Today we went to Saint-Emilion for the day. I wasn't sure if it was something I really wanted to do as we have visited so many cobblestone villages now, but I am so glad we did this. It was a beautiful day for exploring the cobblestone streets and a village surrounded by vineyards.
We started the day with a visit to the tourist office. I had read that you can ask them to give you the key to the bell tower, they will let you climb. Little did I know this is the second highest bell tower after Bordeaux, which we climbed yesterday. Today's views were even better than yesterday, wow the vineyards and town are so pretty.
Back down and we are off to our underground tour. You get to visit 4 sites with the tour. The cave where Saint Emilion lived, the Trinity Chapel, the Catacombs and the Monolithic Church. The Monolithic Church is the largest one in Europe, monolithic means dug out of a single block of stone. This one is from the 12th century and very impressive. Unfortunately no pictures allowed during this tour, but I'm sure Andre will find some online to use for souvenirs.
Next off we make our way to find the 12 must see monuments as well as some viewpoints on the map that we have. Wow what a pretty place. We are fortunate there are not many tourists here at all, it make for a lovely day. We stopped for a light lunch of baguette and duck pate with some Crement wine (sparkling wine is their specialty) at the Cordeliers Cloister. They pack up what you order in a picnic basket and you take it back to a table in the cloister or gardens to enjoy, it was really nice.
One thing I didn't realize about Saint-Emilion until we got there is it is hilly, like really steep in one part. So much so that one of the must see monuments is the steep streets or “Tetres”.
At the bottom of the hill we happened across 2 women working in the vineyard with their horses plowing. The women were following on foot behind the horses holding the plows they were using. It looked exhausting, probably not so much for the horses, but for the women. They were calling out commands, marche, droit, gauche, it was amazing to watch. So happy we came across this as it was one of the highlights of the day.
We picked up some macarons which they are famous for, but here they are like little almond cookies. Good but I think we like the other macarons better that we have had. Why does every city have a cookie, pastry, bread that they are famous for, and it is amazing that you don't see them available in other cities as we move around.
Andre said he wants to go see the wine caves. It turned out to be a lot better than expected. We did 2 of them. This is where they store the wine for the vineyards as it is constant cool temperature, humidity and not light. It was like a maze with all the wine bottles and barrels open to see.
Back to the bus that cost a total of 4.10 Euro each return for the 1 hour drive, tomorrow we are travelling about the same distance by train for our adventure and it is costing us 5 times as much!
The bus stop is at the tourist information centre, and right across from here is the Maison du Vin, somewhere we wanted to try. The other night there was a big line up, but luck would have it no line up this afternoon so we are in. It is an “Ecole de Vin” which is in a beautiful building and great prices for glasses of wine. You don't have to buy a full bottle to try a nice wine. One drink and we are ready to head home, there is also now a line up to get it so glad we got to do it as it looks like Sunday would be our only other option and they are closed on Sunday.
Walked home the entire length of Ste. Catherine street and picked up a menu to order take out pizza for supper.
Laundry done, supper done, making plans for another fun day tomorrow.
Steps 19,000 or 12KM
At the bus stop
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