Our day began with a walking tour of Viviers, led by Usha, our guide from yesterday, who moved there 30 years ago from Trinidad and Tobago. She loves the place and shared that love with us. Our tour started at the ship, took us into the center of town, and up the hill to the Cathedral, followed by a visit to the pottery of Jean Luc Allonneau, where he demonstrated his art, throwing a pot in less than four minutes (the next steps will take days – firing, glazing, and firing again).

We returned to the ship for lunch before departing by coach for our afternoon excursion: truffle hunting and tasting (with some wine, of course) at Domaine Saint-Alban in Richerenches, followed by wine tasting (with chocolate) at Maison Bouachon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

I would have liked to have bought some truffle pesto and some Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, but getting them home would be difficult unless we check luggage, so I settled for a souvenir corkscrew.

Our ship had been sailing down the Rhône as we toured; it met us at the Châteauneuf-du-Pape landing and we continued on to Avignon where we’ll spend tomorrow.

Two years ago, we docked in Tournon on a beautiful, sunny, warm day and took a short walk to a wine tasting. This year, we docked across the Rhône in Tain-l’Hermitage – the day was wet and cold, and our wine tasting was at the end of a four-kilometer hike.

We began by crossing the Marc Seguin bridge to Tournon; it was the first suspension bridge to use wire rope, and bears a strong resemblance to the Brooklyn Bridge.

We walked through Tournon for a few blocks and started our climb up the path to the terraces where they grow the grapes that become delicious wine. We could see the Tower of the Virgin above us, one of the two remaining towers of the twelve which once guarded the city’s ramparts.

If it hadn’t been raining and slippery, it would have been a very pleasant walk; as it was, our guide took us up slowly and everyone survived the trip.

Perhaps the inflatable gargoyle watching over the road at the end of the trail helped keep us safe.

The strenuous part of the hike was over, but we still had a couple of kilometers to go to get to the wine tasting. Our route took us past the Tournon War memorial, over the Marc Seguin bridge, and past a few vineyards before we arrived at the Cave de Tain tasting room.

The tasting was anticlimactic – there was a lot of explication and we only tasted two wines (one white, one red), though the cheese and chocolate which accompanied the wines were very good.

After the tasting, we had a chance to stop at the Valhrona Chocolate tasting room and shop, but we chose to go back to the ship and get out of our wet clothes and shoes…and eat lunch. The pastry chef had prepared a cake showing our route; it took liberties with geography and chronology, but it was delicious.

We sailed away from Tain l’Hermitage during lunch.

We’ll be sailing the rest of the day, arriving in Viviers around 9pm; I doubt we’ll get off the ship until the morning.