[Idyllchat] Question about barge tours

[joanherriges at live.com]

[Idyllchat] Hotels in Oslo and StockholmHi Marilyn:  We took a Continental Waterway barge cruise in France years ago with a group of friends.   We do not care for cruises.  It was a wonderful, memorable trip.  A friend who went on that same trip just came home from a similar barge cruise and enjoyed it very much.  As I recall there were about 18 passengers on our trip.

A van picked us up at our hotel in Paris and drove us to the canal location where the barge was docked.  Each day we stopped at a different location.  Some days we toured a village--with excellent guides.  Another day we visited a very small family winery and had a picnic lunch. Another day, a real highlight, was a visit to a small escargot factory--the crew purchased some for our dinner, my first, but not last escargot sampling.  Some passengers curled up with books or watched the scenery along the way.  Also, the barge had bikes, and I was able to ride along the canal path to the next lock and wait for our barge--admiring gardens along the way, making friends with crews on power boats, waiting to get through the locks, and farmers selling eggs, lapins, veggies, bread and wine.  Dinner was always very good.  That year happened to be the coldest, wettest July in France for a 100 years, but it did not dampen our spirits, and the crew loaned me a rain cape for my bike rides.  Since we always pack to layer, I spent that month in France, not looking chic, but very bulky.  

Think you would enjoy this mode of travel.  Cheers. Joan.  





From: Marilyn Hammond 
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:31 AM
To: idyllchat at lists.untours.com 
Subject: [Idyllchat] Question about barge tours


 

Hello -

 

I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with barge tours.  If so, I'd love to hear your pros and cons.  We've stayed away from cruises, preferring our Untours land vacations, but the barge sounds interesting.

 

Thank you.

 

Marilyn


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