TR: Uniworld Bordeaux River Cruise & Amsterdam Pre-Cruise (Oct 2015)

[n2wdw]

Day 4: Bourg

 

 

After breakfast we bused to Bergerac for a walking tour. For the most part there were always 4 buses from the ship. What we liked was the tour guides stayed with the respective buses over the trip. So we always tried to get on bus 2 as we liked that tour guide the most.

 

Once again, something we didn't like about cruising the Bordeaux was all the busing around. But, I enjoyed the walking tour of Bergerac. The town has 2 main draws. First, Cyrano, and here's one of the monuments.

 

 

 

 

Here's our tour group. The next picture is one of the charming houses off the square of the Cyrano statute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The walking tour went until lunch, and ended at the open air market centered around the Notre-Dame church with the 80m tall clock tower.

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 4 (Wednesday): Bourg (lunch and afternoon)

 

We were on our own for lunch in Bourg. The 2nd attraction of the city is foie gras. We bought a few tins of foie gras from the market to bring home.

 

 

Being in one of the centers of the world for foie gras, we had to get foie gras for lunch (especially since we love it). We found a restaurant that served mushroom risotto with, at an up charge of about 10e, included sauteed foie gras. My wife and I both got it. It was delicious! And the portion of foie gras was very generous (I put my folk there so you can see the scale).

 

 

 

 

The classic wine pairing with foie gras is sauternes. Bergerac isn't the area for sauternes. There the wine of choice is Monbazillac, a late-harvest sweet wine. My wife and I shared a glass with our lunch. Why share a glass? Because DW hates sweet wine. So really it was my glass that she took a couple sips from.

 

After lunch it was back to the bus. While I enjoyed Bergerac, a problem was most of the town shut down for lunch. Not unusual in Europe (especially small towns like Bergerac), but it was a long lunch break and got kind of boring at the end as we stood around waiting for the bus to show up. For my wife and I, since we had a sit down lunch, we waited maybe 10-15 minutes. For others, they wanted to tour the town and just graze around for lunch, so the longer lunch period was kind of disappointing for them.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Day 4: Chateau Monbazillac

 

After lunch in Bergerac we bused to Chateau Monbazillac. Here's an excerpt from a NY Times Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/dining/a-dessert-wine-that-s-a-public-secret.html):

 

THE imposing Renaissance Château de Monbazillac in southwestern France has a lovely sweet wine to offer, but few Americans, even wine buffs, have tasted it.

 

Monbazillac (pronounced moh-bah-zee-YAK) is a wine the French have kept largely to themselves, exporting no more than 20 percent of it, mostly to Belgium and the Netherlands, with less than 5 percent going to the United States. Yet Monbazillac is France's largest late-harvest sweet wine district as gauged by acreage and production.

 

Though the soil differs from that of the Sauternes region, Monbazillac is made from the same grapes -- sémillon, sauvignon blanc and muscadelle -- as Sauternes, France's best-known late-harvest dessert wine, especially the illustrious, costly Château d'Yquem.

 

Monbazillacs are grown about 60 miles to the east of the Sauternes region, in five districts clustered around the town of Bergerac.

 

Like a good Sauternes, a fine Monbazillac can become a deep gold, concentrated wine, but it tends to be somewhat less voluptuous, with a spicier, less floral bouquet. Monbazillac delivers exotic touches of honeyed mango, quince, passion fruit and citrus, often with a distinctive nuttiness in the aftertaste.

 

There's a bigger difference: the price. ''You'll get a terrific bottle of Monbazillac for what you'd pay for the most ordinary Sauternes,'' said Jean-Luc Le Dû, the wine director at Daniel. That's about $20 or so in a New York wine shop.

 

Considering the economic downturn, this may be the perfect time for Monbazillac. It has more complexity and character than muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise from the southern Rhône, the usual French sweet wine for budget-minded Americans. The reasonable price also makes it a good candidate for cooking: for poaching pears or making a jelly to serve with a pâté.

 

In the Dordogne and Bergerac regions of France, a glass of Monbazillac is likely to accompany local foie gras. At Le Centenaire, a Michelin two-star restaurant in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, there are 10 Monbazillacs on the list, many from La Domaine de l'Ancienne Cure. For Timothy Harrison, Le Centenaire's English-born sommelier, the sometimes smoky, nutty, quince-paste concentration of older vintages make them a perfect complement for foie gras.

 

 

First we toured the palace. Then we went to the tasting room to taste their wines. I think they poured 2-3 wines and they were generous with refills.

 

 

How was the wine? It was okay. Again my wife and I shared a glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 4 (Wednesday)

 

 

I'll end the report for Day 4 with the day's itinerary:

 

 

[jpalbny]

Welcome back, and thanks for revisiting this trip report! Glad to see the updates - enjoying them very much.

[n2wdw]

Day 5 (Thursday) - Blaye

 

Here's the ship's itinerary for this day:

 

 

 

 

You'll see there was an optional tour for a morning cognac tour of Remy Martin. That sold out really fast, so if you're interested in it you should sign up as soon as you board the ship. I was on the waiting list. My plan was to go on this Remy Martin tour, then after getting back to the ship going with DW on the included Blaye fortress tour.

 

I ended up taking my name off the list and I was happy I did. First, we saved some money (I don't remember the price for the Remy tour but I think it was more than $100). Second, more importantly, we were exhausted. There's alot going on with this cruise. I was happy for a free afternoon to just relax.

 

So, we went on the tour of Blaye Fortress in the morning. It was interesting. It was just a short bus ride to the fortress (about 5 minutes). After that the tour continued to see a windmill (the Lansac Mill), which we heard was worth it. But, DW and I bailed from the tour because we done with buses. We walked around the little down of Blaye. I found a place to get a haircut (my first haircut ever out of the USA). Then we walked back to the boat and relaxed.

 

Here are some pictures of the Blaye fortress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the place where I got my haircut:

 

 

[jpalbny]

The haircut is a great souvenir! It's something you need, doesn't take up room in your suitcase, and doesn't require storage space or sit around collecting dust at home!

[notamermaid]

I agree, a haircut is a great souvenir.

 

A person very dear to me has had his hair cut on holiday in England. We have kept the business card, as we will likely be in the area again...

 

The Vauban fortifications are on my bucket list. I do not think I will get to Blaye any time soon, so will head to Neuf-Brisach on the Rhine instead: http://www.haute-alsacetourisme.com/EN/Discover/Must-sees/The-Vauban-Citadel.html

 

notamermaid

[caviargal]

I often get a haircut as a souvenir, when I am in a real city that has great salons.

 

I also often purchase eyeglass frames as the selection in Europe is far more interesting and varied than we have here.

[notamermaid]

Hello caviargal,

 

while we are on unusual "souvenirs": In Britain I often buy the toiletries my family uses at home, as the British like their "2for1" offers which makes some brands cheaper than at home. I even buy a homeopathic medicine as a souvenir/gift for a dear person as I cannot buy it in Germany. One of the few actually, as Germany is well-stocked in that field. So is France.

 

notamermaid

[n2wdw]

Day 6 (Friday) - Bordeaux

 

 

 

 

On Friday we were docked back at Bordeaux. We actually spent the rest of the cruise here.

 

This illustrates what I didn't like about this cruise. On cruises I'm used to going somewhere. We've only done ocean cruises before, and even if we've been to the port multiple times (like on Caribbean cruises) I still like going to places. And I also like sea days when the ship is just traveling from one place to another.

 

We didn't really get that on this river cruise of Bordeaux. Most of the cruising happened at night, and the ports were close together so the actual time spent cruising was short.

 

So the best way to think of this Bordeaux cruise is not as cruising, but as a nice hotel where you don't have to pack/re-pack as you tour the area. I'm fairly certain this is true of all Bordeaux river cruises as we saw alot of the same boats at all the ports.

 

The question for us is, is this true for all river cruises? Or, with other river cruises, do you get to feel like you're really traveling long distances rather than just a small area? My wife and I have decided to test this out, as we're going on another river cruise in the fall. It's a cruise of the Danube on Crystal's new river boat. We're optimistic about this cruise as the itinerary looks like it has 2-3 days when the ship is cruising for long stretches of the day.

 

So anyway, back to this day. There was a morning tour and lunch in Sauternes. First we had a sauternes tour and tasting at Chateau Filhot. Honestly by this time I was burned out by tours; I would have been happy to go straight to the tasting. I'm not a sauternes expert, so I'll just say that I liked the wines and the wines were reasonable. We bought a bottle and brought it home in our suitcase. There were some people buying much more than us.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was at Chateau d'Arche. It was 3 courses and each course was served with a different sauternes. The food was good. Although, my wife and I were disappointed that none of the courses incorporated foie gras. Thinking back though, perhaps they didn't serve foie gras as some people have an issue with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch the tour did a really silly thing. A few times during the tour the guide said there was going to be a really big surprise at the end, and she mentioned Chateau d'Yquem, the really famous sauternes chateau. They kind of built this up. But, all we did was park on the side of the road next to d'Yquem's vineyard. We could see the chateaux off in the distance, but the closest we got to the wine was to pick off a grape to taste.

 

 

I realize my review may come across as negative at times. I don't mean it that way. Overall I like all the excursions and our guide was really good. I didn't like the long bus rides but I think that's just the nature of cruising in Bordeaux where the sites aren't close to the port. But this -- stopping by the side of d'Yquem -- it was, frankly, silly and a waste of time.

[n2wdw]

Day 7 (Saturday) - Bordeaux

 

 

 

Today was the last day of the cruise (we disembarked tomorrow). It was mostly a free day. The free (included) excursion was a walking tour. We opted for the bike tour of Bordeaux. I think this had an extra charge but all the bike tours were reasonably priced. Here's the bike company who did all the bike tours on the cruise. They were excellent.

 

 

 

 

We saw the last remaining Roman ruins in Bordeaux, and also the Bordeaux cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half way in the tour we stopped for coffee. We went here, a coffee place connected to a movie theater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 7 - Bordeaux -- Saturday afternoon

 

After the bike tour we decided to take another bike ride, this one around the river. There's an easy scenic route that takes you downstream the river from the ship, goes across a bridge, along the other bank of the river (upstream), across another bridge, and then back to the boat.

 

The ship offers these bikes for free (reserved them early as they're popular). They look kind of flimsy but actually they're really good bikes.

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the ship showing the french balconies off some of the rooms. We didn't have one of these rooms. Some people who did said they didn't use it much because it was too chilly.

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of my wife and I next to the boat:

 

 

[n2wdw]

More on Day 7 (Bordeaux)

 

We went on the bike ride around the river with our friends from the cruise.

 

 

 

 

Here's a restaurant/bar we stopped halfway. We shared a bottle of rose.

 

 

 

 

For some reason the 4 of us decided we needed to toast off the end of the cruise with caviar. Maybe we were all depressed our vacation was ending.

 

We biked all around Bordeaux until we finally found a Monoprix.

 

 

 

 

We bought 2 containers of caviar and stuff to go with it. Back at the boat, we washed it down with champagne and vodka. Then we rushed to get ready for dinner.

 

 

Edited April 15, 2016 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

A few more pictures

 

 

As I finish this report, here are a few more pictures. The first of the bar:

 

 

 

 

I got this every night before dinner, a Manhattan:

 

 

 

 

At the bar they always gave you snacks with drinks:

 

 

 

 

Here's the lending library and the display of cruise-wear available for purchase:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right across the display were these sweets that were always there to snack on:

 

 

[n2wdw]

Day 8 (Sunday) - Bordeaux (and back to Amsterdam)

 

 

 

We disembarked this day. End of vacations are always sad, and even more so (for me) when it's a ship you're leaving. You have to leave your stateroom by 830am but you can stay on the ship longer if you want. For me that would be kind of depressing so I'm glad we had an early flight.

 

We flew back to Amsterdam. We had a full day there because our flight back to DC didn't leave until the next day (we didn't really want to stay the extra day but that's the way the flights worked out).

 

Rather than staying at the W again, we stayed at the DoubleTree Centraal right across from the bus station (because we were using points). By the way, I forgot to mention that we were the 2nd people ever to check into the W, so they gave us this momento, a bike bell:

 

 

 

 

At the DoubleTree we went to the skyline restaurant as our room wasn't ready. By this time we were ready for American food so we got a burger and nachos. The burger was good, the nachos not so much (memo to self -- don't get tex mex in Amsterdam).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[n2wdw]

We met up with a friend who lives in Amsterdam and she took us on a boat tour of the canals. Here's apparently a famous sight that you can only see from the water, a view of multiple bridges over the canals.

 

 

 

 

For dinner our friend took us to get rijsttafel (rice table), a bunch of dishes to each with rice. Here's the menu and some of the dishes on our table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we flew home. We lucked out and got upgraded, getting moved from coach to business literally 10 minutes before the plane took off (because apparently there were some empty seats in business and we were the next ones on the United priority list).

 

Anyway, that's our trip report. Thanks for reading.

 

 

[mimmy52]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed a virtual travel with you.

[Host Jazzbeau]

My Azamara Roll Call is going to a rijsttafel dinner in Amsterdam on the evening before our cruise. I reposted your post and was asked to find out the name of this restaurant. Is it near Centraal Station?

[n2wdw]

My Azamara Roll Call is going to a rijsttafel dinner in Amsterdam on the evening before our cruise. I reposted your post and was asked to find out the name of this restaurant. Is it near Centraal Station?

 

It's Srikandi. Our friend has lived in Amsterdam most of her life and she vouches for this Indonesian restaurant. Here's the link:

 

 

http://www.srikandi.nl/en/information.html

[Host Jazzbeau]

It's Srikandi. Our friend has lived in Amsterdam most of her life and she vouches for this Indonesian restaurant. Here's the link:

http://www.srikandi.nl/en/information.html

 

Thanks!

[capriccio]

My Azamara Roll Call is going to a rijsttafel dinner in Amsterdam on the evening before our cruise. I reposted your post and was asked to find out the name of this restaurant. Is it near Centraal Station?

 

I have a recommendation for a rijsttafel dinner in the museum quarter: Sama Sebo. We went there last summer on the recommendation of Dutch friends of one of our group. It was wonderful. The restaurant is justifiably popular with locals and tourists so make a reservation (especially for a large group).

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have a recommendation for a rijsttafel dinner in the museum quarter: Sama Sebo. We went there last summer on the recommendation of Dutch friends of one of our group. It was wonderful. The restaurant is justifiably popular with locals and tourists so make a reservation (especially for a large group).

 

Thanks. I think people are hoping for a place within walking distance of the Doubletree (which may not be possible).