Trip to the Gironde - St Emilion

Ruth and Andrew told us they would be spending a few days at Saint Emilion, one of the important centres in the Bordeaux wine growing region, so we decided to go there too. I bet they wished their motorhome went faster than our car.

It was just over 100 kms from Cognac to St Emilion so we took the back roads, eating apples off the trees beside the road, stopping at small towns and villages and having a picnic lunch.

We stopped at Montguyon and looked at the ruins of an 11th century

chateau which was on a hill overlooking the town and the region. It is now used for concerts and plays and some devil-like sculptures are placed around the perimeter of the venue.

As we approached St Emilian it was obvious that wine growing was the major industry. In fact wine has been grown here since the Romans but the industry began in earnest after the 8th century. Merlot and Cabernet with small amounts of Cabernet sauvignon are grown. No land was left unplanted with vines growing right up to the road and to the chateaux boundaries.

Having forgotten the treachery of the GPS on the first day of our trip we found ourselves again on cobblestone streets packed with summer tourist but worse still then turned a corner and descended on a 45 degree angles to a lower street also packed with tourists. John waited in the car whilst I followed the instructions on the door of our rooms to talk to the people in the wine merchant next door but which wine merchant – there were so many!!

Once settled in our small but perfect apartment right in the centre of

the village we met with our friends and had a brief look around the village before dinner. We met a wine merchant who addressed us in French and when we replied that our French wasn’t good (in reality it is non-existent) he guessed that we were Australian because he was Australian. We had an in-depth conversation about French versus Australian wines. He had obviously been converted to French wines and we do somewhat agree.

We had a glass of wine at one of the bars and later a three course meal in our apartment (sounds more impressive than it was although we had the essentials – du pain, du fromage bleu and du vin).

Ruth and Andrew later told us of their treacherous trip back to the camping area out of town on their bikes in the dark. I’m sure they were not amused as the roads are really narrow and undulating.

St Emilion is town of just less than 2,000 people situated on the north side of the Gironde 35 km north east of Bordeaux. Its history goes back to prehistoric times and there are beautiful Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.

We visited the 12th century monolithic underground church that was

dug out of rock and quite impressive at 38 metres long and 12 metres high. The town was named after Emilion, a monk confessor and we saw the tiny, unadorned room where he was supposed to have lived.

Nearby was another church and cloisters which were really well preserved. Art works described local stories.

We also visited the bell tower which could be seen from afar by those on a pilgrimage. The views were amazing and worth the 196 steps climb.

John and I think, despite the high cost of wine, that St Emilion is one of the high points of our senior gap year. It is such a beautiful, perfect little village and we have recommended it to many of our other visitors.

Next: Trip to the Gironde – La Dordogne to Limoux