John & Lynne's French Odyssey: St Emilion

On Friday, Vinexpo having ended, we drove to St Émilion

On the outskirts of the town, we stopped at a wine shop

which advertised tastings 

 and had a stupendous range of wines from Bordeaux (prices shown are per bottle)

 It hurts to do the sums, but the 1988 Petrus cost R29700 per bottle. Who'd like a case?

 Chateau d'Yquem is a bargain by comparison

 They can arrange exports for you

 Beautiful roses at the ends of the rows

 and rain everywhere

 We entered St Émilion from the south

along a narrow lane

 

A folly

 a  tiny fern in a wall

 and vineyards as far as you can see

beautiful plantings of Impatiens

 Old stone buildings

 and many wine shops

 and restaurants

 In this Epicerie, we were given a taste of paté and a little Pineau de Charantes, and we bought some patés

 A small cognac still

 Ice cream

 and macaroons 

 This Englishman obviously thought that he should wear shorts because he was on holiday in the south

 Everyone else was dressed for winter

 The town center, St Émilion

 This restaurant looked good, but too expensive (we saw no customers, so others must have agreed)

 so we chose this one across the way. We were hungry and decided to stop looking even if it would be expensive. It was wet

 

 We ordered confit duck, which came with a glass each of St Émilion

 It was a delicious choice

 The chef was the owner and the waiter. He refused a tip 

 Wines for sale, matured and so young they still need planting

 WE visited a garagiste winemaker

 who has grown a bit. Called "Bad Boy" because Robert Parker scored him #1 when he made his first vintage in St Émilion

 His charming assistant let us taste the wines

 He says he is NOT from St Émilion

and, after a lovely day, despite the rain, we went back to Bordeaux
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© John & Lynne Ford. Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

John & Lynne's French Odyssey: Ile d'Oleron and Bordeaux

After a last look at the boats

 cars (the future of city transport? A tiny 2 seater electric Renault)

and beaches

 of Ile d'Oléron,

we drove back to Bordeaux, where Lynne had found us a beautiful central city ground floor flat, owned by a lawyer who rented it to us for less than we would have paid for a grotty one star hotel

 with a terrace and a private garden

 and a good kitchen

 After the first day (Sunday) of Vinexpo, we took a stroll down through the city,  looking at the restaurants

the shops

a chocolate Fiat 500 for Father's Day: only 63€ (R850)

and the sights

Bordeaux has some innovative ideas about public transport, tricycle rickshaws outside the Opera House

very modern trams

 and city-owned bicycles - put your money in the slot to unlock one

and nobody steals them!

At the riverside, a mirror of water, just deep enough to reflect everything

 

A bridge across the Gironde

 Bordeaux cathedral

 We had breakfast in the kitchen, listening to Cape Talk on the laptop to keep up with events at home. 

At the end of another day, relaxing in the garden, when it wasn't raining 

 with a much needed beer

In the square (Place des Martyrs de la Resistance) we were next to the ancient Church of St Seurin de Bordeaux - the original cathedral

 

 

 

 The crypt is supported by the pillars of the Roman temple to Jupiter, the original temple on the site

On Sunday, we relaxed with the birds and the fruit in the garden

 

 Lynne always finds a cat

Bordeaux airport, Monday 04h30  

 for our 06h00 flight to Amsterdam

 to catch the 10h30 flight to Cape Town

 where our dear friend Loraine came to fetch us

home to enjoy some of the wines we brought home 

 including a few home-grown wines given to us as the WOSA stand was closing. Thank you Evan!
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 © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013