Da Vinci Code Barge Cruise with Canals of France Day-to-Day Itinerary

Highlights of the tour include:

• The story of Mary Magdalene and visit to Saintes-Marie de la Mer
• Knights of the Templar
• Cathars Heresy
• Growth of the Church's power
• The mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau
  
  

Sunday
Paris to St.-Maries-de-la-Mer and the barge
We pick you up at a hotel or rail station in Southern France in the early afternoon and begin our tour with a visit to to Saintes Maries de la Mer on the Mediterranean coast. According to local legend, Mary Magdalene arrived here in a small boat together with Lazarus, Marie-Salome, Marie-Jacobe, all close followers of Jesus, forced to leave the Holy Land in 45 AD. We visit the village's fortified Romanesque Church, which enshrines 3 female images thought to be the brave women who crossed the sea. Each May these images are paraded about the village and taken out in a boat to commemorate their arrival in France.

Afterwards we drive over the haunting landscape of the Camargue and also stop to walk the ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, an important port in 12th century crusades, used by the Knights of the Templar to ship arms and money from France to Jerusalem. Of course, the Knights of the Templar are often mentioned in The Da Vinci Code as the protectors of some treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem or possibly some secrets about the church or Jesus himself; and our cruise region is filled with their historical traces. We continue on to the barge where champagne and a festive welcome dinner will be waiting.

Monday
Le Somail to Homps
Today we start traveling by water alongthe world-famous Canal du Midi, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back to the 17th century. The canal was built to connect the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and is an engineering feat as well as breathtakingly beautiful. Enjoy the on-deck hot tub, bike along the tow path as the barge moves westward or simply enjoy the curves of the canal under a splendid arch of plane trees.

In the mid-afternoon after lunch we again set off for more Da Vinci Code explorations, this time our subject now being heresy. The Languedoc was once home to the Cathars, a powerful and prevalent Languedocian sect whose faith included the belief that Mary Magdalene and Jesus where husband and wife (in fact one of the Da Vinci Code's most controversial claims). Starting in the early 13th century, the Catholic Church led a bloody crusade against this sect which lasted for nearly 50 years and saw terrible destruction and mass executions of both Cathars and local Catholics who tried to protect them. Our cruising area is filled with towns and villages with traces of the Cathars' history. Indeed, their story is crucial to understanding the Da Vinci Code's central theme of the Catholic Church's centuries of suppression of so-called heretical thought, particularly of a group who had a completely different interpretation of the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Today we visit the hill-top town of Minerve, now famous for its excellent Languedocian wines but once a center of refuge for Cathars fleeing persecution. Its hilltop situation gave it natural protection, but church forces were in fact able to defeat the Cathars here after a grueling 2 month siege in 1210. Return to the barge for aperitifs and dinner on board

Tuesday
Homps to Les Aiguilles
This morning we start off to Narbonne, another key city in the region's religious dramas of the 13th century. Here the pope sent a powerful papal legate, Arnaud Aumary who coordinated much of the early crusade and inquisition against the Cathars. We visit the fortified cathedral and archbishop's chateau to see where the political protectors of the Cathars (local powerful counts and dukes) and the church met numerous times to try and sort out their strife. So as not to miss the rich gastronomy of this region ,we also visit the 100 year old indoor market in Narbonne, fresh seafood can be tasted on the spot with cold white wine before our lunch at a colorful bistro next to les Halles.

After lunch we set out for the Abbaye de Fontfroide, an excellent example of the Church's grip on power in the Middle Ages. This sumptuous historical abbey attests to the monks increasing wealth rather than devotion to monastic ways. The popes gave generous support to a number of monastic orders in this area as they were crucial to controlling the spread of heretical beliefs. We shall gather some bottles of fine Corbieres wines on the way back to the barge for dinner on board.

Wednesday
Les Aiguilles to Chateau Millegrand
A peaceful morning cruise, lunch on board then setting off in the minivan to the medieval village of Caunes. The ancient marble quarries of Caunes decorated Louis XIV's Versailles as well as the town's medieval Abbey and chapel. The chapel is still the destination of pilgrimages as it is at the site of a spring with healing powers. Also the devout follow a mystical walk through a prayer gallery in the woods where portraits of Mary Magdalene and the disciples gives us chance again to return to discussion of Mary Magdalene's local history. We end the excursion with an excellent wine tasting in La Liviniere, the nearby renowned vineyards, growing some of the best of Minervois wine. Back to the barge for an evening cruise and dinner on board.

Thursday
Chateau Millegrand to Carcassonne
Today we start out with some magnificent cruising through staircase locks and beautiful scenery as we approach the majestic city of Carcassonne with time to enjoy walking and biking on the towpath. A winetasting at Chateau LaGrave before lunch to introduce yet another of the excellent Languedoc wines. In the afternoon, we visit the rich historical city of Carcassonne, an important site in the Cathars Crusade and simply a majestic site. Here you will have time explore on your own or take advantage of the excellent shopping. Return to the barge for aperitif and a special cassoulet dinner on board, Carcassonne's plat de resistance.

Friday
Rennes-le-Chateau and Montsegur
Today we leave behind the canal with a drive through the famous Corbieres wine region, destination Rennes-le-Chateau. This secluded village was home to Abbe Berenger Sauniere for nearly 40 years, an impoverished Roman Catholic priest assigned to the parish, who became inexplicably wealthy. Sauniere - whose name is shared by Sophie Neveu's uncle in The Da Vinci Code - set about renovating the village church, which is dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Above the door he installed a stone inscribed: Terribilis est Locus Iste - "This Place Is Terrible"; inside, a grotesque figure of the devil in a green robe bears the holy water. Some believe that the irreligious symbols contained hidden codes either to "treasure" or to damaging documents that Sauniere might have used to blackmail the Vatican. He took the secret of his fortune to his grave in 1917, aged 65, but the mystery has endured.

Following lunch in a nearby village, we continue on to the impressive mountain-top Montsegur, once a Catharsian holy site for meditation and prayer but ultimately the penultimate scene of the massacre of the Cathars in the 13th century. The night before the Cathars were due to give themselves up to the Church forces, four of them escaped, reportedly with some the important treasure, whose identity remains a mystery to this day. We return to the barge for a festive farewell dinner party to celebrate the week's amazing revelations and a sumptuous farewell feast on board the barge.

Saturday
Return to Paris
We depart the barge after breakfast and are transferred to onward travel destinations in the cruising area.

Please note, the cruise runs in the opposite direction on alternate weeks.

For more information on the Da Vinci Code Barge Cruises call 866-550-3447 or email us.

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