A Fortnight At Our French Chateau
Our second stop of the tour was our French Chateau, in the Beaujolais wine region of France. Going to this stop I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I've seen some great wineries and wine regions in the United States, and I didn't know if France's Beaujolais wine region was going to compare to Sonoma or the Napa Valley. But I was excited to see the Chateau de Cruix, and to find out where we would spend the next two nights.
Upon arriving at the chateau, all of my worries were obliterated. Our stop for the next two nights was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. We were literally smack dab in the middle of miles and miles of wineries and sweeping green hills with neat little manicured rows of grapes almost ready for the harvest that was now only months away. It definitely exceeded all of my expectations!
The First Night
The first night we arrived we had a "Pimps & Prostitutes" party. And we all got to see many beautiful, odd and creative costumes and personalities come out that night. Most surprising of which was probably our tour manager, who strutted our in a full-body leather outfit, dark Versace sunglasses and the worst black lip stick I've ever seen (especially on a man) in my life. He was quite a sight to behold! :-)
The party turned out to be great! I took many great photos and stayed down at the stopover's basement club called "The Cave" partying until about 2 AM. It was definitely the best party we had had all trip. I spent most of the night hanging out with Megan, who was on a 46-day Contiki tour that was paralleling us for the first few weeks of our tour. And I had an awesome time dancing, drinking and hanging out with her all night long.
It was so much fun to just relax, chat, and get to know everyone. This is where I really started to realize what a great atmosphere our tour (and the Contiki stops in general) had. Everyone wanted to chat, dance, drink and get to know each other. It got everyone out of their "shells" if you will, and it helped everyone to feel more secure and at home with everyone on the trip. Nights like these, spent just having an awesome time with everyone on the tour, was what made the trip so great.
The Next Day
The next day we hiked in small groups of eight, to a spot at the top of a nearby mountain range they coined "Top of the World." And after our long and grueling hike up the mountain with a basket full of fruit, bread, ham, tasty brie cheese, cheap wine, and twix bars, I realized just how accurate that description probably was. Or I at least realized that if this wasn't the top of the world, I really didn't want to go any higher.
The view at the top was worth the hike. And the meal at the top was worth hauling the basket up the mountain for a little over an hour. Everyone congregated at the top of the last hill and ate in together. And then I went off, took some pictures, and explored our lookout spot a bit to check out all the views. For miles and miles all you could see were wineries. Occasionally a little white or black dot would appear in the distance zipping around the country roads. And way off in the distance in one spot I could see another small town with a great big church in the center.
The Beaujolais wine region was just one of those places that filled you with the overwhelming feeling of peacefulness. You felt relieved of all the pressures of life. The air and the weather were just perfect. And the town and wineries were as peaceful as any place I had ever been. It was one place I felt I could spend a lifetime in!
On the hike down with Roberto, Lurch, Chay and a few others we chatted, enjoyed the scenery and slowly found our way back to the Chateau. That was of course after crawling through bushes and hacking away tree limbs along a thin path to the main road. (Ok, that was a bit dramatic, but you get the point.) Finally, we came across the very quaint and small French town of Beaujolais.
The town was beautiful and very homey. You felt as if you'd lived their your entire life - it just felt so inviting and friendly. I took a few shots, one of my favorites is to the right of an old man carrying a pail of something along the city's main street. The shot pretty much sums up the place! And I quite enjoyed the town. Several people ended up stopping at the pub in town for a bit of drink, but I decided to head back to the Chateau.
And so the Chateau de Cruix, and the Beaujolais wine region ended up exceeding absolutely all of my expectations. The wine region was absolutely stunning! And early the second morning I woke up just to go and sit out at the edge of our stopover atop a wall that went along one of the winding roads. I just sat and soaked up the beauty of the place. And at that moment, especially in the soft morning sunlight, I felt as if there were no place more beautiful on Earth.
I had a great time at the Chateau partying, hiking up to the "Top of the World", and relaxing and enjoying the peace and serenity of the wine region. What a terrific second stop! (This trip only seems to be getting better and better.)
- August 21st, 2006
- By Daniel Scrivner
