EUROPE BLOG May 2nd, 2023 - SAINT EMILION and BORDEAUX

5/2/23- Back to our early morning schedule as we take the tram at 8:30am to meet up with our tour group. Today is wine tasting day, and we’re going to a tiny village called Saint Emilion (about a 45 minute drive from Bordeaux). It’s a small tour of 8 people in a Mercedes van, so the ride isn’t too bad.


We first go to a chateau vineyard called Franc Mayne. It’s called a chateau (meaning castle) not because it’s from the time of kings, but because it’s a do-it-all onsite vineyard (growing, producing, bottling, etc). The blue skies are beautiful today as the green vineyards pop in the sunlight, however, it is a bit chilly for me as I’m dressed in shorts and a shirt and the early morning is 50 degrees. Suppose to warm up soon so crossing fingers I don’t DIE first.

After a tour of the grounds and cellar, we continue our drive into the medieval town of Saint Emilion. Its bell tower stands tall amongst the rest of the city, giving off a picturesque setting. Much of the town is built of limestone from the Roman era with small, cobblestone streets stretching in all directions. There’s also a monolithic church that has an artistically painted wall (free of charge)

The entire town has approximately 300 people living in the city center, but 56 wine bars spread throughout. Go figure! We taste 6 wines at one of them (same makers of the vineyard we just came from) and for dry reds they aren’t that bad.

We roam around for half an hour before driving back to Bordeaux. It’s now 1pm and luckily our drop off point is right where we want to be. First up is the Opera House, which has been closed to the public for the last two days (unfortunately it’s still closed, but was able to get a picture of the staircase).

Across the street we enter the wine store L’Intendant (which is now open), and marvel at the large spiral staircase full of wine bottles that sell anywhere from 20 Euros to a few thousand Euros per bottle. I do get the French attitude as I enter asking if they do tastings of wine and the lady responds simply, “No”. Then stands there and does nothing.

The tram is just down the road and we take it 5 stops to La Cite du Vin. The building resembles a funky boot but suppose to be how wine swirls in a glass, so we definitely want to check it out. The price per person is 22 Euros though, which is quite a bit for an interactive wine museum with no tastings included, so we opt to just tour the bottom floor, check out their shop and enjoy glasses of wine in the dining hall (which I order all in French by the way).

It’s only 3pm but our day is coming to an end for us. We search for an Italian restaurant by our AirBnb but soon find they are only serving drinks right now. Every time we’ve tried to have a sit down meal here it’s been one closure after another due to Sunday, then the holiday and now siesta time. So we retreat home to eat and rest for the remainder of the day (not before seeing another tower under restoration *sigh*)

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