This weeks cruising is all about Champagne and over coming days we'll visit some of the major centres associated with this wonderful bubbly liquid! This weeks cruising is all about Champagne and over the coming days we'll visit all the major centres associated with this wonderful bubbly liquid!
Fierce first world war battles were fought in the countryside nearby and an imposing American memorial to Cote lies ten kilometres away, above the town and terrific views of the surrounding countryside can be gained from up here.
Chateau-Thierry is best known as the birth place in of the poet, Jean de La Fontaine and a small museum in the house of his birth can be visited. The surrounding villages all have small wine makers offering tasting opportunities and the nearby village of Brasles has a museum of wine labels. The Caves de champagne Pannier offer a one hour audiovisual presentation and tour of its cellars in a 13th century stone quarry.
There are a number of restaurants in town and tonight you'll be dining ashore. After a leisurely breakfast we will be steaming out of Chateau-Thierry heading for the small town of Dormans, further upstream. Dormans has a wonderful Chateau in whose outbuildings are contained a museum crammed with rural farming implements.
It's usually manned by staff from local wine growers and well worth the visit. On the hill behind the Chateau is a beautifully illuminated chapel and war memorial which is extremely moving to visit with a torch after dark.
