Vineyards and Castles on the Oceania Marina
9/17/19 to 9/29/19
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Page 1 - Pre-Cruise in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Embarkation, Ship
Page 2 - Ship (Continued), Cabin, Dining, Entertainment, Activities
Page 3 - Ports of Call: Dover, England; LeHavre, France, St. Malo, France
Page 4 - Ports of Call: Brest, France; La Rochelle, France; Bordeaux, France - Day 1
Page 5 - Ports of Call: Bordeaux, France - Day 2; Bilbao, Spain
Page 6 - Ports of Call: Ferrol, Spain; Oporto, Portugal; Post-Cruise in Lisbon, Portugal - Day 1
Page 7 - Post-Cruise in Lisbon, Portugal - Days 2 & 3
Brest, France
After first booking this cruise and researching the ports, Brest appeared to be a good one to use as a jumping off port to explore some quaint French towns. A person on the Cruise Critic roll call had set up a transfer with (https://www.coach-hire-france.com) to the town of Quimper, so we booked it. They were just going to take us there and drop us off. When it got closer to the cruise date, the subject of adding a second town, Locronan to our schedule was brought up. It looked like another nice town, so we agreed that it should be added. After all, the more quaint French towns, the better.
There were 20 of us on a full-size bus, so there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out.
It only took about a half hour to get to Quimper, Brittany’s oldest city. On the way there, the driver recommended that we spend more time in Locronan than we had originally planned on. I was concerned that we might not have enough time in Quimper; but trusted the driver. We stopped at a parking lot and the driver let us off. He did recommend which way we should go into town. We were parked next to a large memorial and right along a river.
We crossed over the long bridge across the river heading toward town. I liked the view.
The weather forecast for the day was cloudy with a temp in the low 70’s. My weather app was showing a good chance of rain later in the day, so this could be the worst weather day of the vacation so far. I had my umbrella with me just in case. The town was larger than I had expected, but it still had its rustic areas.
We were looking for a restroom and found some with stainless steel doors. Craig found one that was unoccupied. When he finished, I was going to go in while he was holding the door open. Before I could, a woman nearby rushed up to me shaking her head not to go in. I didn’t understand at first, until I read the sign on the door she was pointing at. Apparently, as soon as a patron, leaves the toilet, the whole room is sprayed down with water. It certainly is an effective way to sanitize it. But it would not be pleasant to walk in and get washed down. I was most appreciative of the good Samaritan.
I got a kick out of a couple of small horses that were tied up along the street. I was surprised that I didn’t see a vendor nearby trying to sell photos with the cute equines.
As we walked down the street, we could see the spires of the Cathedral of Saint Corentin in the distance.
As we got closer, we were attracted to the ornately decorated entryway.
The interior was quite beautiful with amazing stained-glass, a lovely altar and gorgeous decorations. The red brick ceiling provided a comforting glow to the church. The church was actually built in 1239 with a slight bend to the left in the middle to avoid a previous chapel where a count was buried in 1058. It is unusual for the altar area to be off center from the main church.
The large organ at the back of the church was built in 1644.
After we left the church, we passed by a very peaceful medieval looking area along some water.
We came to the St. Mathieu Church. I did like the flying buttresses holding up the roof; but cathedral we had just visited was much more impressive.
The interior had some nice features, especially the old wooden area around the organ pipes.
I had looked at TripAdvisor to see what else there was to see in Quimper. Le Jardin de la Retraite was highly rated, so I took out my Google Map app and found out how to get there. It was further away than I thought it would be and I wasn’t excited about another long walk; but we finally got there. I wasn’t sure we were there since it was surrounded by the old city wall ramparts.
We pretty much had the gardens to ourselves. The multi-level gardens are in 4 separate areas. I am sure that the gardens are prettier in the spring when flowers are blooming.
As we left the garden a tall round tower caught our attention. We didn’t have time to check it out, so we headed back to the bus. We thoroughly enjoyed Quimper, but it was a much bigger city than we had expected. We had hoped that it would be a quaint village.
It was a short drive to our next stop, Locronan, officially considered one of the most beautiful villages in France. Now this was quaint. Only 800 people live in this medieval throw back in time. The St. Ronan church dominates the skyline, but the old stone buildings are the stars of this medieval gem.
The church is unusual looking with two separate facades. I liked all of the gargoyle drainpipes.
The interior had some lovely chapels, gorgeous stained-glass and many attractive features.
It was lunchtime, so we checked out the few restaurants in town that we had seen when we first arrived. We found a place that served lunch crepes. It seemed like the thing to have when in France.
Walking all around town was a real treat. It was like walking back in time. Unfortunately, while walking around, we had the first rain of our trip. I hadn’t brought my umbrella, so we ran to the church to keep dry. The rain didn’t last too long and it put a nice shine on the cobblestone streets.
When the rain stopped Craig and I went our separate ways, since he was able to walk faster and longer than I by the afternoon. I talked with some of the people on our bus and they were raving about some dessert crepes they had just eaten. They pointed out the place and I resisted.
I decided instead to continue to explore the village at a slower pace. Behind the church I found a beautiful cemetery with very old graves.
After spending as much time as needed at the cemetery, my will power failed, and I headed for the creperie. I obviously went in to just get photos of the interior of the building. But since I was there, I got a Nutella crepe and it was so good.
When our free time was up, we headed back to the bus for our drive back to the ship. We were so glad that the bus driver convinced us to spend more time in Locronan, since it was so special. It had been another fine touring day and we were looking forward to getting back on the ship, heading for happy hour at Martinis and enjoying another delicious meal in the Grand Dining Room.
La Rochelle, France
The forecast for the day was rain; but since the forecasts hadn’t been too accurate for some of the previous days, we hoped that it would be wrong again. The port area was on an island with a curved road leading to the mainland.
For some reason we were told to debark from deck 6 rather than 5. After we were off, they changed it to deck 5, which you can see in the photo is a much more passenger friendly incline.
We would be taking a 3.5 hour ship excursion – Walking Tour of La Rochelle. We got onto a bus to take us into where the walking tour would begin. We had two guides, Vladimir and Fanny.
We stopped in front of the Saint-Sauveur Church, which we would visit when we had free time after the walking tour.
Our first destination was to the Vieux Port or old harbor area. This is the main tourism destination in La Rochelle, and rightfully so, since it is a lovely place. Although it was very overcast during the first part of the tour, the sun did come out near the end of the tour and I was able to get much better photos, so I will put them here rather than the drab ones I took in the morning. Our attention was immediately drawn to the two towers in the distance. The Saint Nicholas Tower on the left and Chain Tower on the right were built in the 14th Century to defend the entrance to the port. A chain was spread between the two towers to prevent entrance into the port.
In the distance, we could see the city’s third medievel tower, the Tower of the Lantern; which was built in the 15th Century as a lighthouse. It looks like a large steeple rather than a lighthouse.
La Rochelle is called the White City due to so many buildings being made from white limestone. With the sun shining brightly, we could see that the other side of the port lived up to its name.
To begin our tour into the old town, we passed through the Great Clock Tower. The top of the tower was nicely decorated.
I had to take a photo from the back side of the clock tower.
Vladimir told us that with it being Sunday morning, we were most fortunate since the streets were virtually empty other than for our group. This made it easier to get around and to take photos of the beautiful buildings. They did like to put people’s images on the buildings.
We did see several buildings that appeared to be leaning. The pedestal on the one in the photo below shows what I mean.
We must have been walking in a circle, since we came back to the church where we had originally been dropped off. It gave me an opportunity to get better photos of the back and front of the church.
Continuing our walk through the empty streets, we came to a market with lots of colorful produce. The main building itself had quite a lovely façade.
We passed by a beautiful doorway that I had to take a photo of. I also enjoyed the half-timbered buildings and others along the way.
Up the street we could see what looked like a most interesting building. I really liked the decorations along the upper wall of the building.
It was the Town Hall, also called the Hotel de Ville. We would see several Hotel de Villes during the cruise. So now I knew what they were. The roof caved in during a 2013 fire and it had been under restoration since then.
We continued our walk through the old town enjoying its beauty when we came back to the Saint-Sauveur Church. The only part of the original 12th Century church still standing is the bell tower. The church is considered the sailor’s church.
We were anxious to see the interior. There were some lovely chapels in it and of course, a sailing ship for the sailors who attended services there.
With the tour ending around noon, we decided to take advantage some free time on the ship. With the cruise being 12 port days and no sea days, we were looking forward to a little relaxation on the ship before our dinner that night at the Polo Grill. It was also the halfway point of the vacation and we needed to do laundry from our previous nine days of vacation. We were both lucky finding empty washing machines and dryers when we went to the laundry room. They would get much more crowded as the days progressed.
Bordeaux, France – Day 1
We were looking forward to visiting Bordeaux, especially since we would be overnighting there. It would give us a chance to see so much more of this gorgeous city. The forecast was for rain and it was pretty cloudy. We docked right in the center of town, which was so convenient. It was still dark when we went up to the buffet for breakfast. We went out to the al fresco area of the Terrace Café, as we had most mornings to get a preview of what we would be seeing. This looked like an awesome city to walk around to see the many sites we could see from the ship.
As the day got brighter, we could see even more of the city’s beauty.
We would be going on the last of our ship tours - Bordeaux and its Surrounding Vineyards. It was a 3-hour tour from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, so we would have plenty of time to walk around afterwards on our own. The tour would give us a short panoramic tour of the city, which would help us to see what places we might want to go to on our own; as well as a visit to a vineyard for wine tasting. Our tour guide was Julie.
While driving around town we saw some gorgeous buildings and statues. I have always loved the French architecture.
We drove around on our panoramic tour for about an hour and then took the half hour drive to the vineyard. As we drove to the vineyard gate, we could see a magnificent chateau in the background. This looked like quite a special kind of vineyard.
We were at the Chateau de Camarsac vineyard. I have been to many vineyards and they are always such a pleasure to be at, just so pretty; but this one had the bonus of the chateau.
When the bus drove up to the vineyard, we were greeted by threee excited border collies. They were just so thrilled to see us. We would find out why soon. We would be going into the main cellar building of the vineyard for our wine tasting, but it was hard to take your eyes off of the massive chateau in the background.
One of the wine makers gave us a presentation outside before we went into the cellars. We then found out why the dogs were so excited to see us. One of them would put a tennis ball at one of the guest’s feet, so that they would pick it up and throw it. It was hard to resist their sweet faces.
As soon as the ball was thrown, all three of them would chase for it. They were so funny waiting for someone to pick up the ball. I was really surprised at how many people couldn’t resist picking up the ball covered with dog slobber to throw it for them. I couldn’t resist nor could many of the men and women listening to the guides talk. It was distracting, but a most enjoyable distraction.
Our tour continued in the vat room with more discussion about their wine. It was almost noon and it was going on way too long. The tour was supposed to end at 12:30 pm and we hadn’t gone to the wine room.
Finally, Julie told him he needed to move on. We sat around the outside of the wine room while he told us about the white wine we were going to try. They poured it into glasses and passed it around. There wasn’t any cheese or crackers to nibble on, like most wine tastings I have been on.
Then he told us about the second wine, a red one. I think that everyone was surprised when he just went around and poured the red into the same glass that had the remnants of the white. They normally use different glasses. It really didn’t matter to me, since I’m not a picky wine drinker. What was concerning was that we only had the two wines to sample. For a rather expensive ship tour, there should have been more wine tasting.
After we left the tasting room, we walked around the grounds. We also tried to get a better look at the chateau. It actually looked better from a distance with the stone wall in front of it, since the wall provided some additional character to the chateau. Since it is still being renovated, perhaps they will put in some landscaping around it in the future.
We were taken back to the ship where we had a quick lunch in the Waves Grill. We were anxious to get out and explore Bordeaux. Close to where the Marina was docked, there was a statue of Marthe Adelaïde Modeste Testas, a slave who was freed by her owners in 1795, just before his death. The slave owner also left her quite a bit of property in Bordeaux. She lived to be 105 years old.
The building right across the street from the Marina was the Bourse Maritime, where the maritime federation had its offices. It is now a hotel.
Just a block away from the ship was the Place des Quinconces. At the entrance are two columns with statues on top dedicated to Bordeaux’s maritime and commercial activities. While there the sun came out which made for much nicer photos for the rest of the day.
The columns are most impressive; but they are overshadowed by the Monument aux Girondins at the other end of the park. I couldn’t believe how big this park was. From the street, it made the monument look small in the photo; but not in real life.
It was a long walk to the monument. The monument consists of bronze fountains and a column with a statue of Liberty breaking her chains on top.
The bronze fountains at the base were just too beautiful. I took photos of them from every angle every time we passed by this park.
We continued our walk with the goal of finding churches. By now you realize that I love to go into churches. My darling Carol always did too. I was so glad that Craig was also into them. But first we came to the beautiful Place de la Bourse with its impressive fountain and a large arch.
Continuing on, we came to the back of a church and continued around to the front. It was the 15th Century church Église Saint-Pierre, or the Church of St. Peter.
The main attraction in the interior was the beautiful stained-glass windows. From the back of the church I couldn’t see all of the windows around the altar; but getting closer showed all of them.
Everywhere we walked in the city was eye candy. We came to Porte Cailhau, or door of the palace. It was considered the door of the city. The original one was built in the 14th century and this one was completed in the 15th. It is quite a sight!
I went around to the front side, but a small van was parked in front of it. The relief was quite nice. There was a plaque on the ground indicating that this was on the path of the Way of St. James. We would visit the ending point of the way in Santiago de Compostela later in the cruise.
We had been trying to find a tower that we had seen from the ship. It looked pretty far away; but not as far as we had walked. At last we found it and we were so glad we did. It was the Basilica of St. Michael, which was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. The 374-foot bell tower is what we had seen from the ship. As far back as I could get, I couldn’t get the full bell tower and church together in the photo; but I did do them individually
The interior met the exterior's level of beauty.
As we were continuing our walk searching for more of Bordeaux’s beauty, I thought that we had gone in a circle when we saw a gate. Then I realized that this was a different one. It was the 15th Century Grosse Cloche or Big Clock. This gate is on the city’s coat of arms.
On the way back to the ship we continued enjoying Bordeaux. This was one awesome tourist city. From the below photo, you can see that we were right in the heart of town. It is the best way to be able to explore Bordeaux when on a cruise.
We got back to the ship around 4:30 pm and were looking forward to relaxing at happy hour relaying our explorations to our friends; and following it up with dinner in Toscana. Italian food sounded delightful. It had been an exhausting but exhilarating day. We were so glad we still had the next day for more exploration.
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