v i k i n g c r u i s e s . c o m . a u 39
and generous, the second tender but intense,
the third floral and delicate. For the first time,
I begin to understand how different conditions
affect the taste of the same wine grapes.
Château Siaurac lies just outside Saint-Émilion.
Later that afternoon we're all reunited for a tour of
the World Heritage town, dainty in pale limestone
among green vines, and topped by a cloud-scraping
church. I use my free time afterwards to walk the
ramparts above a tumble of cloisters and craft shops.
By next afternoon, I'm ambling around Blaye,
an altogether less elegant, more rough-edged town
where Peugeots cough and old men smoke in cafés.
I like its local feel and fresh breezes, and most of
all its massive seventeenth-century citadel, which
squats on a rock by the Gironde Estuary, dark
and brooding as a set from Game of rones.
e Gironde is island-dotted and tree-lined,
and slowly widens towards the Atlantic Ocean. One
side is flanked by the vineyards of Margaux, which
produces some of the world's most famous – and
famously expensive – wines, such as Château Latour
and Mouton Rothschild. We drive from the port
of Pauillac through well-heeled villages and petite
limestone chateaux with skirts of tidy vineyards,
stopping off for wine tasting.
We have dinner at Château Kirwan, a classic
French mansion sitting in statue-studded lawns.
We sail back into Bordeaux with a certain sense
of familiarity. Fortunately, I have another two
days to explore. Some passengers set off to visit a
cooperage and learn about wine barrels, others head
to the Atlantic coast to visit an oyster farm. I opt
to head to the markets with the ship's chef. It's a
happy poke among cheeses and sausages and plump
eggplants, in a tasty end to an appetising week.
I like its local feel and fresh breezes, and most of all
its massive seventeenth-century citadel, which squats
on a rock by the Gironde Estuary, dark and brooding
as a set from Game of rones.
N
Cruise
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Pauillac
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Blaye
Bergerac
Libourne
Arcachon
Cadillac
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