{"id":60,"date":"2013-06-25T19:26:07","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T02:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/?p=60"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:08:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T17:08:26","slug":"day-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/day-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 6"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blaye -Ile de Patiras -Bourg<\/strong><\/p>\n

7:30 – 9 am\u00a0<\/strong>breakfast
\n<\/a><\/strong>Comes this morning\u00a0with a view of the peaceful village of Blaye. The town is small – one kilometer long: a collection of mostly one story stone buildings, it has a small population keeping it alive while retaining its tranquillity. Back to breakfast \u2013 love these do-it-yourself meals are fun \u2013 chance to try new cheeses, enjoy fresh croissants, local yogurt, with specialty coffee, tea or juice. Yum!
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\"Blaye-Bourg\"\u00a0 19 miles\/30 km<\/p>\n

9 am<\/strong>\u00a0A visit to the Citadel of Blaye\u00a0go
\n<\/a><\/strong>All aboard our bus, we head out for the Citadel \u2013 a French Fortification built in 1689. Vauban, the General Superintendant, constructed more than 300 forts. This design, Bastion and Star configuration, was considered a major war machine\u00a0improvement. Arranging the Bastions in a “star” layout leaves no dead spots, everything can be seen by the two nearby bastions. 300 years later the fortress walls are still strong and mighty.<\/p>\n

We walk through the Porte Dauphine – uphill over a dry moat into a deep tunnel that puts us inside the walls where we meet our local guide. She leads us up to the military exercise area, Place d’Armes, an esplanade overlooking the Gironde estuary. This is our first view of the estuary and the forts built in its defense. Down below at water\u2019s edge we can see the dock and our barge, The Mirabelle.<\/p>\n

We view the Clock Tower, tour the walls, end at the ruins of the Castle of Rudel situated on the highest part of the citadel. The castle, built in the 12th century on the ruins of an earlier ancient fortress already located at the top of the natural rocky headland, was integrated into Vauban\u2019s citadel. Our enthusiastic guide takes us into the bowels, a warren of connecting tunnels \u2013 carved out of rock by hand! We pass through secret doors and exit at the ground level into what was the troop’s training area. We\u2019ve little doubt about the invincibility of this fortification.<\/p>\n

10:30 am<\/strong>\u00a0tour\u00a0Chateau Marquis de Vauban Vineyard and Winery\u00a0go<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nEstablished by the Marquis in 1865 the well cared for property is enclosed by stone walls and elegant wrought iron fences sporting shiny brass pineapple finials. The horse paddock and meadow are bordered on one side by the river. Overlooking his vineyard is the Marquis\u2019 statue. We visit the vines and amazing rocky terroir before going into the building. There\u2019s a very large decorated parlor, windowed on three sides, with a fireplace, elegant seating and huge wooden round table around which we sit for orientation to the chateau and its wine philosophy – prior to visiting the production area. Original concrete vats are still here, though no longer used, to remind us of earlier methods used in wine production. Today steel vats and the latest technology are de rigeuer. Aging is done in barrels stacked and held in a series of rooms. Roses scent the air as they climb the trellis outside the tasting area. Our lovey young lady wine guide offers us tastes of Premieres cotes de Blaye-Bordeaux Superieur \u2013 wine grown, made and bottled on the grounds. As we exit, horses and carriage wait to take us back to the barge. Very romantic start to our day!<\/p>\n

12:30 pm<\/strong>\u00a0lunch\u00a0Mirabelle<\/strong>\u00a0dining room
\nMenu
\nPrawns with cognac
\nPork filet mignon with caramelized \u00a0honey acacia
\nGratin Dauphinois
\nTiramisu
\nwines: \u2022\u00a0Bordeaux Blanc – Ch\u00e2teau Marac \u2022 C\u00f4teaux\u00a0de Fronsac –\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau Lariveau Rouge<\/p>\n

1 – 2 pm<\/strong>\u00a0cruise and navigation Blaye – Ile de Patiras\u00a0go<\/a><\/strong>
\nAs we begin the second course of our lunch the barge cruises slowly toward the Ile de Patiras,\u00a0one of only two privately owned islands in the Gironde estuary. 2 1\/2 miles long by 1 mile wide, it\u2019s famous lighthouse guided ships to safe passage. In the 19th century it was a quarantine stop for ships before docking at various ports in the estuary but legend has it that was once a notorious pirate lair!<\/p>\n

2:30 – 4:30 pm<\/strong>\u00a0visit Patiras Lighthouse and Refuge de Patiras\u00a0go<\/a><\/strong>
\nAshore we\u00a0meet the property Caretaker who takes us to the lighthouse and encourages us to\u00a0walk up the 311 step spiral staircase to\u00a0the top. The views \u2013 up and down the estuary, across the river toward Pauillac, and over all of this island are\u00a0extraordinary. A\u00a0thriving community of 300 people once lived on this island;\u00a0today there is still a small vineyard but most of the land is used to grow\u00a0maize.<\/p>\n

Recently\u00a0the \u201cRefuge de Patiras\u201d was built alongside the lighthouse at the north end of\u00a0the island \u2013 a hidden shelter offering de-stressing access to nature, small\u00a0scale entertaining and cultural events. Lovely wildflowers and many fruit trees\u00a0surround the refuge.\u00a0We are invited in, see a film tracing the island\u2019s history\u00a0and enjoy some local treats. The structure is simple as well as unique: it can\u00a0be opened to the outside, expanded or made smaller by opening or closing mobile\u00a0walls offering great views. A boxer puppy, pet and\u00a0resident, enchants us. He\u2019s\u00a0playful, friendly, has a gentle demeanor and escorts us back to the barge.<\/p>\n

6 pm<\/strong>\u00a0cocktails and\u00a0dinner\u00a0Mirabelle<\/strong>\u00a0dining room
\nTime to relax and savor. The music plays, the group gathers, drinks and snacks are served and we recollect the marvelous day we\u2019ve had or grouse mildly about our difficulty in accessing WiFi.
\nMenu
\nPerigord salad
\ntrout\u00a0with chives and vegetables duo
\ncheeses: Brie de Meaux, Forme d’Ambert
\nverrine with 3 strawberries
\nwines:\u00a0\u2022\u00a0Premi\u00e8res\u00a0Cotes de Blaye\u00a0– Ch\u00e2teau Les Tours de Peyrat ‘Vieilles Vignes’ \u2022 Cotes de Bourg –\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau de la Grave Grain Fin<\/p>\n

overnight<\/strong>\u00a0cruise and navigation to Bourg\u00a0go<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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    Blaye -Ile de Patiras -Bourg 7:30 – 9 am\u00a0breakfast Comes this morning\u00a0with a view of the peaceful village of Blaye. The town is small – one kilometer long: a collection of mostly one story stone buildings, it has a small population keeping it alive while retaining its tranquillity. Back to breakfast \u2013 love these do-it-yourself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}