Bordeaux River Cruise – Ports
After spending a week in a Bordeaux apartment, we were anxious to start cruising. Alas, the river was too low to travel our first day, so we were bussed to our first port and then bussed back to the boat at the end of the day. That is nothing compared with friends of ours who went on a Douro River cruise in Spain and it rained so much that the boat never left the original dock because the river level was too high. Instead, they were bussed by AmaWaterways to every port as promised. But, they also later received a full refund from AmaWaterways. Read my post about “What You Must Know” for more information on the rivers of Europe.
The current schedule of ports can be found on the AmaWaterways web site. There are several excursions (at no additional cost) available to choose from in each port. We booked our excursions the afternoon before we arrived in each port. The ports have changed their visiting order during the past 2 years and can easily change again. The port order below reflects the current port visiting order.
Day 1 – Board the boat, snack on pupus before dinner, eat dinner, and spend the night on board. One of the dinner choices is the Chef’s Table option (no surcharge) once during your cruise. The menu is the same every night, but oftentimes the winery host will be at this dinner. It is also easier to book this during the first night. In fact, the boat’s crew will likely “beg” you to attend. Otherwise, you will need to eat in the main dining room. These river boats hold about 120-160 passengers and don’t have all the food outlets needed to feed 3000+ people several times a day. You will be at an unassigned table for every meal and if you find an exceptional server, you can request to be seated in their area.
Day 2 – A morning scenic cruise and then we docked in Libourne, the gateway to the St. Emilion region. Other than incredible wine, there are 2 unique bakery items, and also incredible limestone caves under churches and wineries to explore.
The baked goods are macarons (mac-a-rōnes), not macaroons as many Americans call them, and Canelé or Cannelé depending on whether you use the newer or older spelling. The macaron recipe dates back to the 1600’s when nuns originally swept the spilled almond flour from the holds of ships docked in Libourne. These original cookies are very different than Parisian Macarons which are heavy in their use of egg whites in the recipe and filled with flavored ganache or buttercream in the center. The unassuming Blanchet Bakery at 9 rue Guadet in St. Emilion has been in operation for about 90 years and still sells the original recipe cookies steeped in history and their own story.
Since egg whites are traditionally used to remove protein haze from red wines, lots of egg yolks are left over afterward. From the excess of egg yolks, came the recipe for Canelé. This is an incredibly involved recipe that requires expensive tins and considerable baking expertise. Since Canelé only last one day before the custard-like inside softens the caramelized outer crust, they are also very hard to find. Do you know any great bakers? I know of only 2 places in California with one of them being the Paris Bakery in Monterey. The other is Patti at Bungalow Bay Foods in Modesto, CA who does custom orders and also sells at select craft fairs.
Most of St. Emilion is built on a limestone plateau. There is even a limestone church along with naturally cooled caves and places local kids explore on otherwise private property. During the week before the cruise our private guide, Frédéric, took us quietly into one of those caves that you will never visit on a tour. It pays when your guide is well connected and grew up in the area. You will have to decide what to do with your free time after your excursion choice. There are 400 year old city gates you can find nearby, but history was not a focus of our AmaWaterways cruise.
Day 3: Explore Libourne’s open-air market (don’t forget to visit the live chickens) with lots of unique items. If you choose to take the trolley ride, it will take up a lot of time and not really give you much more to see. In retrospect, it would have been better to walk around during that time. We then cruised to Blaye (pronounced Bly-uh) in the afternoon.
Day 4: Visit the 17th century Citadel de Blaye where there is a great little gift shop. The Citadel is so well preserved that numerous festivals are held on the property. There is even a hotel and restaurant within the Citadel walls. The “exclusive” wine festival later in the afternoon was staged for the cruise line and while entertaining, knowing it was specifically produced for the cruise made it less of an authentic event; like one of those tourist luaus in Hawaii I always try to avoid.
Day 5: Pauillac is the gateway to the Medoc region. We took a bus to Château Gruaud Larose with a fantastic tower that will allow you to see for miles in every direction. Medoc is where you will find several of France’s Grand Cru vineyards designated in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. The Rothshild family has 2 Chateaux here. No wonder they could afford to build the Opus One Winery in Napa.
Day 6: Cadillac is across the river from Sauterne, but the wines are similar and more affordable. Lots of botrytized white wines which are on the sweet side of the spectrum with a beautiful golden color. We first visited Castle Roquetaillade which has been owned by the same noble family for 700 years and is incredibly well preserved. After visiting the castle, we crossed the river and visited Chateau Guiraud in Sauterne for some dessert wine tasting. The boat returned to Bordeaux that evening.
Day 7: Wrap up the last day of this wine cruise taking a city tour and visiting the Bordeaux Wine Museum. This city is too large to really see in a single day. For example, we were in Bordeaux for a week before the cruise and walked rue Sainte-Catherine (a kilometer long pedestrian mall) every day and saw something new each time.
Day 8: You get to leave the boat. Must we go? We “reluctantly” stayed in a Junior Suite (our free upgrade) at the Intercontinental Hotel with a view of the opera house. A few hotel room photos are below. You can fine more in the photography section of this blog.
Entry Hallway 
Opera House Outside 
Sitting Area 
Ahhh … softness
