Embark Day - Our journey begins in a city coined the “Sleeping Beauty” of France due to its majestic architecture yet laid back beach-going lifestyle. Bordeaux is home to over 7,000 vineyards and chateaux, which makes it a perfect place to arrive early and enjoy one of Santana’s signature PreTours.

Our Bordeaux PreTour includes many of our favorite rides, vineyards, and chateaux of the Aquitaine region.

Whether you join us for the PreTour or meet up with the group on embark morning, we’ll enjoy a spectacular ride to embark which includes a few more Bordeaux highlights before we board and sail into the sunset.

Our floating resort will transport us across the Bay of Biscay whilst we relax, dine, and slumber the night away.

Day 2 - Our second day of escapades begins in the coastal city of La Rochelle where a very real Cardinal Richelieu laid siege upon the Huguenots, the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Riding past the old musketeer stronghold, stronger riders will journey North for a sun infused spin through the splendor of the Marais Poitevin before rejoining the rest of the riders along the coast.

Today’s journey winds through the colorful countryside of Aquitaine, where we’ll pause to explore the charming town of Rochefort, a family-owned vineyard, and a handful of our favorite châteaux.

Day 3 - Moving from Aquitaine to Brittany we reach the western-most city in France. It figures that Brest has a protective lighthouse and the prettiest sunsets in all of France.

Today’s ride through a vast Nature Preserve emerges at the gatehouse village of Châteaulin, where a curving stone bridge leads to a picture perfect village with cobbled marketplace, historic church, and an inviting bakery with my favorite french roast coffee.

An ample payback for additional miles is the continuing ride to Quimper—which is quite possibly the most beautiful village in all of France. Honored for its harmonious blend of Breton, Celtic and half-timbered architecture, Quimper is also famous for a thousand years of artistic stoneware, which causes fans to flock to Musee des Beaux-Arts.

Before or after your pause for cultural enrichment, don’t forget to sample the delicacies from one of the many exquisite French pâtisseries.

Day 4 - Rolling down the gangplank we’ll find ourselves in the authentic pirate fortress of Saint-Malo. Dating back to the first century AD, the centuries of tradition and architecture seem to emanate from the stones of the ancient fortress walls that endured two world wars. 

While Saint-Malo has been home to the Gauls, Romans, Celts, English, and French; the locals refer to themselves as Malouin — the descendents of Saint-Malo’s pirates and smugglers notorious for four centuries of raids and plunder that reached as far away as Montreal. Their lawless infamy became respectable when, during the Hundred Years War, King Charles VI granted the Malouin amnesty in exchange for their service as privateers against the British.

Riding away from Saint Malo we’ll pedal through the French countryside. As we emerge from the verdant green fields a mirage appears in the distance. As the arrival of a cool ocean breeze reinvigorates you, you’ll soon notice that the towering mirage you spotted across the silky smooth coastline of Northern Bretagne, was actually the fairy tale visage of Abbaye du Mont Saint Michel. We finish our pilgrimage to the world’s most majestic cathedral with a ride across the 140-year-old wooden causeway.

As the arrival of a cool ocean breeze reinvigorates you, you’ll soon notice that the towering mirage you spotted across the silky smooth coastline of Northern Bretagne, was actually the fairy tale visage of Abbaye du Mont Saint Michel. We finish our pilgrimage to the world’s most majestic cathedral with a ride across the 140-year-old wooden causeway.

Day 5 - For over 500 years a line of English Monarchs ruled much of France. The lingering remnant of this history is a small archipelago within sight of France. The English speaking populations of Jersey and Guernsey have never been ruled by the UK or France, and were never citizens of the EU.

Instead, in a form of government that predates the Age of Enlightenment, each of the two “Bailiwicks” are administered by a Bailiff appointed by the British Monarch. Because it has a national speed limit of 35 miles per hour, and 260 miles of paved roadways that are ideal for cycling, we chose the independent Bailiwick of Guernsey to be the fifth country of Santana’s newest adventure.

For this delightful day of cycling we’ll use the ship’s tenders to get bikes and riders ashore in the capital city of Saint Peter Port, a small town filled with friendly residents and shopkeepers. On an island that’s more charming than Sodor, a network of twisting lanes will allow us to discover forts, cliffs, churches, and small villages with two types of traditional tea-houses.

Before our late afternoon departure, you’ll need to sample both before choosing your side in a question of national importance: will you favor crumpets or scones?

Day 6 - This morning our yacht-size cruise ship delivers us to the cinematically noteworthy city of Cherbourg, situated at the tip of the Cotentin Peninsula. Stronger riders will ride from the ship while others board a coach for a morning boost to Utah Beach, our day’s objective. Both groups will rejoin at the hallowed cliffs of Normandy, where American soldiers waded ashore on D-Day in what became the opening act of the liberation of Europe. After experiencing this inspiring site of American heroism, we’ll journey inland across the French countryside. 

As we make our way back across to Cherbourg, we’ll pause our ride for a tasting at a family owned vineyard winery where we’ll learn the subtle differences between Auxerrois and Chardonnay.

Gliding across the lush landscape of Cotentin, we’ll take in spectacular views as we pedal down a scenic valley and through the woods before riding across a moat and drawbridge to enter the enchanting Château de Nacqueville.

Back in Cherbourg, you’ll have the option to tour Redoutable (France’s original nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine was built in Cherbourg, and is now open for public visits), or the awe-inspiring spires of Ravalet Castle before returning to our more luxurious floating resort.

Day 7 - Crossing the English Channel our first ride in England begins at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover.

Following the River Stour, once trekked by the muses of Geoffrey Chaucer, we’ll weave our own Canterbury Tales as we criss-cross through the emerald fields and forests of Kent.

Entering the famous town of Canterbury, we’ll ride across charming canal bridges to explore a medley of Roman, Celtic, medieval, gothic, and renaissance architecture of this world heritage landmark. 

As our afternoon ride meets the coastline, the imposing Walmer Castle comes into view. Don’t let its fortress walls beguile you, the gardens and parks of Walmer were a favorite annual vacation spot of Queen Elizabeth II.

Day 8 - On their first long bike tour Santana’s founding couple spent a leisurely week in England before sprinting to Harwich to catch an overnight ferry to Europe, what they missed during their 60-day cycling itinerary through 12 countries was the particularly fine ride from Harwich to Cochester.

On our visit a choice of morning routes use a hodge-podge of hedge-lined lanes to reach Colchester, where we’ll view the ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre before a guided tour of the immensely impressive Colchester Castle. Our dot-to-dot return ride through English villages includes a scavenger hunt and multi-course lunch served within a half dozen pubs and ale-houses. 

Day 9 - Following three days with left-hand traffic and wrong-side rides, we’ll return to the continent for a pair of days that feature small roads through Belgium and Holland. We begin the first day when our ship pauses in Brugge, where everyone’s favorite UNESCO-heritage landmark is "the best-preserved medieval city in all of Europe." 

After professionally-guided walking tours you’ll have ample time to explore Brugge or sample the wares of the famous chocolatiers of Flanders before a midday ride through Belgium that crosses into Holland to find iconic windmills.

After reaching the lighthouse at the mouth of the Scheldt—an wide ocean inlet shared by the two countries—we use what must be the world’s largest bicyclists’ ferry for the 22-minute crossing to the historic port of Vlissingen, where our ship will have relocated while we were touring Brugge before cycling through two countries.

Day 10 - Our second border-crossing day of cycling is also the second occasion when our ship bids us farewell in the morning in one country before undocking, racing ahead, and tying up in the port of a different country to welcome us back aboard that same afternoon.

Today’s ride begins in the picturesque city of Ghent, the historic capitol of Flanders. The old town, located on both sides of the Leie River, is host to jaw-dropping examples of architecture from the Middle Ages.

Routes trace the shore of the Scheldt before turning inland to pass through the Dutch walled fortress-city of Hulst before crossing into Belgium for the ride through swamplands and forest to reach Antwerp, the cycling capital of the world. Decades before bike trails appeared elsewhere, Antwerp’s government was figuring ways to limit cars while encouraging the use of bicycles. 

Our tour’s final mile uses the 1933 tunnel beneath the Scheldt designed to allow cyclists (but not motorists!) to enter and leave the city center without waiting in long lines for a ferry-crossing choked with cars, trucks and buses. Even today, thousands of cycling commuters use this ancient-yet-faster route to avoid traffic on their way to the center of Old Antwerp. 

For Santana’s event that celebrates the European cycling lifestyle our chartered-for-cyclists’ ship has reserved a berth adjacent to the Old-Town portal of Antwerp’s bike tunnel. If you need to find a final souvenir before our ship’s festive farewell dinner, Antwerp’s pedestrian shopping district is a five minute walk from our ship’s gangplank.

Disembark is in the center of Amsterdam, where our shuttles will take participants to AMS Airport in time for a late morning return flight to the US. Amsterdam Airport also offers convenient bike storage. The airport’s basement-level rail station  provides express train service to/from the city center, as well as other parts of Europe.

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