Tain L'Hermitage and Tournon-sur-Rhone

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Today is Thursday and the only reason I know that is from the daily program! I continue to try the daily breakfast special, today was crepe with berries and it was so good! Of course I also had to have croissant and today I had 2! This morning we started with an onboard private lecture from the famous chocolate house, Valrhona. We had a powerpoint presentation and learned all about how to chocolate is made. After the lecture we had a chocolate tasting and we tasted 5 different varieties of dark chocolate from different regions of the world. Valrhona has relationships with small cocoa farms throughout the world and it's amazing to taste how different the cocoa beans are. This was a great way for me to start the day!
Following the tasting we walked to the Ferraton wine cellars in Tain L'Hermitage and were given a tour of their cellars and we had a wine tasting. The Hermitage Vineyards and the Saint Joseph Vineyards each use the Syrah grape. Again we tasted one white wine and 2 red wines. The last red wine was my favorite and was suprisingly affordable!
After that wine tasting we walked back past the River Royale and over the foot bridge engineered by Marc Seguin across the Rhone River to Tournon-sur-Rhone.
Tain (that's what they call it for short) is less commercialized than Tournon. As we walked across the Rhone we saw the landscapes of vineyards. It is so picturesque. We walked through the shopping area (we had no time to stop!) and saw the original castle and war memorial. From there we headed back to the ship for lunch and to set sail for Lyon.
I wished we had a bit more time here to explore but our ship is on a set schedule, it has appointments to get through the locks, so we must stay on time.
This afternoon we will have a Mexican happy hour on deck before dinner and arriving at Lyon. We expect to arrive around 9 pm and I hope to be able to go on shore for a little visit. I am also going to see if we can leave some luggage at our hotel in Lyon so we don't have to take it back on the train on Sunday. I will say goodbye for now, as I want to go upstairs to the deck to get some sun and see some more of the beautiful landscape. I also hope to use AC's laptop to upload some of the pictures we have taken so far.

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Comments

[Maxine]

Chocolate and Wine!
I am so jealous of the tastings you are experiencing! Sounds like you are eating and drinking and walking your way though the cruise! Love and miss you!

[Cynthia]

I'm Jealous Too!!
Hi Jodi, I was sitting here reading your blogs. What a great trip. I went to France and Italy back in 1993 and I loved it. We took the high speed train from Rome to Paris and stopped in Dijon. Happy Anniversary!!! I am thrilled you are having such a great time. Sounds like you are having wonderful weather as well for all the touring.