Chateau Neuf du Pape would have to be one of the famous vineyard areas in France – and we were off the ship at Avignon for a visit and tasting. The young man who conducted the tour dazzled us with data about terroir (soil, climate, human interference) and things called Cru. Me, I’m a philistine….
Vienne feels like a small town in France but it was once a major Roman powerhouse. Back in the Roman period, Vienne was one of the most important cities in Gaul. Its position on the Rhône made it a key transport and trade route, effectively a Roman highway linking the Mediterranean to the interior. Goods,…
On a day of low cloud, drizzle, and biting cold we headed off on a coach to visit the famous Cluny Abbey, once one of the most powerful institutions in Europe. I remembered Cluny from my medieval history studies at university, half a century ago. I was expecting something along the lines of Melk Abbey…