LORRAINE

 Cruise to the heart of Alsace-Lorraine, where French and German culture entwine to create one of France’s most bewitching regions.   Colmar and Strasbourg are two of Europe's most fascinating small cities. Enjoy wine tasting, visit a brewery, see one of Chagall's best works, and have a look up close at crystal-making from beginning to end. You will spend time in picturesque villages and cruise the most interesting canal in France with its long tunnel and famous inclined plane.  During this week you will sample 24 different wines, 18 different cheeses, and eat some truly gourmet foods.

Saturday      

Meeting place is the Strasbourg train station at 4:45 pm. From there you will be transferred  to The Lorraine, moored in Krafft.  You will be welcomed aboard and meet the crew while your bags are put in your cabin.  Following the welcome drink and orientation you will have a short time before your firs gourmet dinner aboard Lorraine.                                                               

After breakfast we begin cruising toward Strasbourg.  Before lunch we will boatd our air conditioned coach to Colmar, renowned for its magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings, 13th-century collegiate church, and the waterside Little Venice district. This is an all day program.  You will enjoy lunch at a local restaurant in Colmar feasting on one of the specialties of the region.  In addition to your guided tour you will have some free time to explore. Stop at the Unterlinden Museum, famous for its Renaissance art and home to the “Issenheim Altarpiece.”  Click here for some photos and information about Colmar.   We will return to the barge, now moored in Strasbourg, through the famous "Route Des Vins" a small road running at the base of the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, parallel to the Rhine, and through the famous vineyards of Alsace. We pause in picturesque Medieval  Riquewihr for a wine tasting of local vintages and souvenir shopping before returning to Lorraine.   Click here to see some photos from picturesque Riquewihr.

We cast off early and cruise over breakfast toward Strasbourg centre. We enter the heart of Strasbourg and pass through the commercial docks before leaving the city to the north.  We pass the ultra modern buildings of the European Parliament. Here we will disembark for a  guided walking tour of the principal sights of Strasbourg with its cobbled streets and timbered houses.    The unique beauty of picturesque “petite France” riverside district is magnificent.  The remarkable cathedral of Notre Dame, whose construction spread over five centuries from the Romanesque choir to the flamboyant gothic spire, is a highlight. Click here for some photos of Strasbourg. Afterwards we continue cruising to Hochfelden and our mooring for tonight.  There is ample opportunity to walk between locks on the tow path or to bicycle into nearby villages. Click here for some photos of activities on the tow path.  Overnight in the picturesque village of Hochfelden.

This morning we begin cruising after breakfast passing several typical Alsatian villages  where ancient documents prove there was a brewery as early as 870 A.D. All French beer is brewed in Alsace.   We will visit a small local brewery and sample some delicious Alsatian Beer.  Click here to see some photos of our visit to the brewery.  This day provides us with excellent opportunities for walking and cycling (perhaps diverting to a bierstub to appreciate the product of a local brewery).  Later, a delightful afternoon cruise brings us to the picturesque small town of Saverne.  Click here for photos and history of Saverne.                                                                                                                                                            

After breakfast we make a short drive to visit a unique crystal factory  to see the most famous products of this area. Alsace hs long been the crystal center of Europe.  You will visit a crystal factory where you can watch the glass as it comes out of the furnace and is turned into wondeful works of art.  But the real skill is in the cutting.  Professional crystal cutters go to school for 4 years and do a 3 year apprenticeship.   Beautiful  pieces  of crystal are still individually blown and fashioned by hand.  Each of you will have an opportunity to try your had at the cutting wheel.  Click here for pictures at the crystal factory.  Back on board, cruise into Lorraine to the beautiful town   of Lutzelbourg nestled in the Vosges mountains.  In Lutzelbourg there is the ruins of an old fortress, and dozens of beautiful walking trails through the nearby hills.  Bring some walking shoes.There will be time to explore this canal side city before dinner.  Click here to see some photos of Lutzelbourg.

We begin a morning cruise by entering the steep-sided valley of the River Zorn to the famous inclined plane of Arzwiller. Here, a counterbalanced barge lift hauls us up nearly 150 feet to the Marne to Rhine Canal. Click here for photos of the Inclined Plane.

We then cruise through a cutting and two tunnels under the peak of the Vosges Mountains. Click here to see some photos of the tunnels.  We continue along the summit pound, the highest section, of the Marne to Rhine canal. This section of some thirty kilometres with no locks passes through the regional park of Lorraine, a nature reserve with numerous lakes and vast areas of woodland. The canal then begins its descent towards the plain of Lorraine through a series of locks, the first of which was built in the nineteen-fifties to replace a flight of seven of the original early nineteenth century locks and has a drop of nearly fifty feet. This afternoon we will take the coach for a drive to Sarrebourg and visit the chapel of the Cordelieres where we can see the stained glass window created by Marc Chagall.  This day full of art has some pleasant surprises.  Click here to see some photos of the art.  

We arrive at the peaceful village of Xouaxange.   This sleepy little village is great for exploring.

Leave the Lorraine after breakfast and coach transfer  to  the train station in Strasbourg arriving just before noon..  

Some more views of our cruises