Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Special Gift for 2012 Barge Cruises, New Bookings

Special Offer: Paradise Connections has a gift for our clients who make a new booking after July 16, 2012 for 2012 barge cruises.


This is the perfect Kindle for travelling as it is small, lightweight, and FREE!
The all-new Kindle - Lighter, smaller, faster:
  • 30% lighter, less than 6 ounces
  • 18% smaller body, same 6" screen size - fits in your pocket
  • Most advanced E Ink display, reads like paper
  • Built in Wi-Fi - get books in 60 seconds
  • Massive book selection, over 800,000 titles are $9.99 or less
  • Borrow Kindle books from your public library
This offer is valid for Paradise Connections clients who make a new booking after July 16, 2012 for 2012 barge cruises, whether a cabin cruise or private charter. One Kindle for each person booked.

Or, if you prefer, we will send you a Kindle Fire (one per cabin).

Many of our barges have special offers to fill in their remaining open dates for the 2012 season. Click here to see our previous post for a list of barges with discounted rates.

We hope you'll be able to take advantage of this special offer from us at Paradise Connections. We love our Kindles...

Enjoy!


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book your barging holiday
For more information on our barges and barging, visit our website : www.BargeCharters.com
 


Updated: Special Offers for 2012 Barging Cruise Vacations

Just a quick post to let you know that the 2012 Special Offers for Barge Cruises has been updated today.

Along with last-minute discounts for July and August, several special offers have been added for September and October barging cruises.

See listings  ===> Barging Cruises: July Special Offers for 2012 & 2013 season

Paradise Connections also has a special gift for our clients with new bookings made after July 16, 2012 for 2012 barge cruises. See more HERE.
 


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book your barging holiday
For more information on our barges and barging, visit our website : www.BargeCharters.com
 


Monday, July 16, 2012

Irish Hotel Barge SHANNON PRINCESS: Cabin cruises

The Irish hotel barge Shannon Princess II has cabins available on their July 29 and August 5, 2012 departures and are offering a last-minute discount.


 

Irish Hotel Barge Shannon Princess II - Barging Cruises Along the River Shannon, Ireland

Visit Ireland and enjoy seeing the sights and soaking up the Irish culture with Ruairi & Olivia, owner-operators of the Barge Shannon Princess, along with their attentive crew. The barge accommodates up to 10 guests in 5 cabins which can be configured as either doubles or twins, as you prefer. Shannon Princess is available for private charters and individual cabin booking for shared charter weeks.

SPECIAL OFFER: Expired
Paradise Connections also has a gift for our clients with new bookings made after July 16, 2012 for 2012 barge cruises. See more HERE.
The charter fee includes: local transfer to and from the barge, a luxury 6-night cruise, all meals on board catered for by the on board Master Chef, an open bar 24/7 with a large range of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, all wines served throughout the cruise, excursions and admittance fees as per the itinerary, the services of 5 crew and use of barge facilities, which includes wireless internet access.

See our recent post about the new themed Artisan Itinerary aboard Shannon Princess.



Don't put it off any longer... Go barging in Ireland this year!


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book SHANNON PRINCESS 
View Shannon Princess's online brochure
Visit our website for more info on our barges and barging: www.BargeCharters.com
 

Saturday, July 14, 2012

French Hotel Barge SAINT LOUIS - Sept 8 2012 availability

The French Hotel Barge SAINT LOUIS, which cruises the Garonne in the Aquitaine-Gascony region of southwest France, still has cabins available in SEPTEMBER... How lucky for you!

French Hotel Barge Saint Louis - Barging cruises in southwest France

September is the most popular month for barging cruises and Saint Louis has two cabins available for September 8-14, 2012 (route: Montauban to Agen).

Barging cruise routes: French Hotel Barge Saint Louis

We have had several interesting guest posts written by Alasdair, owner-operator of the hotel barge Saint Louis, which you can see here ===> Previous Saint Louis posts.

Montauban, France

The French hotel barge Saint Louis cruises the beautiful calm waterways of Southwest France, including the historic lands of Aquitaine and Gascony. She does so in "casual luxury", providing the perfect accommodation for up to six guests in three stateroom suites (configured as twins or doubles, as desired). To cruise aboard Saint Louis is to experience peace and tranquillity as one passes through the lush countryside, pretty villages and memorable towns. It also means enjoying delicious French cuisine, prepared with fresh local produce, and savouring local wines and aperitifs. Your hosts, Alasdair and Barbara, together with their friendly and expert crew, will ensure that your holiday or vacation is the ultimate in relaxed pleasure.

Paradise Connections also has a gift for our clients with new bookings made after July 16, 2012 for 2012 barge cruises. See more HERE.


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book SAINT LOUIS 
View Saint Louis' online brochure
Visit our website for more info on our barges and barging: www.BargeCharters.com
 

Friday, July 06, 2012

French Hotel Barge PANACHE: Summer Savings

The French hotel barge PANACHE is offering super summer savings on cabin cruises and private charters for barging trips in the Alsace-Lorraine region of eastern France.

French Hotel Barge Panache - Barging Cruises in Alsace-Lorraine, France

The stylish, 12-passenger barge Panache is now well into her first season cruising the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and we still have cabins available for a number of departures in August, September and October. The wine harvest month of September especially is the perfect time to experience the late summer colors, the mellow sunshine and picturesque countryside.


Panache currently has some super summer special discounts for bookings deposited by August 31, 2012:
EXPIRED
See Special Offer for Spring Holland Tulip Cruises: HERE

Besides the beautiful scenery and interesting excursions, you will also experience the wonderful cuisine aboard Panache.




Your place at the table is ready and waiting for you...

Let's Go Barging This Summer!


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book PANACHE
View Panache's online brochure
Visit our website for more info on our barges and barging: www.BargeCharters.com
 

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

French Hotel Barge SAINT LOUIS : Moissac Abbey UNESCO World Heritage Site

Today we have a guest post from Alasdair of the French Hotel Barge SAINT LOUIS, who offers both private charters and cabin cruises in the Aquitaine & Gascony region of southwest France.



Moissac Abbey – Pearl of south west France – and UNESCO World Heritage Site
By Alasdair Wyllie, Owner-Operator of Barge Saint Louis

The week-long cruises that we run on our hotel barge the Saint Louis are in south west France, largely between Toulouse and Bordeaux.  We do not normally take the barge into either of those two cities, but rather we travel gently through the unspoiled countryside along the Canal de Garonne, in an area that used to be called both Gascony and Aquitaine.  Gascony is famous for a number of things, including Armagnac, Henri de Batz who became known as d’Artagnon of The Three Musketeers fame  -  and numerous mediaeval towns and villages.

Foremost among the mediaeval masterpieces in this area is Moissac Abbey.  The date and the detail of the founding of the abbey is a matter of some conjecture, with some authorities attributing it to Clovis I (481 – 511 AD) while others attribute it to Clovis II (635 – 657 AD).  Archaeology has shown that there were already settlements in the immediate area, and remains of a Gallo-Roman hypocaust have been uncovered.   After it was founded, however, the Abbey struggled to find its position of strength in the region, and it is believed that it had severe financial problems.  That all changed in 680 AD, however, when the Abbey was given an extraordinary donation by Nizezius and his wife Ermintrude, who made over to the monastery thirty thousand hectares of land in the Garonne valley.  This gift effectively included some eighteen villages, complete with all houses, mills, churches, serfs, settlers and freemen.

 Moissac Abbey - UNESCO World Heritage Site - France

The history of the Abbey during the following few hundred years is uncertain, because documentary evidence has been lost, but certainly the area in which it stands had invasions from the Saracens, the Normans and the Magyars.

Building and re-building on the site took place almost continually, particularly after 1048 when the order was absorbed by the immensely powerful Cluny order.  A new church was built in 1063, and the present cloisters were constructed in 1100 AD.

At this time, the scriptorium was enlarged.  Moissac Abbey is known as the City of Roman Art, partly as a result of the very considerable works produced in the scriptorium.  The monks made their own parchments, inks and paints, and the scribes copied both religious and profane texts.  Many of the originals of these works are to be found in the French National Library.

After the Hundred Years War, Moissac Abbey went into decline, and in 1466 it was separated from Cluny.  The Abbey was later secularised, and after the Revolution the religious community disappeared and the buildings were sold off.

Inside the Cloisters - Moissac Abbey

The Cloisters are said to be the finest in the world;  there are seventy six columns that support the cloister roof, placed alternately as single and double columns.  The columns are surmounted by carved capitols, each depicting stories from the Bible or scenes from wild life.

Within the courtyard formed by the cloisters there stands a magnificent cedar of Lebanon.  The story goes that a native from this part of France travelled out to the Holy Land, where he collected a number of plant species including some of the local trees.  He returned in 1812, and one of the trees was planted in the cloisters.  Hence, we can date this particular tree quite accurately!

There was one other step in the demise of the buildings which we see today in that in 1845 the Toulouse – Bordeaux railway line was laid, and the original plan was to run the railway bang through where the cloisters are.  Fortunately that plan was eventually changed and the refectory building was demolished for the railway instead,  but the line is still very close and every passing train serves as a reminder to anyone sampling the extraordinary ambiance in the Cloisters that we are now living in a very different era from that in which the Abbey was built.

This part of France enjoys a very gentle level of tourism, quite unlike the crowded places of Paris or Carcassonne.  Moissac Abbey has been presented to the public in a very sympathetic way, and it is the busiest tourist destination in the Département, but you are unlikely to find crowds here, even in the height of the season.  South west France does not do crowds!  However, you are likely to find pilgrims in Moissac.  The ancient pilgrimage route of Santiago di Compostella passes through the town, and the pilgrims invariably visit the Abbey before making their way along the canal towpath to Pommevic, then onwards towards the Spanish border.  Only 1,200 kilometres to go from here!


Thanks, Alasdair!

French Hotel Barge Saint Louis - Barging cruises charters in southwest France

The French hotel barge Saint Louis cruises the beautiful calm waterways of Southwest France, including the historic lands of Aquitaine and Gascony. She does so in "casual luxury", providing the perfect accommodation for up to six guests in three stateroom suites (configured as twins or doubles, as desired). To cruise aboard Saint Louis is to experience peace and tranquillity as one passes through the lush countryside, pretty villages and memorable towns. It also means enjoying delicious French cuisine, prepared with fresh local produce, and savouring local wines and aperitifs. Your hosts, Alasdair and Barbara, together with their friendly and expert crew, will ensure that your holiday or vacation is the ultimate in relaxed pleasure.

Perhaps you can partake in the Au Fil de l'Eau spectacle that occurs annually around the first two weeks of August. See Alasdair's previous post about this event.
 


Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book SAINT LOUIS 
View Saint Louis' online brochure
Visit our website for more info on our barges and barging: www.BargeCharters.com
 


Sunday, July 01, 2012

Hotel Barges Special Offers for 2013 Cruises (next year)

EARLY BIRD SPECIALS FOR NEXT SEASON (2013) 

HOTEL CANAL & RIVER BARGES 
SPECIAL OFFERS & DISCOUNTS on BARGING VACATIONS & CRUISES
2013

We have some early bird specials for the 2013 barging season.  Contact Paradise Connections now, for current availability and pricing.

See current special offers: HERE

French Hotel Barge Impressionniste - Barging in France - Burgundy



Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book your barging holiday
For more information on our barges and barging, visit our website : www.BargeCharters.com
 


Barging Cruises: July Special Offers for 2012 & 2013 season

HOTEL CANAL & RIVER BARGES 
SPECIAL OFFERS & DISCOUNTS on BARGING VACATIONS & CRUISES


We have some special offers and discounts for 2012 barging vacations (see below), plus some early bird specials for 2013.  Contact Paradise Connections now, for current availability and pricing.

See special offers for 2013 discounted barge cruises: HERE

Barging in France - Canal du Midi



Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book your barging holiday
For more information on our barges and barging, visit our website : www.BargeCharters.com