Bordeaux is a beautiful city;we had been there before but enjoyed exploring more of it. It has the elegance of Paris without the traffic.

Viking Forseti is a very comfortable boat with first class service. Everyone of the staff was extremely courteous. Touches such as the provision of umbrellas and a drink when we returned from excursions were appreciated.The food was ambitious and often a simpler meal would have been more successful. We enjoyed the upper deck lunches and would have enjoyed the dinners there even more if the starter could have been varied.

The shore excursions were excellent, as were the majority of the guides. The evening tour of Bordeaux, the citadel at Blaye and the Gulf of Arcachon were particularly memorable.The scenery is not particularly striking on this cruise ( except at Arcachon) although river banks have their own calming influence as we hazarded guesses at the owners of large and small properties, but all the towns were fascinating. This was particularly important given some wet or grey days.There was a good balance between wine and chateaux. Read more