We left Lyon and sailed overnight to Tournus. We got off to a quick start with a trip to a vineyard in the Macon area. This is Chardonnay country in Burgundy. Our guide was enthusiastic about describing the countryside we travelled through. Did you know that towns founded by Romans tend to be approximately 30 km apart. This is because that is the distance that a legion could travel in one day. The wine in this area is produced by processing Chardonnay or Pinot Noir grapes. 85% of the crop is white wine. She took us to a lovely chateau that dates back to at least the 11th century. The current family has owned the property since the 1980’s and have made it a multigenerational business. Our guide was clear that maintaining these old estates takes a lot of care and financial resources. The current owners run the vineyard, host weddings and social events all while they continue to live on the property.

We spent some quality time in the chateau cellars tasting the current owner’s wine. Our guide was very educative and we enjoyed the early morning beverages.

We left the vineyard feeling the need for a bit of a stretch, so our guide took us for a brief stroll to a prehistoric site where we could get out and wander. The Rock of Sulutre is known to have been a hunting ground for prehistoric hunters. It became a much more popular site when President Mitterrand, who was from this area, continued his annual climb of the rock even after he became president.

This was our only outing for the day as we continued our sailing to Chalon-sur-Soane, the last stop for our cruise. Chalon is a quaint community with an amazing medieval town square.

As we wandered the streets, we noticed a tremendous amount of street art.

We headed back to our boat after a lovely walk and started to prepare to leave the ship. Of course, we needed to experience a bit of stress. We had rented a car that was to be ready for us in Chalon. The car company informed us today that they didn’t have a car for us and that the best they could do was have one for us in Dijon, an hour’s train ride north. We figured out how to book train tickets and settled into a final evening with our travel companions. It was a wonderful cruise and while we are sad to see it end, we are excited to shift into the next part of our journey. Thanks to Cathy and David for making things so easy for us. We are grateful for the time shared with our group.