Bordeaux Vacation: 12 day Group Retreat with

BORDEAUX WINE COUNTRY, LOURDES & PROVENCE

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Bordeaux wine country; escorted tour; France; Lourdes; Monaco; Paris; Wine;

Your 12-day culinary adventure begins in Paris, the “City of Light.” Here you’ll enjoy a welcome dinner with wine, guided sightseeing, and a visit to the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School for a cooking demonstration and a tasting of the expertly created dishes. Next, travel via high-speed TGV train to ...

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Destination:: Bordeaux, France; France; Lourdes, France; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Nimes, France; Paris, France

Trip Length:: 12 days

Price Range:: From $2549 per person See what this includes and what this excludes

Best Time to Go:: Aug 27, 2008 to Sep 07, 2008
Sep 24, 2008 to Oct 05, 2008

Recommended for:: 31 - 35, 36 - 40, 41 - 50, 51 - 55, 56 - 60, 61 - 70, 71 - 80
Group Retreat, Honeymoon

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Detailed Trip Description

Your 12-day culinary adventure begins in Paris, the “City of Light.” Here you’ll enjoy a welcome dinner with wine, guided sightseeing, and a visit to the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School for a cooking demonstration and a tasting of the expertly created dishes. Next, travel via high-speed TGV train to the famous Bordeaux wine region. Enjoy lunch and a wine tasting in St. Emilion, and a visit to the Bordeaux Wine School. Next, head south to Biarritz for a decadent tasting and visit at the Museum of Chocolate. Spend two nights in Lourdes of pilgrimage fame, stop for lunch and a pâté tasting in the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, and dinner at a local restaurant in Nîmes. An included excursion takes you to Pont du Gard, to Tavel for a tasting of its celebrated rosé wines, and to Avignon. Stops in Aix-en-Provence and Cannes before arriving in Monte Carlo in the Principality of Monaco for two overnights. Transfer to Nice for the conclusion of your delicious vacation.

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Trip Itinerary

Day 1 - On the Plane

Day 2 - Paris

Time to rest or to start exploring the splendid French capital. At 6 p.m., meet your Tour Director and traveling companions and leave the hotel for a welcome dinner with wine at one of Paris’ lively restaurants. After dinner you may wish to join an optional outing to get a first impression of the “City of Light.”

Day 3 - Paris

Sightseeing with a Local Guide features the Arc de Triomphe Arc de Triomphe , Opéra, Madeleine, Louvre Story aboutLouvre Today, a thick pane of bullet-proof security glass keeps artlovers a safe distance from the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, Wife of Francesco Giacondo,” known in French as “La Joconde” and English as the “Mona Lisa.” But back in 1911, it was simply hung on the walls of the Musée du Louvre like any other canvas. That was until a former museum employee named Vincenzo Perrugia strolled into the gallery before opening hours on August 21, noticed the room was empty, took down the Mona Lisa and walked out of the Louvre with it under a painting smock. When the loss was finally noticed, the police were mystified. For two years, the whereabouts of the masterpiece was unknown, while French detectives made various wild guesses. (It had been stolen by the Germans. By anarchists. By evil geniuses. By lunatics.) They actually arrested the country’s top art critic, Guillame Apollinaire, then let him free. Then, out of the blue in 1913, an Italian art dealer in Florence was contacted by a man calling himself “Leonardo” who claimed to have the Mona Lisa and wanted to see it hang in the Uffizi, Italy’s top art museum. Although he found it hard to believe that the thief could be so reckless, the dealer tipped off the police and agreed to meet the strange Leonardo in a Milan hotel room. There, the nondescript fellow opened his suitcase, emptied out his socks and underwear, opened up a false bottom in the case to reveal the Mona Lisa – and was immediately arrested. , and Champs-Elysées. Visit magnificent NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL Story aboutNotre Dame Cathedral Europe’s most famous cathedral, whose twin Gothic towers loom above France’s most beloved river, the Seine, actually owes a lot of its international success to the author Victor Hugo. Back in 1831, when Hugo wrote his classic novel about a hunchbacked bell-ringer at Notre Dame who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy, the medieval cathedral had fallen on hard times. During the Revolution in 1789, it had been seized, looted of its treasures and converted into an atheistic “Temple of Reason.” Even worse, after the monarchy was restored in 1815, Notre Dame was used as riverside warehouse – its once-splendid glass windows now dimmed and its facades decaying pathetically above the Île de la Cité. But Parisian’s indifference to their landmark ended suddenly in 1831, when Victor Hugo published his romantic novel the “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” (called “Notre-Dame de Paris” in French). The book was an international bestseller and lured armies of tourists to Paris in search of its Gothic cathedral setting. Hugo used this groundswell of public interest to lobby the French government for renovations of his beloved Notre Dame. From 1845 to 1864, repairs were indeed carried out – the clogged medieval streets nearby were cleared, revealing the marvelous edifice we see today. and for a panoramic view, take the elevator to the second floor of the EIFFEL TOWER Story aboutEiffel Tower Imagining Paris without the Eiffel Tower is like London without Big Ben or San Francisco without the Golden Gate Bridge. But no sooner had the architect Gustav Eiffel beaten his 700 competitors in the design competition for the 1889 Centennial Exposition, celebrating a century since the French Revolution, than a vocal outcry began to halt construction of the edifice. Three hundred famous French artists and writers signed a petition in the newspaper “Le Temps” denouncing Eiffel’s radically modern design as “useless and monstrous,” a blight upon the elegant fabric of the City of Light. Others critics were even more vicious, describing the proposed tower as a “tragic street lamp,” a gymnasium apparatus…incomplete, confused and deformed,” “a giant ungainly skeleton,” “a half-built factory pipe,” “a carcass” and even “a hole-riddled suppository.” Nature-lovers argued that it would disturb the flight patterns of Parisian birds. Even as the iron lattice began to rise, Parisians continued to refer to it by the less-than-flattering nickname, “the metal asparagus.” Of course, no sooner had the tower opened in 1889 than the rabid criticism evaporated. . After an afternoon at leisure, visit the LE CORDON BLEU COOKING SCHOOL this evening for a lively cuisine demonstration by a Le Cordon Bleu chef. Develop your talent and tastebuds for successful food and wine pairing as you savor a variety of dishes and wines!

Louvre

Visit this world famous museum

Day 4 - Bordeaux

Morning departure aboard the famous high-speed “TGV” TRAIN to Bordeaux. In the afternoon, join your Tour Director for a pleasant walk through the center of this captivating city.

Day 5 - Bordeaux

Tour the most famous wine region of France and stop for lunch in the pretty town of St. Emilion. Then, the highlight of today: an expert will explain the local secrets of WINE TASTING. Return to Bordeaux in the afternoon for a visit to the BORDEAUX WINE SCHOOL, where you will learn about the region’s climate, soils, grape varieties, making and ageing process, and the language and technique of tasting.

St. Emillion

Optional Excursion to St. Emillion

Day 6 - Bordeaux

Enjoy a scenic drive south, following the Atlantic coast to the charming resort of Biarritz for a visit and tasting at the MUSEUM OF CHOCOLATE. After a stop here, continue to Lourdes of pilgrimage fame, where you will stay for the next two nights. You may wish to join this evening’s memorable rosary and candlelight procession.

Museum of Chocolate

Need I say more??

Day 7 - Lourdes

Enjoy morning sightseeing with a Local Guide. The rest of the day offers plenty of time to soak in the special atmosphere of this place and to follow the pilgrims to the grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernardette in 1858

Day 8 - Lourdes

Stop for lunch in the beautifully preserved medieval walled city of Carcassonne on your way to the Provence Provence . While in Carcassonne, enjoy a PÂTÉ TASTING at a local restaurant. Continue to Nîmes, where your Tour Director will take you for an orientation walk through the center to admire the well-preserved Roman Amphitheater and the Maison Carré. Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant this evening.

Day 9 - Nimes

Enjoy your drive through the gently rolling hills to Pont du Gard. Admire the 2,000-year-old Roman Aqueduct, a monumental feat of engineering. Next, travel to Tavel, beautifully situated in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape area, for a tasting of its famous rosé wines at CHÂTEAU D’AQUERIA. In Avignon, an orientation tour includes a picture stop of the bridge from the popular song and the massive Palace of the Popes. Time to browse through the many attractive shops or to join the locals at one of the outdoor sidewalk cafés before returning to Nîmes.

Pont Du Gard

Visit the Roman Aquaduct

Day 10 - Nimes

This morning is dedicated to Aix-en-Provence, one of France’s most elegant cities. Explore its center on foot, stroll along shaded Cours Mirabeau, admire its famous cafés and fountains, discover colorful squares, or barter with the locals at the quaint flea market on Place de Verdun. After lunch, head east past Cézanne’s Mount St. Victoire and drive through Cannes, where you will see the Festival Hall and the Croisette on your way to your beachfront hotel in the Principality of Monaco. Tonight you may wish to try your luck at the casino!

Cannes

Sightseeing in Cannes

Day 11 - Monte Carlo

Your day is at leisure to just relax or dabble in the Mediterranean. Why not join an optional excursion to Dolceacqua, Italy, for a tasting of its famous Rossese di Dolceacqua, and for an olive oil press demonstration and tasting?

Day 12 - On the Plane

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