CHAMPAGNE & THE ARDENNES
including Verdun
4 days / 3 nights - Tuesday to Friday
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 This 4-day regional tour combines, in typical Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd fashion, some major iconic tourist sights with some lesser visited jewels. We’ve a great cathedral city, a tour of the Moet Chandon cellars, the great war battlefields around Verdun, the recently discovered ruins of a large Roman town, Henry VIII’s only Belgium possession, a fortified town, a micro brewery and some very pretty villages amidst wine growing country and forest of the Ardennes. All in all, a super 4-days introducing you to aspects of France that will please the eyes and naturally the taste buds!
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DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR 2009
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Tour
Code
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Depart
London/Lille
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Return
Lille/London
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CHAM
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Tuesday
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Friday
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CHAM01
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28 Apr
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01 May
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CHAM02
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12 May
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15 May
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CHAM03
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26 May
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29 May
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CHAM04
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09 Jun
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12 Jun
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CHAM05
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23 Jun
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26 Jun
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CHAM06
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14 Jul
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17 Jul
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CHAM07
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21 Jul
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24 Jul
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CHAM08
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04 Aug
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07 Aug
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CHAM09
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18 Aug
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21 Aug
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CHAM10
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01 Sep
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04 Sep
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CHAM11
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15 Sep
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18 Sep
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CHAM12
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29 Sep
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02 Oct
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CHAM13
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06 Oct
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09 Oct
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Price per person in Pounds Sterling GBP
GBP £650 Twin share / GBP £685 Single room
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What
your tour price includes
- Your accommodation for 3 nights while on the tour is included in your tour price, and this includes both breakfasts and dinners
- Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide
- Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour are not included but can be reserved at a specially discounted price.
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TENTATIVE
ITINERARY
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NIGHTSTOP |
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DAY ONE - Tuesday
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We depart Lille touring via Reims to Epernay. Reims, the day’s highlight, boasts no less than four UNESCO World heritage sites, Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Palais du Tau, the basilique Saint-Remi and the musée-Abbaye Saint-Remi; so it’s going to be a little difficult what to concentrate on! The cathedral is a masterpiece of gothic art with origins 6th century, the cathedral has been the scene of 33 royal coronations since Clovis, the Frankish king was baptised by Remi, bishop of Reims on Christmas Day 498. It is adorned with over 2 300 statues, including the famous Smiling Angel. Following large scale destruction in the Great War, a new city sprang up from the ruins filled with an eclectic architecture marked in particular by the Art Deco style. During the Second World War Reims was the Headquarter of General Eisenhower and it was here on the 7th of May 1945 at 2h41 that the General Alfred Jodl, commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht signed the full surrender of Nazi Germany. You will be able to visit this historic house.
With a interesting route taken to Reims, this is a lovely first day.
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Reims |
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DAY TWO - Wednesday
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Need we write more than ‘today we tour the Champagne region!’? Is there anywhere in the world with a more instantly evocative name? Well we’ll you’re the wine fields, visiting attractions as appropriate to the time of your we’re here. One thing every tour will do is tour the 18 plus miles (well, perhaps not all of it!) of underground cellars of Moet Chandon.
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as above |
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DAY THREE - Thursday
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| Our day today is sobering. We’ll tour through the rich, undulating landscape to Verdun. There is no site more sacred to the French people than this town. Our tour will include parts of the battlefield, one of the famed ‘indestructible’ forts, the amazing Ossuary and, perhaps most unforgettably, the site of a hill-top village where now only to hollowed out hill remains. Verdun itself will also be included as it’s a charming town, sitting quietly now on the banks of the Meuse. |
Verdun |
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DAY FOUR - Friday
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Our last day is unquestionably our most varied. We’ve a unique fortified town and scene of a famous battle of the 30 year War between France and Spain at Rocroi. Thence across the Belgium border to Chimay and its chateau. Next a complete contrast; to an interactive museum highlighting the fairly recently discovered Bavay Roman ruins, once the Roam capital of Gaul. If we’ve time, we’ll visit a micro brewery, at Gussignies before completing our fantastic day with time a Henry VIII’s only Belgium possession, the medieval Tournai.
Tour participants will be dropped at Lille. Those joining tomorrow’s Great War battlefields weekend can be booked in at a centrally located hotel.
<< Go to other Battlefields Tours
<< Extend to our 3 Days / 2 Nights Battlefields tour from Lille
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Tour ends in Lille |
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