SPOTLIGHT ON: DEAN SAVAGE
CAPTAIN OF L’ART DE VIVRE

Captain Dean (pictured right, wearing a tie) comes from Essex in south east England.

Having studied for a career in the computer industry, his interest in all things techno was soon diverted when he received a phone call one weekend from his cousin Lee asking him to join him as a deckhand on a barge in France.

Arriving in Auxerre a week later (!) he soon felt quite at home chugging along the very picturesque Canal du Nivernais.

He spent the first couple of years learning to drive barges   before coming to European Waterways in 2001. I encouraged Dean to take his barge driving licence and soon Dean became the pilot aboard the "La Belle Époque".

In 2002 Dean started working aboard L'Art de Vivre where he has become Captain. 

What has made him fall in love with “the Arty”, as she is fondly known, is the quaint, warm and friendly ambience she has about her. Passengers are always remarking how inviting and homely she feels.

Over the five years Dean has been on board "L'Art de Vivre" he has proudly been involved with maintaining and improving her, including installing new water tanks and a Jacuzzi on the front deck.

This winter is no exception. We are currently installing a new generator, a swish new wooden deck for the sun terrace and refurbishing the cabins. So come join us aboard the new improved "L'Art de Vivre" and soak up her charm – and that of her captain!

Contact us to find out more about a cruise on L'Art de Vivre

Breaking News! The Best of Upper Loire and Burgundy
with Savoir Faire..

"The Best of Upper Loire and Burgundy"

Auxerre ( Burgundy) to Montargis ( Upper Loire)

via the Yonne, Petite Seine and Canal du Loing

Departure Dates

June 03 to June 09 (Montargis to Auxerre)

June 24 to June 30 (Auxerre to Montargis)

July 01 to July 07 (Montargis to Auxerre)

July 08 to July 14 (Auxerre to Montargis)

July 15 to July 21 (Montargis to Auxerre)

July 22 to July 28 (Auxerre to Montargis)

July 29 to August 04 (Montargis to Auxerre)

August 05 to August 11 (Auxerre to Montargis)

August 12 to August 18 (Montargis to Auxerre)

Excursions

• Walking tour of medieval Auxerre with optional "Son et Lumiere in the Cathedral" after dinner
• Wine tasting at Chablis with personalized tour of the Grand Cru vineyards followed by optional cheese tasting at a local Burgundian farm
• Walking tour of 13th Century riverside town of Villeneuve sur Yonne
• Walking tour of 12th Century Sens Cathedral, the first of the great Gothic cathedrals of France
• Tour of the Chateau of Vaux la Vicompte and gardens - setting for the film "The Man In The Iron Mask"
• Walking tour of medieval Moret sur Loing and visit to the house of famous Impressionist Alfred Sisley
• Tour of Fontainebleau Palace & gardens followed by optional visit to artist community of Barbizon
• Excursion to the shops and flowered walkways of Montargis

Contact us to find out more about a cruise on Savoir Faire

Wines of the Midi

The Languedoc-Roussillon wine region of France is nestled down in the south west corner of France, stretching right across to the Mediterranean along the south coast. To the west are the Spanish border and the great mountain range of the Pyrenees and to the East is the Rhone delta. The northern boundary is marked by the black mountains, the ancient limestone foothills of the Massif Central.

From here the vines tumble sprawl over the steep slopes, right to the edge of the sea. This may not be the most well-known French wine region, but with over 850,000 acres of vines it is the biggest vineyard region in the world, and it can also claim to be the oldest wine making region in France.

The history of wine in this region reflects the civilisation of Western Europe right up to the 20th Century. It was the Phoenicians who brought wine over to Europe from Egypt and the Middle East about 4000 years ago. They established trading posts such as the oppidum d’Enserune, which can still be seen near Narbonne. These trading routes encouraged the ancient Greeks to set up the port of Agde, cultivate the vine and export wine around the Med.

By the first century BC this infrastructure and wine encouraged the Romans to establish Narbonne as the second city of their Empire. It became the retirement home for successful legionnaires, who received, upon completion of their military career, a local woman and a plot of land to cultivate vines!

This established the Midi as a large-scale winemaking region, which it has remained ever since. Firstly it gained notoriety for producing large quantities of inexpensive wine. During the industrial revolution, when it was discovered that the wine from this region had significant health benefits for the mine workers in the north of France, and could extend their productive life for over two years, the mine owners were buying up the wine and giving their workers up to two bottles a day!

Following the industrial revolution the winemakers of the midi embarked on colonisation, and moving to North Africa they started cultivating vines, and blending the wines with their own French production, to produce a wine which was popular in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. In the last 50 years many of these wine producers have returned to the Midi, and are more interested in promoting pure unblended wines of the region. In doing so they bring the Languedoc-Roussillon into the fold of the French wine industry Appellation Controlée classification.

It is this late arrival into the French classification system that has made the region remain in the shadows, but it also makes it the fastest moving and most dynamic in Europe. The area as a whole is fast moving away from mass production and co-operative wine making, towards smaller scale higher quality estate production and bottling, and it is doing this on two fronts.

Some producers are following the Appellation system, making wine from the old classic but lesser known grape varieties of the region, and improving the quality to gain one of the geographically limited appellation awards. (Of which over 10 have been introduced since the 1980s). Then there are those who are introducing popular varieties (such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon) from other regions, they do not qualify for an appellation because the varieties are not native to the area.

This leads to the unusual situation in France where the non-Appellation Vin de Pays are often as good as the classified Appellation wines. It also means that there is a huge variety of different wines on offer, with new and different wines appearing all the time. This also demonstrates the southerners’ typical reluctance to engage in national bureaucracy - if they want to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, then they will, whatever the officials in suits might say!

Contact us to find out more about our Midi Cruises

Sweet life on canals of Venice

By Maggy Oehlbeck , as appeared in The Sunday Telegraph, Australia,
October 8th 2006

They look not unlike 18th century Venetian ladies lifting their skirts above a flooded Piazza San Marco.

Venice is a colourful canvas of masterpiece art and architecture, Byzantine and baroque churches, carnivals, regattas, and milky green canals engraved with the slender silhouettes of gondolas.

This is my eighth visit, but in some ways it's my first. This time I am seeing Venice as she should be seen: from water level – and not from a gondola, water taxi, vaporetto (waterbus) or cruise ship.

Our craft is a barge, called La Dolce Vita – The Sweet Life – which started life as a cargo barge in 1897. For six nights, she is our home as we cruise the Venetian lagoon, and then the Brenta Canal with its fabled villas.

We begin by overnighting at the evocative Hotel Londra Palace, a gem of a hotel with a fine waterfront restaurant and unequalled views of St Mark's Basin across to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

At our pick-up point on the island of Lido we were introduced to the crew of three: captain, cook, major domo, and fellow guests. This clearly would be a family affair: La Dolce Vita can only take six paying passengers.

On deck we sipped cool, crisp Prosecco as we skirted the reedy banks of Sant'Erasmo, scattering protesting sea birds before us, with the leaning tower of the island of Burano's church fixed in our sights. Venice had vanished, but we were in the lagoon from which she had sprung.

Once dusk had fallen, we gathered around the precisely set table in the communal lounge and dining room, warmed by the glow of candlelight, and accompanied by the music of Venice's great composer, Vivaldi.

To my surprise our Swiss-trained chef, Kristian Pedderson, turned out to be an Aussie who had worked as head chef at Crowne Plaza on the Gold Coast. Each day, he dazzled our palates with faultless foods and flavours of the Veneto region.

That first night we feasted on scampi, marinated anchovies, an asparagus risotto and sea bass, followed by a creamy semi-freddo.

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Sweet life on canals of Venice - continued

Next morning a stiff breeze had sprung up; it was perfect drying weather for the wives of Burano, judging from sheets festooning the brightly painted houses – an ancient custom to help fishermen see their homes from the sea.

Burano remains an island of fishermen and lacemakers. Watching the nimble fingers of lacemakers performing their delicate tasks contrasted sharply with the nuggety fingers of their fisher husbands deftly mending nets.

Next stop was Torcello, the first island of the lagoon to be colonised 2000 years ago. It's now a bleak and lonely place, and the population is all but gone. But Torcello's treasures survive: a 7th-century cathedral (oldest building in the lagoon) with its exquisite mosaics; the Byzantine church of Santa Fosca; Attila's throne; and the bell tower.

Our skipper insisted we climb the bell tower for the best view of the lagoon. It was amazing – but nerve-wracking when the bells tolled.

Predictably, Venice is the jewel of the cruise. Being a small party, we had private tours of St Mark's and the Doges Palace, then time to explore, take a gondola ride, shop or sip coffee in the famous Piazza San Marco.

But our cruise was not over, as the Brenta canal beckoned.

For the next two days we sauntered along this fascinating waterway, through locks, avenues of trees and fields of scarlet poppies, with the occasional glimpse of the snow-capped Dolomites.

But it is the opulent villas of Venetian aristocracy of the 17th and 18th centuries that are astonishing: Palladio's famous Villa Foscari at Malcontenta, the villas Widmann, Val Marana and Foscarini.

Best of all was the Villa Pisani – an 18th century masterpiece with frescos by Tiepolo, magnificent gardens and a maze.

True to translation, La Dolce Vita did indeed deliver the sweet life.

Maggie’s trip was a guest of Outdoor Travel , PO Box 286, Bright, Victoria 3741, Australia Website: http://www.outdoortravel.com.au/  

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January Competition winner

Our January Lockkeeper competition offered you the chance to win six bottles of fine Chablis wine.

Find out who's won the Chablis prize. Chablis Wine competition winner .

February Competition

ACTIEF – RIVER THAMES - CELEBRATORY BIRTHDAY OFFER!
$500 / £250 per person discounts on 2007 cruises

As part of Actief’s 100 th birthday celebrations (see Lock Keeper October 2006), all clients booking a 2007 cruise for 3 or more passengers on board the delightful Actief and paying their deposit before the end of March 2007 will benefit from a discount of $500 / £250 per person.

Bookings for 1-2 passengers can also benefit from this discount if the desired cruise week already has passengers booked on it.

Go on! Treat yourself to a scintillating Thames cruise and go “messing about” in “Wind in the Willows” country!

Contact us today to book your Actief cruise.

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Carnival creatures - Pézenas Foal (Le Poulain de Pezenas)

Pézenas Foal (Le Poulain de Pezenas)

The “Poulain” is a major feature of the Pezenas Shrove Tuesday carnival. This colourful giant foal leads the opening procession around town, accompanied by a rousing marching band. When you look at it, it doesn’t actually bear much resemblance to a foal, apart from the minuscule head, but nevertheless, that is what it represents!

The foal symbolises village unity and security and its appearance in the town’s folklore is said to date back to the middle ages, being a gift from King Louis VIII. Apparently King Louis was visiting the area in 1226 and his mare fell ill. Temporarily transport-less, apart from his legs of course, he was in a bit of a fix. Miraculously two gifted men of Pézenas appeared on the scene and were able to resuscitate the mare, which, as a double-whammy, produced a foal! As a gesture of appreciation the king gave Pezenas a wooden foal which the townspeople were proud to exhibit at all their festive occasions to represent their newly established friendship with the king. So the foal parade has existed to this very day.

However, the story doesn’t end there. It appears that the king and his entourage were about to cross the river Peyne. Not far away, the king saw a peasant lady in a long skirt trying to cross the river without getting her skirt wet. Gallantly he lifted her up onto his horse and gave her a lift home. So that is why the foal is ridden by the mannequins of Estieinou and Estieinette!.

Over the years, the wooden foal has mutated into a huge cloth covered aluminium frame-tent (looks a bit like the old fashioned cowboy’s wagon!) and is carried and manipulated by a group of nine men, who all cluster up inside the frame.

One of them is the “head bearer” and operates the tiny head which sticks out of the frame at one end, raised up on a long pole reaching a height of some 20 feet.

In true carnival style, the horse is a mischievous creature and as it progresses through the town, it can be seen kicking its 18 legs out from under the tarpaulin, springing around and playing tricks on the spectators, one of which is to pretend to drink from a bucket and then spray everyone with water.

To avoid unceremonial crashes, there are special transparent panels in the tarpaulin and the team is headed up by a leader who navigates the course!

All I can say is “try tossing a pancake at the same time” !

Shrove Tuesday isn’t the only time when the foal comes out of hibernation. It can also be seen frolicking on the first Sunday in July and makes occasional trips to other local festivals.

Contact us to find out more about our Anjodi and Athos cruises.

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News

TRIBUTE TO “CHALKY”

It is with great sadness that we heard of the demise of one of TV’s much loved animals, Chalky the Jack Russell Terrier. Although Chalky never cruised on Anjodi during the making of Rick Stein’s French Odyssey due to his advanced years, he featured in the film and was sent regular postcards by Rick.

Although he has lost his furry friend, we know Rick will carry fond memories of Chalky for many years and his spirit will be around for ever. Read what Rick had to say about Chalky; http://www.rickstein.com/news_ripchalky.htm

La Dolce Vita Vogalonga cruise

While your mouth is still watering from Maggie Oehlbeck’s account of her trip, we are pleased to announce that there are still two cabins available on the special 7 night cruise departing on 26 th May, which coincides with the famous Vogalonga regatta, a colourful pageant which attracts people from all over the world. If you love Italy and boat racing, this is a spectacle you really shouldn’t miss!

Contact us to find out more about a cruise on La Dolce Vita.

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