{"id":64,"date":"2013-06-27T19:28:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T02:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/?p=64"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:05:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T17:05:59","slug":"day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/day-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 4"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

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Bordeaux –\u00a0Libourne – barge<\/strong><\/p>\n

8 am\u00a0<\/strong>buffet breakfast\u00a0Hotel de Normandie<\/strong>\u00a0dining room
\nDuring our full but brief breakfast we decide to visit the Sunday market\u00a0March\u00e9 des\u00a0Chartrons.<\/p>\n

\"Bordeaux-Libourne\"\u00a0\u00a017 miles\/28 km<\/p>\n

9 am – 12:30 pm\u00a0<\/strong>visit and tour Bordeaux waterfront
\n<\/a><\/strong>We tram to Chartrons market to save time and fit in as much as possible on our final day. The market is a 15 minute walk or 3 stops on the tram.
\nThe waterfront promenade transforms into a bustling market with two rows of white pop up canopies shading displays. Local families shop for their weekly produce, fish, meat, cheese and bread. It\u2019s a visual feast with distractions at every turn. Fish and seafood so fresh the scent of salt water permeates the air. Mongers hawk their products and chat with folks as they shuck, slice, package the goods. Beautiful, fresh, colorful and perfectly ripe produce \u2013 berries, artichokes, tomatoes, lettuces, garlic, white asparagus, baby squash – all look so immediately edible. Pork stands offer fresh, smoked, or product made into sausage. Beef is carefully trimmed and weighed \u2013 there are cuts we do not recognize. Other artfully displayed choices \u2013 rabbit, duck, pigeon, and chicken inspire recipe ideas.<\/p>\n

Prepared ready-to-serve foods waft their wonderful scents into the air. Roasted chicken, fresh oysters, five types of paella, even pizza right from an oven hauled in on a truck. There\u2019s fresh squeezed orange juice and wine by the glass.\u00a0Dress here is unique, always chic and appropriate to the person. Every look is acceptable. Vendors smile and joke, give advice and discuss recipes \u2013 obviously enjoying what they do. Traditional handcrafted items such as soaps, tisane, hand-knit sweaters, and goofy hats add to the fun.<\/p>\n

Around noon the sky and day begin to change.\u00a0Previously sunny, calm and clear \u2013 now dark clouds sweep in on the winds. A light shower starts and gradually turns into real rain and we make a b-line to the Contemporary Art Museum just a few streets from the Market. The museum is between shows so not much to see beyond the very interesting building and elaborate preparations for the next event.<\/p>\n

Return back to the town center by tram and stop at le Bar \u00e0\u00a0Vin et l\u2019Ecole du Vin to sample a glass of Cremant de Bordeaux – sparkling wine reminiscent of Champagne,\u00a0served chilled with light hors d’oeuvres. Lunch is a picnic in our hotel room at our \u201cmini caf\u00e9 table\u201d \u2013 fruit, good cheese, canned canard rillettes, French bread and Merlot \u2013\u00a0very nice.<\/p>\n

3 pm<\/strong>\u00a0driven to Mirabelle Barge in Libourne
\nBags packed we check out, sit in the hotel lobby to wait for our Barge Cruise pick-up. Another couple waiting in the lobby is also on our Cruise. They are from South Africa\u00a0and widely travelled. The efficient van driver arrives, stows luggage, seats us and we are off to Libourne to meet the Barge and the rest of our travelling group. For about 40\u00a0minutes we head east winding through wine country and small villages, enjoy chatting with our new friends. The rain continues lightly but skies are threatening as we arrive\u00a0at the Mirabelle dock. Our crew is waiting there \u2013 Captain, cook, two hosts, and our guide welcome us.<\/p>\n

4 pm<\/strong>\u00a0welcome aboard reception
\nWe meet 8 more fellow travelers (from Montana, USA) and celebrate the start of our voyage with a toast of Cremant de Bordeaux Rose (sparkling) and French cheeses before\u00a0heading off to our cabins to unpack, rest and dress for dinner.<\/p>\n

7:30 pm<\/strong>\u00a0dinner\u00a0Mirabelle<\/strong>\u00a0dining room\u00a0Menu:<\/strong>
\nduck leg confit, onion jam\u00a0and Sarladaise potatoes
\ncheeses: Comt\u00e9, Camembert
\ncustard with caramel
\nwines<\/strong>:\u00a0\u2022 Fronsac – Ch\u00e2teau\u00a0Campus\u00a0\u2022 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru –\u00a0Epigone\u00a0Ch\u00e2teau\u00a0Vieux Verdot
\nOur welcome aboard dinner, paired with excellent local wines, is only the first of what will be a dozen beautiful food events on this cruise.<\/p>\n

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    Bordeaux –\u00a0Libourne – barge 8 am\u00a0buffet breakfast\u00a0Hotel de Normandie\u00a0dining room During our full but brief breakfast we decide to visit the Sunday market\u00a0March\u00e9 des\u00a0Chartrons. \u00a0\u00a017 miles\/28 km 9 am – 12:30 pm\u00a0visit and tour Bordeaux waterfront We tram to Chartrons market to save time and fit in as much as possible on our final day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64"}],"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=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoftravel.com\/bargecruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}