The ship remained moored at Avignon overnight. It was another pleasant morning with blue sky and a temperature of 12C. Daylight saving doesn't finish until this weekend and so it was still dark when I went down to breakfast at 7:30am.
This morning, Suzy and I would be going on different outings. Hers was shopping expedition with the chef at the Avignon market and it left the ship at 8:20am.
My outing was to Chateauneuf du Pape which was located near Roquemaure where the ship was moored the night before last. It would include wine tasting.
The bus left at 8:45am. Luckily I managed to get the front seat of the bus on the right side so I would be able to take photos out the front of the bus as we travelled through the countryside.
From our ship moored in the Rhone River, we look out on the city fortifications and so the bus needed to drive past the city walls into the inner area of the city before emerging into the rural areas beyond. For much of the way, we travelled on highways or motorways.
The name Chateauneuf du Pape refers to three things: the castle, the town or region and the wine. Our guide told us that this is where the French appellation system for wine was invented.
It took more than half an hour to reach the town and we stopped at the site of the castle ruins at the top of the hill. This gave us great opportunities to take photos of the town below and the countryside beyond.
Naturally, there is a vineyard next to the castle and our guide took the time to talk about the local wine. She said the main grape here is grenache and that often it is blended to create a GSM wine. The grenache vine is very capable of finding water at considerable depth below ground.
She said the town has about 2000 residents and 375 wine makers but only one bakery.
The bus then took us down the hill to one of the wineries, Bouachon, who specialise in cellar tours and wine tasting. Pauline, one of their staff, gave us a very informative and entertaining introduction to their wines and then took us to a different room for wine tasting.
Rather than just taking about the wine, she showed us how to hold the glass, how and when to sniff the wine, how to check the colour of the wine and various ways to drink the wine. All very good information.
They presented us with samples of three wines - a white, a red and a premium red. Unfortunately I didn't particularly like any of the wines. They don't ship to Australia anyway.
Next the bus took us to the foot of the hill and our guide showed us up to the main square and then up various local narrow streets. Naturally there was a church at the top of the hill. Along the way we took photos of the street scenes and the town below.
By this time, it had warmed up to 17C in the sunshine. We were back on the bus at noon for the journey back to our ship.
As we approached Avignon, our guide told us about a children's nursery rhyme which is popular in France that sings about dancing under the bridge at Avignon. We were back on the ship by 12:45pm just in time for lunch at 1pm.
This afternoon, Suzy went to a painting class in the lounge followed by a cooking class.
After the special occasion last night, the schedule was back to normal tonight with the port talk in the lounge at 6:45pm and dinner in Crystal Dining at 7pm.
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