St Emilion

The final day of my time in France. On the one hand, I would love to stay a few more weeks in this magnificent country enjoying the spectacular scenery, the historic monuments, the culture, the people and their beautiful language, and of course the delicious  wine and food! On the other hand, I can sense more and more my desire to see my two very special young men, Mark and David, and friends back home in New Zealand. A wish now to enjoy my own home and stop living out of a suitcase! It has been a marvelous summer and before I go I still have friends and places to see!

Our trip to St Emilion, only short, proved to be somewhat tricky. I knew that the station was out of town and that the town was on a hill, so I was sure there would be a long line of taxis waiting to pick up travellers from the train. Wrong! Not a soul in sight and all the taxis and tuk tuks were not available. We were not too thrilled by the thought of lugging our stuff up hill, but it looked as if we had no choice. Fortunately, just as we were leaving the station, a lady drove by and stopped - a knight in shining armour - and offered us a lift. Wow, how lucky we were. It would have been a terrible hike with suitcases.

All our accommodation has been good but this was something a little bit special, although not too expensive. We were staying in a room which was built into the ramparts of the medieval town. It was really attractively furnished.

It was amazing to look out of the window, or even look in the mirror in the bathroom, and see this remnant of a medieval church, now amidst this remarkable wine- growing area - the territory has 8000 hectares of vineyards and over 800 wine estates!

St Emilion is a picturesque, compact town, perched on a rocky hill, with mostly cobbled streets, some very steep, and beautiful golden/yellowy buildings made from local limestone, topped with beautiful tiled rooves. It is a living, open- air museum! Even after visiting so many ancient sites, I was totally blown away by how well preserved the homes here are. This one below on the left, dates back to 1200 !

Walking is not all too easy on these roads, but there is no need to hurry. 

Lunch was a delicious traditional galette filled with ham, cheese, tomato and egg. Yummy! And with what a view!

Actually, we were sitting beside a massive, megolithic, underground church , excavated in the twelfth century. We visited it later in the day, along with other fascinating monuments dating back to the legend of St Emilion, but we were not allowed to take photos so I only have a photo from a magazine.

It was truly spectacular and positively huge. The people who built it and those who excavated it 900 years ago were so brilliant. Because the bell tower, built later above it, was so heavy , 5000 tonnes, they have had to stregthen the pillars to prevent the tower and buildings above collapsing into it!

Next, we took a short, but really pleasant, if not rather bumby,  little tourist train trip around the town, through the local vineyards and past many of the magnificent vineyard chateaus.

We wanted to see as much as possible in our only day in St Emilion, so in the late afternoon we went up to a lookout near to a very beautiful Franciscan monastery where the only production of sparkling wine, Les Cordeliers, takes place in this town. Needless to say, we could not possibly leave there without a taste of their delicious bubbly in such a wonderful setting!

By the time we left, the early evening light was catching the rooftops and towers of this lovely town.

Poor Pam, I was determined to get up to all the viewpoints, so off we went to the other side of the town where we could look back towards the cloister we had just visited. Everything is very close by, but, like in Zuoz, there are always slopes or steps to climb up.  It was really well worth the effort for this stunning view of the town, bathed in the last golden sun rays of the day.

Another short climb uphill and we had a fabulous view across the vineyards, hectares upon hectares of them 

We had planned to do some tasting in this gorgeous wine cellar, but we were too late. What a pity! 

It didn't matter, though? We found another! 

It is certainly an area I would love to revisit, perhaps next time with a car so that I could explore the region more easily . Public transport isnot good into the smaller villages undortunately.

So farewell to France and to one of the most beautiful languages in the world.  This sign on the left echoes my sentiments completely.

The rules of a good family life:

To love one another all one's life

Not to forget to be polite

To listen to one another and help each other

To cover each other every day with kisses

To laugh and play together

To believe in youself

To know how to make the most of every minute

To party!