Ralph Grizzle<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe number-one rated tour on Viking’s Rhine Getaway itinerary runs seven hours and costs\u00a0\u20ac189 per person. Taste the Best of Alsace<\/strong>, which I’ve yet to do, got rave reviews from guests who I spoke with who participated in\u00a0the all-day tour.<\/p>\nA local guide took 10 guests on a shopping tour where they met food merchants, a sommelier and chef, and of course, sampled Alsatian\u00a0specialities\u00a0such as fine chocolates, pralines, kougelhopf<\/em> cake and\u00a0croissants, freshly made baguette bread and pretzels, cheeses and special regional meats or sausages.<\/p>\nThe sommelier paired\u00a0local foods with Alsatian and French wines, and guests toured the romantic and picturesque Petite France, Strasbourg\u2019s canal-laced Old Town lined with half-timbered houses. In the afternoon, guests visited a\u00a0typical winstub<\/em> eatery, where the resident chef taught them\u00a0to make tarte flamb\u00e9e,<\/em> something like a flatbread pizza with\u00a0fromage blanc<\/em> or cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche<\/em>, thinly sliced onions and lardons. The local Alsatian specialty goes well with with a local beer.<\/p>\nWhile the optional tours cost, you could, of course, do only the included excursions and have an enjoyable experience, spending nothing extra.<\/p>\n