trevoux, a port not on our original itinerary north of Lyon.

Entering a lock

We are cruising as quickly as a we can northward. We will pass the low bridges in the early morning tomorrow.

After a night onboard the AmaCello, we did a walking tour of Arles. This city was an important city in Roman France. We toured around an number of locations that were important to Van Gough and also the Romans. One of the most amazing things was the Roman arena. Because the arena was converted to housing during the middle ages, this protected the arena structure from being used as a source of building material like other ancient structures. Now the arena is used for a variety of events including bull fights.

Roman Arena in Arles

Interior of the Arles Roman Arena

Arles has a variety of architecture including the Town Hall plaza, a Provencal Bistro and a decorative tower.

Arles Bistro

Arles Tower

Obelisk in Arles Town Hall Plaza

After the walking tour we decided to remain onboard as the AmaCello left Arles for Avignon. We had a very relaxing afternoon as we made our way north toward Avignon. After a wonderful dinner we left for Viviers. As we were leaving Avignon, we sailed past the famous Avignon Bridge. Many of the Avignon monuments were also lit and visible from the river.

Avignon Bridge at night

Papal Palace and other monuments in Avignon

Looking forward to our tour tomorrow, I will post more then.

Left Nice early to drive to Arles where we will board the ship. First we toured Aix-en-Provence, an old city. It was raining when we got to Aix, so it was difficult to take pictures as the cobblestones were slippery. We toured through the Cathedral Saint Savior. The cathedral was built over many years so it is a composite of many different architectural styles.

Aix Cathedral

After touring the cathedral we went to the Town Hall Square where we had time on our own to have lunch and shop.

Town Hall Tower

We had lunch in an Irish Pub where we had wonderful salads and great local wine. After lunch we walked around and did a little shopping. We found a great chocolate shop and an organic tea shop.

Got back on the bus and finally got to Arles and boarded the ship. The ship is very nice and we had wine at the welcome reception and decided to have dinner with a couple we met on the pre-tour. At dinner we were joined by 2 ladies we also met on the pre-tour. This looks like it will be a wonderful week.

Had a long day of touring today. It was a bus tour to Monaco via the mountain village of Eze. The drive to Eze was along the Middle Cliff Road to Monaco and the views were wonderful. There were scattered showers in the morning and it made the climb to Eze a little more difficult as the cobblestones were a bit slippery in the rain. Our tour guide pushed on to a higher view in Eze but we went back to a coffee shop and had cappuccinos. This turned out to be a great choice as we heard from those who pressed on with the tour that the ground got even slipperier.

View at Villefranche-Sur-Mer

Coffee Shop in Eze

View from Eze

Got back on the bus and continued to Monaco. We toured the gardens where there is a statue of Princess Grace and went through the Old City to the Prince’s Palace. The view of the harbor from the Palace area was amazing and you could see much of the circuit of the Grand Prix

Princess Grace Statue

Monaco Harbor

We then drove to the district of Monte Carlo where the famous Casino is located. While a few people from our group went in and gambled, we just went into the lobby for a photo opp.

Linda in the Lobby of the Casino.

We went from the casino to the famous Cafe-de-Paris and had coffee drinks before going back to the bus. We had a relaxing ride back on the Lower Cliff Road with a different view of the Sea from a lower vantage point. Tomorrow we drive to Aix-En-Provence and then on to Arles to board the ship for our cruise.

Started the day with a breakfast in the rooftop restaurant at the hotel before a day touring Nice.

View of Nice from the hotel rooftop restaurant

Got on buses for a tour of Nice. One interesting fact is that Nice has been a place where royalty and upper classes from England and Russia came to spend the winter. This history is reflected in the attitude of the citizens. Overall, they are pleasant and willing to help tourists. Nice is very hilly as it is where the Alps begin.

Us at overlook of Nice and the Mediterranean

From the overlook we had a great view of the narrow entrance to the harbor where the Pacific Princess struct the breakwater in 2016 abruptly ending our cruise. Our first visit to Nice was during a strong thunderstorm so we didn’t see much as we were dodging the storm by ducking into buildings.

Scene of the crime in 2016

Had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant in the vegetable market. They had a Nice specialty, Sooca, a flat pancake made from chickpeas which was delicious. They also had Buckwheat galettes that were also very good. Walked around and saw a reconstructed bell tower from the original Franciscan Monastery and a fountain with Apollo.

Bell Tower in Old Town

Apollo Fountain

Rested a little and the took a walk for some cappuccino. Did a little Christmas shopping and checked out the restaurant for dinner. We had paella and it was delicious.

Dinner

Back in the room and getting ready for tomorrow’s all day trip to Monaco and Monti Carlo.

We started from Milwaukee yesterday and at this point the government shutdown seemed to have little effect. We were delayed for about an hour but the delay seemed to be United’s fault, a single ground crew in Milwaukee. We changed planes in Newark, and it had been some time since were at the Newark airport. We were pleasantly surprised by the United terminal. There was a longish walk from the gate where we arrived to the gate for our flight to Nice. We had time for a nice glass of wine and a quinoa salad.

Linda having lunch in Newark

Our flight to Nice was uneventful although we did not get much sleep. We were 30 minutes early getting to Nice and were met by AMAWaterways at baggage claim. Got to the hotel without incident, except that it was raining. Met with the Cruise Manager and checked into the hotel. Very nice room although it is small, guess we will not be holding to many dances in our room. The view from the room is very nice, we can see the Mediterranean.

View from our room

Headed to the rooftop restaurant at the hotel for a lunch. I had Niçoise Salad and Linda had an eggplant dish. The big surprise was when the brought out rolls before lunch. I got fresh baked GF rolls and they were hot from the oven and delicious.

Amazing GF rolls

Took a nap to work off the time change and jet lag and then took a walk as it had stopped raining, at least a lot, to get some Euros. We always get our money from a Bank ATM and avoid the Exchange Place ATMs. Then met with the Cruise Manager to go over the pre-cruise tours and met a few other people on the cruise. About half of the ship is on this pre-cruise tour so we should meet a few folks before we get onboard. Then we took a rideshare to a restaurant that has wonderful GF pizza for a light dinner. Tomorrow we do a tour of Nice.

The map above shows our itinerary. We are excited to be taking our first river cruise, after a very large number of days at sea on ocean cruises. We hope our return to Nice is less eventful than the last time we were there. This was the last trip we took before we started this blog. It was a Venice to Barcelona cruise that ended abruptly in Nice when our ship bounced off the breakwater entering the narrow Nice harbor. Everyone was safe, but it damaged the ship enough to cancel the last few days of the cruise. Also, it was a very stormy day so it was difficult to see much of Nice with the time we had ashore.

We are flying to Nice in Mid-October and are looking forward to the guided tours that are part of our cruise, pre-cruise and post-cruise adventures. We chose AMAWaterways, based on some recommendations from friends and our travel adviser from Elm Grove Travel, Betty, who is now also enjoying retirement.