Marseille…. Our trip to Chateauneuf du Pape

I think I write the same thing every time we sail into Marseille…. “OMG, I can’t believe how arid it looks, are we in France or sailing into Oman?”  On one of our previous trips our guide told us that the surrounding mountains look so baron because of the high winds…  Ok .. lets just go with that!!

Today we sailed in the shadow of our sister ship the Enchanted Princess…. Just a tad bit bigger than us.

Todays tour would see us driven up into the country side to Chateauneuf  du Pape, which most of you would recognize if you are a lover of French red wine.

Our first winery was Domaine de Beaurenard, a quaint small cellar that came with a “quaint small” tasting of wine…. Maybe we Australians like a tasting where we can sip enough to have swig around the palette in order to tantalize all of the senses.  One look at the price list and you can see that this will be what you would call a gourmet tasting. We were only offered one other wine to taste, and as nice as the wine was, it was not enough to have us part with our precious euros.

if you scroll in and see the prices, you can see why we didn't indulge 

interesting to see all these old wines on display

Our host was a little dry and unpersonable and quickly lost our interest when we realise there were no more tastings to come.

The second winery was in a  lovely castle, Domaine Mousset.  Well, it was like chalk and cheese…  Natalie behind the bar was a straight shooter, telling us as soon as we entered, she didn’t want to be photograph.  We were fine with that and respected her wishes.  In return she was much more personable than our previous stop, and was more than happy to let us any  wine we wanted, above and beyond the standard tasting menu…  Hence we walked out with a few purchases.

interesting art work at the Castle

The landscape is quite rocky, but makes a good mulch for the vines

excellent and interesting tasting rooms

great range of wines in both flavours and price

Bar minus Natalie

even more interesting artwork in the winery

just a small bottle

Above the village sits the ruins of a medieval castle, which is where we were dropped off to enjoys the views across the valley.  Lunch was at a lovely little restaurant perched on the hill.  The food and wine was excellent.

Lovely Lunch at Le Verger des Pape

After lunch we descended to the village below.  The streets and little lanes were dotted with lots of “Caves” selling the local wines and delicacies. We had quick walk around before meeting our driver who took us to just one more winery before we headed back to Marseille.

Mousset Barrot has connections with the previous winery that we had visited. 

It was a quiet and relaxed ride back to the ship where we shared our sail away with the Enchanted Princess….  Our little toots were no match for the Enchanted love boat tune as they well and truly left us in their wake!

Elba, Napoleon, couldn’t escape if he wanted to!

It is always exciting when you visit a port for the first time, and Elba was one of the few we have on this trip…

What makes Elba famous around the world, is that it is where French Emperor, Napoleon spent his time during his 1814 exile.  Well, I can think of the worst places to be.  Elba is part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago.

Connected to mainland Italy by a bridge, this island is a popular holiday spot for many Italians.  They obviously choose Elba for its extraordinary landscape and beautiful crystal-clear blue waters that surround it.

We anchored just off the port of Portoferraio and it was just a short tender ride into the little harbour.

Beautiful views as we sail in

Small tower at the entrance of the harbour

Like most Italian villages you enter the town through massive gates that form part of the wall that protected it in earlier times.

Entrance to the town

Gates from the inside.

On entering our first stop was the Duomo, a simple design both inside and out, missing the grand ornate walls of the much richer churches.

We followed the stairs and back alleys that led us up to Fort Stella… a little misled in believing that it opened and 9am and many of us had gathered waiting until 10 am before we could get in.

My friend Gerome and his wife heading up to the lookout

Always a pretty view around each corner

whilst waiting for Fort Stella to open we watch a turtle move in and out of his hidy hole for entertainment

our view while we waited

The fort area seems to be made up of different types of accommodation, some looked like they were holiday rentals while others looked well lived in.  The small entrance fee allowed you into the grounds in order to get the elevated views of the harbour and a close-up of lighthouse we could see as we sailed in that morning.

Entrance to Port Stella

View from the forts terrace

View looking back into the gardens of Nepoleons Summer home.

The Light house

Next door was the Villa Dei Mulini, the summer residence of Napolean during his time on the island.  Unfortunately, it is closed on a Tuesday, not one of their cleverest moves on a ship day, as it lost a lot of income as many of us from the Coral Princess walked on by.

If only we had our swimmers, the ocean looked so inviting, as we looked down towards the beach of Spiaggia.  The walk down may not have been too bad.  But the trek back up was not an enticing option.

Heading across we seemed to skirt the town from above and next we walked up to even greater heights to Fort Falcone, we decided not to enter, but enjoyed the spectacular views from its entrance.

Fort Falcone up on the hill

view from the Fort

Weaving our way back down through the many lanes until we were back down near the entrance to where we entered.  Having lost a couple from our group along the way, we stopped in one position and sent out a May Day… once we were all reunited, we went out for a walk along the water front.

one last church before reaching the bottom

Waiting for the boys to find us

we are all reunited

Stumbling into a small restaurant we decided to enjoy a seafood lunch before heading back to the ship.

confiscated lemoncello!!