Cellar Tastings

France is home to some of the most beautiful countryside and architecture in the world. What could be lovelier than travelling along the beautiful French Atlantic coastline, visiting the chateaux of the Loire valley, or wine tasting your way through the world’s most famous wineries? For foodies and gourmet tourists, Burgundy has some of the best food and wine on the planet. The French Pyrenees are a great place to visit if you like medieval villages, charming small hotels and "Gites", rustic cooking and stunning scenery. Bordeaux is home to wonderful wineries with an established infrastructure for wine tourists, and some sweet little villages. Provence boasts gorgeous lavender fields and Cathar castles, with many old villas transformed into beautiful restaurants and hotels. Brittany has unpredictable weather but is worth a visit to see the sand dunes, the virgin beaches, the fortress castles and to taste the freshly caught seafood. And then there's Paris..

Burgundy

The principal towns of this gourmet paradise are Dijon and Beaune. Burgundy has always been wealthy, from the time when it was the center of the medieval Christian faith) to nowadays as the heart of a world-class wine industry. The landscapes in Burgundy range from rolling hills covered in picturesque vineyards and wineries to Alpine forests. Architectural highlights of Burgundy include: the 14th century Gothic Cathedral St-Etienne in Auxerre, the beautiful medieval town of Seur-en-Auxois, the 12th century Abby at Vézelay (an important stop for pilgrims enroute to Santiago de Compostela), 17th century colourful Hôtel de Vogüé in Dijon and the intricately tiled Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune, also known as “the Hospice”, considered to be the most beautiful structure n the region. While travelling in Burgundy, don’t miss the gourmet fare and superb wines such as Chablis, and Puligny-Montrachet for whites and Santenay or Volnay for reds.

Corsica

Mediterranean bliss is how many would describe the beautiful, mountainous island of Corsica. After Sicily and Sardinia, Corsica is the third biggest island in the Med. The coastline is similar to Northern California, rugged with many small, pretty coves and beautiful villages. Corsica’s main claim to fame is being the birthplace of Napoleon. The island today is a treat for those interested in a rural vacation. It has perfect conditions for hiking and diving. There are many charming towns such as: Corte (located just in the center of the island, where Corsica’s university is located), Calvi (a town in the west, famous for being the place where Lord Nelson lost his eye during a battle in 1794, even today the town has a military feel to it), St-Florent (a very chic seaside resort that dates back to the 1500’s), Bonifacio (on the souther tip of Corsica, famous for its 12th century Citadel and for its amazing views of the Mediterranean from the old harbor) and Sartene (a medieval, fortified town full of cobblestoned streets).

French Pyrenees and French Basque Lands

Romanesque churches, huge empty spaces, snow capped peaks and medieval villages dot this beautiful region of France. Henry IV was born in this wilderness that is now inhabited by farmers, trekkers and cows. There are some gorgeous villages and architectural monuments. The Pyrenees stretch from the Atlantic Ocean inland to the town of Ax-le Thermes. There are beautiful Basque villages (10% of the Basque country lies in France, and Esplette is a typical Basque village to visit), lovely seaside resorts (Biarritz, St-Jean-de-Luz and Bayonne) and excellent hiking (in the Parc National des Pyrénées). While the Spanish side of the Pyrenees is slightly more arid, the French side is lush, verdant and absolutely beautiful. Lovely towns to visit on the way include Sauveterre-de-Béarn (a quaint market town with cute hotels), Pau (a historic university town that boasts a wonderful Castle, the Châteaux de Pau, birthplace of Henry IV in 1553, and some excellent examples of Belle Époque facades) and the mountain villages of Foix, Mirepoix, Montségur and St-Bertrand-de-Comminges.

Loire Valley – Land of Castles and Wine

The artists who illustrate fairytale collections must have all got their inspiration from the Loire Valley, a beautiful and regal region just west of Paris. The Loire River cuts straight across the region, the life force of the region many vineyards. Orléans, one of the Loire’s main towns, was the seat of French intellectual life in the 13th century and attracted poets, artists, pleasure seekers and the wealthy, who built their chateaux along the river. Today, the Loire is home to hundreds of phenomenal mansions and castles, many of them open to the public and some even transformed into historic, luxury hotels. Some of the prettiest towns include Saumur, Amboise and Blois. Saumur in particular is a fantastic place for a visit, famed for its perfectly preserved castle, its sparkling wines and its mushrooms. There’s an interesting museum, the Musée du Champignon, who organize guided visits to the nearby Tufa Caves where most of the mushrooms are cultivated. The most impressive Chateaux in the Loire Valley would include: Châteaux de Chenonceau (a Renaissance splendor where Catherine de Medici lived), Châteaux de Chambord (the Loires’s largest castle, built in the 1500’s by 1,800 workers), Châteaux d’Amboise (stunning and a “must see”) and Châteaux de Chaumont (a feudal castle). While in the Loire, you’ll have to try the excellent local wines such as Sancerre, Volnay, Menetou Salon and the deliciously unctuous Quarts-de-Charme.

Paris

Paris is one of those cities that many people wish they had a chance to “spend a year” as the tourist never quite feels as if they have seen anything. Paris is supremely romantic, cultured and exciting. There are few structures in the world as stunning as Notre-Dame, begun in 1163, taking two centuries to complete! On your first visit to Paris, there are definitely a few places you wouldn’t want to miss: For street life, shops and great restaurants- the fabulous, bohemian neigborhoods of Le Marais (the beautiful, old Jewish quarter) and La Bastille (students and artists); for architecture masterpieces and museums: Notre-Dame (get there very early if you want to climb to the top, otherwise you could be waiting in line for hours), the Louvre (apart from the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan in new York, the Louvre must have the hugest collection of art and antiquities in the world, buy your tickets online before you arrive and save yourself a long line), the Opera House (grandiose and impressive), the Musée Rodin (which is housed in the famous sculptor’s 18th century mansion) and the Sacré- Coeur and lively Montmartre district (famous for the original Moulin Rouge 19th century dance hall)

If you have more time to spend, why not go see some live jazz in the Montparnasse district, take a long stroll through the beautiful Bois de Boulogne park, or check out some modern art at the Georges Pompidou Center? Other places of great beauty include the Muséede l’Orangerie (full of Manets, Picassos and Cézannes), the Place Vendôme (the 17th century square where Napoleon and Josephine were married) and the Jardin des Tuileries (fabulous, manicured gardens that date back to the 1600’s). Mosst first time visitors to Paris try to visit Versailles, 15 miles outside of Paris. Versailles was the seat of the court between 1682 and 1789, and where Marie Antoinette and Louis XXI were plucked out of their bourgeois paradise by angry mobs at the start of the French revolution, before losing their heads. The Châteaux at Versailles is enormous and truly worth a visit. The gardens are lovely as is the town of Versailles itself and it merits staying a night.

South of France – Languedoc, Provence and the Côte d’Azur

Fields of Lavender, stunning Cathar castles and elegant seaside villages- these are only some of the highlights of the south of France. If there are three things you had to visit in the south of France, they would have to be the spectacular castle of Carcassone for the history, the elegant town of Nice for the dining and the artsy village of Collioure for the charm. Carcassone is the best preserved and biggest medieval citadel in Europe. It is full of turrets, ramparts and absolutely picturesque. Underneath “la Cité” lie neat vineyards and up above in the town, there are romantic, narrow streets full of cafes/ tourist shops, wine bars, elegant restaurants, charming hotels, etc. Stay here at least a night so you can see it illuminated, amazing.

Collioure is a village close to the Spanish border, famous for having a bohemian air and for attracting artists. Matisse, Salvador Dali and Picasso all lived or vacationed in Collioure and the little colourful, seaside village has retained all of its charm. It has a tiny harbor dominated by an unusual lighthouse. Collioure also boasts a 13th century Knights Templar Château called the Château Royal. Nice is a city known for its glamour, its beautiful port, and increasingly for its phenomenally creative young chefs. Nice is the capital of the Côte d’Azur, the French Riviera, and is a bustling town full of culture, lovely architecture and a good base to explore the interior of Provence. Great places to visit in Nice include: the Musée Chagall (which houses the largest collection of his work), the Musée Matisse (located inside a pretty 17th century French Villa) and the interesting Cathedrale Orthodoxe Russe-St Nicholas (a Russian Orthodox cathedral built in 1912, complete with onion domes.)

Winery Touring in France

The prestigious wine regions of Champagne, Bordeaux, and Burgundy have a multitude of wineries open to the public, with tasting rooms and wine for sale. The French invented the concept of the “Route du Vin” and were the first to capitalize on the potential of wine tourism. In Champagne, you could visit Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Bollinger or Louis Roederer. In Bordeaux, it’s trickier to see the famed Chateaux (they don’t always open to the general public) but many of the smaller producers are open to the public such as Châteaux Teyssier or Châteaux Fieuzal. Burgundy is fabulous for wine tasting and you could easily visit the big hosues such as Drouhin, Bouchard Pere et Fils, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, etc. In the Loire, you could try visiting Domaine Henry Pellé, Didier Dagueneau or Vincent Pinard.