French Country Waterways’ Adrienne
By Rick Sylvain
Maps say we are in the heart of France, the confluence where the winding Saone River meets the Canal du Centre. But to passengers aboard the luxury hotel barge Adrienne, we are at the intersection of blissful and soul-stirring.
“Bless their little hearts,” says Matthew Walsh of the blue lobsters that only hours before were poking among the seafloor rocks off Brittany. “They were ready and waiting for us.”
The blue (now very red!) lobster tails are the overture to another night of dining fine aboard Adrienne, of French Country Waterways, sauntering along the rivers and canals that thread through Burgundy, home to some of the finest Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays on the planet.
Lobster tails served aboard Adrienne. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Walsh not only captains Adrienne, he leads shore excursions, describes each of our meals and wines to rich detail, and shops markets in villages for the day’s menus. Including — as he puts it — “fishy products.”
Chef Tadek Zwan’s variation on Lobster Thermidor has all 12 of us — from Key West to Hong Kong — doing our happy dance as Walsh shares the history of the French classic.
In 1891, to celebrate the opening of the play Thermidor by Victorien Sardou, a Paris restaurant came up with the recipe for lobster Thermidor.
“The play has long been forgotten,” Walsh says. “The dish lives on. Proving once again what’s really important in life: a play or food.”
Food indeed.
If you seek an unforgettable week cruising the French countryside, getting immersed in medieval towns, chateaux and estates, wining and dining in ways you never dreamed possible, and tiptoeing through vineyards that produce some of the world’s most prized wines, your barge has come in.
Life of leisure in the emerging canyon of a lock. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Mostly plain-Jane on the outside but with comfy interiors, spacious staterooms and a doting staff, the hotel barges of French Country Waterways ply canals and rivers throughout France.
This is France as it was meant to be seen: slow-going and intimate, not the lightning round of the tour buses.
Burgundy with its picturesque, sloping vineyards and church steeple villages is one of four wine-making regions the four hotel barges of French Country Waterways call home. Others are Champagne, Alsace-Lorraine, and Upper Loire.
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VIDEO: A day in the life of a hotel barge cruise.
Canals Of France
France’s canal system had its origins during the reign of Henry IV in the early 17th century. It evolved into an efficient network linking the provinces with major trade centers. In their heyday, barges transported everything from wine and grain to timber and pig iron. Earliest transport was horse-drawn following well-worn towpaths. Fancier barges offered an alternative to hardscrabble travel on primitive French highways.
One marker of each hotel barge is its narrowness, to navigate through locks. Dozens of locks operate on Burgundy’s 600-mile web of waterways to lift or lower boats and barges through the ups and downs of water levels.
Fontaines-sur-Saone. Hotel barges navigate – narrowly! – through dozens of locks in Burgundy. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
VIDEO: See what it’s like to transit one of the many locks along the way.
We Rise. We Fall. It’s A Rush.
Here is where the easygoing pace of barge cruising grabs hold. Some stretches allow us to step off the barge and walk the towpaths or grab a bicycle and pedal to an onward lock, rejoining the barge.
Rick in action cycling along the canal. * Photo: Leesa Bainbridge
Pony up the Euros and we can drift above the dreamscape in a hot air balloon.
Aboard a bike or à pied (on foot), France’s pastoral charms unfold. Villagers walk their dogs canal-side, anglers fish for carp and catfish, church bells toll, a frantic world seems to drop away.
“I cleared off all my work so I could come onto the barge, sit back, relax and let the world go by,” said Richard Clements of Oklahoma City, cruising with his wife, Melissa.
Author Rick Sylvain and wife Leesa Bainbridge asail on the Saone. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
La Cuisine Aboard French Country Waterways’ Adrienne
Fine cuisine is religion in France. Gourmet lunch buffets and four-course candlelit dinners onboard are a celebration of the great gastronomic centers that surround us. With each tinkling of her tinker bell, hostess Angela Walsh (Matthew’s wife) summons us to the wood-paneled dining salon.
Capt. Matthew Walsh doubles as Adrienne’s sommelier! * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Aboard Adrienne, delectable salads and a daily quiche are the supporting cast for lunchtime creations of chef Tadek Zwan. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Warm and ready for breakfast, brought on board from a village Patisserie. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Breakfast and lunch were served at several tables for four, while dinner was served at one long table. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
With Burgundy’s capital Dijon a stop on our journey, Agneau roti cuit aux herbes et la moutarde (a roasted lamb dish) highlights one dinner menu. Other evenings include chef’s take on guinea fowl, a juicy magret de canards and the traditional filet de beouf.
Garden-fresh fruits and seasonal legumes, as well as savory desserts, are the supporting cast.
“Food and wine is center stage,” Matthew says. “If you hear someone opening a can, it’s not here. Everything is sourced fresh.”
Les fromages! We savor cheeses preferred by Napoleon, a cheese Louis XIV the Sun King was partial to, cheeses that date to Pliny the Elder, Morbier (soot in its aging history — talk about unique), and award-winning Epoisses, a cow’s milk cheese sourced from this region.
Each three-cheese course becomes more than a bridge between dishes, it is a celebration of France.
A dreamy quiche du jour was a daily feature of onboard luncheons of chef Tadek Zwan. Avec vin, of course. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Magical Night Ashore
French Country Waterways even takes elegant dining ashore. Along each route, one night is set aside at a celebrated restaurant for an evening of fine cuisine.
Ours is in the village of Chagny. Lameloise, of Chef Eric Pras, boasts three Michelin stars. By night’s end, we all agree. Lemeloise is worth a galaxy.
French cheese displayed like gems at the Michelin-starred Lameloise, in Chagny. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Where Wine Is Royalty
Burgundy’s wines can thank a unique terroir of climate, topography, and soil for their world-class character. Two principal grapes, Pinot Noir for the red and Chardonnay for the white, thrive in vineyards that slope to the water’s edge or push straight up into a village we tour, or a made-for-exploring chateau like Clos de Vougeot, ringed by 12th-century vineyards.
Grapes carrier on the grounds of Chateau du Clos Vougeot, once home to monk-tended vineyards in honor of the abbot of Citeaux and today the 12th century center for social activities to promote Burgundy wines throughout the world. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
An actual French count bids us bienvenue to his Chateau de Rully, wrapped in vineyards not far from the Saone. Raoul de Ternay leads a wine tasting in the Chateau’s medieval kitchen. I don’t know about my fellow passengers, but I’m relieved knowing the count won’t be naming every one of his ancestors hanging in oil paintings, in room after room. His hillside castle has stood for 26 generations.
Aboard Adrienne, Walsh presents and pours spectacular reds and sparkling whites before each lunch and dinner.
Many are premier cru with a prized grand cru or two — Burgundy’s highest classification — among the two dozen he will uncork along our way. Compared to the vast vineyards of Bordeaux, small and territorial is the name of the game in Burgundy.
Vintners around Burgundy are fiercely territorial, delineating each of their plots. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Ports Steeped In History
Smallish as wine-making regions go, Burgundy serves up riches of wonderment as Adrienne locks through canals and slips past quaint villages that date centuries. These ancient hills knew the footsteps of the Dukes of Burgundy, in their time more powerful than the French kings.
Beautiful Beaune, medieval wine capital of Burgundy, home to a magnificent hospice founded in 1443 as a hospital for the poor. Now a museum and one of the finest examples of 15th-century Flemish Gothic architecture, the twin buildings have a fairytale feel with their ornate rooftops surrounding a stone courtyard.
With its striking rooftops, architectural centerpiece in Burgundy’s wine capital of Beaune is the Hospices de Beaune, one of the finest examples of Flemish Gothic architecture. Now a museum, it was founded in 1443 — before Columbus! — as a hospital for the poor. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Chalon-sur-Soane. Stroll and shop the winding lanes leading from the main square. Especially at night the square is the vibrant heartbeat of town, ringed in colorful timber-framed houses.
View from the Cloister of the Cathedral of Saint Vincent to the twin-spired cathedral rising above the town square in picturesque Chalon-sur-Saone. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
The wine village of Chassagne-Montrachet surrounds itself in a vastness of vineyards. A local vintner welcomes us to a private tour and tasting of their fine wines.
Wine tasting. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Dijon, the town of medieval buildings, delicious food, and fine wines, is of course most famous for its moutarde. In the shadows of the Cathedral of Saint Beningus (13th century) is a shop lined with a dizzying array of mustards.
Mustard tasting bar in Dijon. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Go ahead. Belly up to the tasting bar for free samples. When in Dijon, after all…
Interested In French Country Waterways’ Adrienne?
Some barging details …
Not cruise ships nor long riverboats, hotel barges accommodate far fewer passengers on more intimate sailings following quiet waterways that crisscross Europe. Typically between six and 12 passengers.
Adrienne accommodates 12 passengers. Crew of six is bilingual.
- Sailing season for the luxury barges of French Country Waterways is April through October.
- Cruises are a leisurely six nights, Sunday to Saturday.
- For most of French Country Waterways barge cruises, guests are met for escorted transfers at the pickup point in Paris, taken to their vessel via luxury motorcoach and returned to the same hotel.
- For Alsace-Lorraine, passengers are picked up/dropped off in Strasbourg.
- France is a country of varying climates. You can expect temperatures ranging from the mid-50s in early April, gradually warming to the 80s in July and August, and returning to the 50s by November.
- Rain in France is quite unpredictable. Amounts of sunshine vary widely.
- Recommended is an umbrella and hooded jacket or windbreaker. Dress in layers.
- Onboard attire is casual resort wear and comfortable shoes. Dressier is the rule for the night ashore and the Captain’s Farewell Dinner.
RELATED: Read our barge cruise tips to see if it’s for you.
Adrienne’s Cabins & Interior
Handsomely furnished, lower-deck staterooms feature full-sized beds and a private bath.
One of Adrienne’s six cabins, which is very similar to Rick’s. * Photo: FCW
Passengers are treated to a turn down service, plush robes, fresh flowers, thick cotton towels, Lalique toiletries, custom-made Egyptian cotton linens.
Adrienne’s interior. * Photo: Rick Sylvan
Below decks, Adrienne’s dining area, bar and living room was a relaxing scene, reminiscent of an English sitting parlor. Everything was tidy and shipshape.
Adrienne’s Route
Adrienne sails between Chatillon-sur-Loire and Nemours in the Upper Loire. Vagaries of water levels can sometimes impact passage on canals, as they did our sailing, prompting a pivot to the more ample waters of the river Saone without anyone feeling robbed of intimate canal time.
Our Itinerary Pivot
A hot summer and lack of rain can be the one-two punch that sometimes renders the shallow canals of Burgundy not navigable in the fall by pleasure boats, passenger and cargo barges. So it was in 2023. As a precaution, the French Navigation Authority closed the Burgundy Canal. Adrienne normally navigates the Burgundy, Canal du Centre, and the River Saone. With Burgundy out of play, French Country Waterways altered Adrienne’s course to still make every published port of call, every tour. FCW fully informed passengers pre-cruise of this “slight modification,” a spokesperson said. Normally, Adrienne travels the six days from Dijon to St Leger-sur-Dheune, or the reverse. Instead, embarkation on Oct. 22, 2023, was at St Jean de Losne. No French wines were harmed in the changing of this course!
Ultimately, a week of French rivers and canals served up the best of both worlds.
Adrienne eases past the lock keeper’s cottage after locking through at Fontaines-sur-Saone, in eastern France. * Photo: Rick Sylvain
Fares For French Country Waterways’ Adrienne
With no hidden costs, 2024 all-inclusive rates for a six-night barge cruise range from $7,795 USD per person in shoulder season to $8,595 USD in high season and include an elegant dinner ashore at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
For more details including 2024 sailing dates and a 32-page brochure, contact French Country Waterways at www.fcwl.com and 800 222-1236.
Ask about charters or promotions. French Country Waterways offers 25% off select April 2024 sailings in Champagne aboard the hotel barge Nenuphar.
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Prior to a 20-year career at Walt Disney World Resort as publicity director, Rick Sylvain served 17 years as Travel Editor of the Detroit Free Press. Of other media roles, he ran Michigan Broadcast operations for the Associated Press.
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