Your day starts with breakfast onboard… sharing your favorite table by the window with the couple you became friends with at your welcome dinner… enjoying your favorite buffet selections just the way you like them… along with great views of the sprawling vineyards blanketing the banks of this fabled French river, and lighthearted conversation with your companions. The riverboat docks right around the time you’re finished with breakfast; you couldn’t have asked for better timing…

As you step off the ship, our local experts eagerly await to show you around the ancient village they call home, a place whose wine-making traditions stretch back over a thousand years; soon it may feel like home to you as well. You’ll spend the morning exploring with your local guide, discovering the ruins of Roman amphitheatres cut into hillsides along quiet rural lanes, so different from those back home. You might decide to join the locals for a glass of pastis and a friendly game of pétanque before returning to the riverboat to continue your cruise. If it’s a warm day, the ship’s staff will greet you with a cool towel and a cold drink upon your return (or hot towels and a hot drink if it’s a tad chilly). Maybe you’ll indulge in a glass of local wine as the riverboat sets off and you wave farewell to the village you just got to know… and love.

Back aboard, you’ll have some time to explore your “floating hotel.” You spot the couple from this morning about to take a dip in the Jacuzzi. “Like to join us?” they ask. You say you’d love to, and are soon relaxing and chatting as you bask in the sun, sipping a cool drink. Refreshed, you head into the lobby just in time to watch the riverboat dock; you might taste your way through a picturesque riverside town, sampling the wares of artisan chocolatiers and a baker who shares a few secrets from his pâtissierie – perhaps enjoying a wine tasting with the owners of a private local vineyard.

Lunch today might be something you have never experienced before… like a home-hosted, traditional meal at a private ranch, known as a manade, in La Camargue. As you make your way across the plains and marshlands of this wild corner of Provence, your Tauck Director and local guide fill you in on the culture that surrounds you. Arriving at the family-owned ranch, your hosts introduce you to the gardians – the cowboys who raise the region’s feisty black bulls, and who demonstrate their time-honored skills for you – and invite you to share a festive meal complete with tasty Provençal specialties, wine and folklore. The couple you had breakfast with joins you, bringing along some new friends who join in the fun. You don’t want it to end, but alas, it must… another Tauck experience to check off on the “wow” list…

Returning to the riverboat, you notice the lights reflecting on the river, and engage in a few moments’ reflection of your own… taking in the magic of the riverscape one last time. Back onboard, after a delicious dinner enjoyed with new friends, you take a moment to send a quick note about your day to the folks back home, then meet your companions for a little more camaraderie around the piano in the lounge before calling it a night. Later, drifting off to sleep, you smile… realizing that you’ll soon be waking up in another magical town… to embark on another perfect day of your Tauck river cruise…