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Oceania Regatta
Dover-Barcelona Cruise

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ABOVE: A passenger exercises on the Regatta's jogging track with the Place de la Bourse in the background.

Bordeaux shore excursions

Continued from: Port of Bordeaux

Bordeaux is hard to beat as a port of call: The city's sights begin at the bottom of the gangway, there's plenty of shopping within walking distance, and hundreds of restaurants offer local specialties such as meats grilled over vine twigs, oysters from the Bassin d'Archachon, and the street food known to American tourists as frites de la liberté.

During the Regatta's two-day visit, I spent my first day just walking around the city. On the second day, I joined a half-day excursion into the countryside, where we had an opportunity to sample two outstanding grand cru Bordeaux wines at Château Kirwan before touring an underground church and other sights in the pretty town of Saint-Emilion. Later, in the afternoon, I walked along the quay to the Croiseur Colbert, a French naval cruiser that has been turned into a museum ship.

Like most cruise ships visiting Bordeaux, the Regatta offered several tour options. In addition to the Saint-Emilion tour, the Regatta's excursions included bus and walking tours of Bordeaux and a oenophile's trip to the vineyards of Médoc and Château Mouton Rothschild.

For more information on Bordeaux, see:

Bordeaux Tourism

Next page: Port of Oporto


Oceania Regatta
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Dover-Barcelona cruise: ports and sights

Dover Cádiz
Guernsey (St. Peter Port) Málaga
Bordeaux Palma de Mallorca
Oporto (Leixoes) Barcelona
Lisbon