Early start with a lift from Gus to Perigeux station, for us to catch the Bordeaux train and collect our wheels for the week!!! Yes we are now more mobile and can go further afield, long walks are now a bit more relaxed for this week. It all went smoothly and we were soon in Bordeaux, though it's about an hour and a half train trip. It was drizzling a bit by then and we found the Hertz and our new car quickly enough. On our way out of the town and over a bridge heading for St Emilion. A little place not tot far and with a rich religious, military and wine growing heritage. As wth all ancient villages, it was perched on a hill and spotted from a good distance away, courtesy of its map reader and magnificent cathedral spire.
After a quick look we found a parking spot about half a km down the road, the place was busy and buzzing. Luckily someone was just leaving. We spetd the next 3+ hours walking around this amazing place. We walked into a lovely Creperie for a late lunch; mine with apples with a caramelised salted butter sauce and Guy's with apples and honey (awesome!). Found the tiniest alleyway winding steeply up through the walls to the top Gate, past little doors and shuttered windows, some with gardens and terraces. The only original door of the fortifications still standing had a bit of a wooden door still hanging from hinges. The views!!! People live in this amazing place and it is UNESCO protected forever. There were even weddings taking place in the beautiful church at the top of the hill, complete with an amazing vocalist luring people in. We walked into a wine merchant, one of several dozen in the village and came out with a bottle of Chateaux Coucy 2002 St Emilion. The merchant wanted E200 per case to ship home which was equal to the cost of the wine so we thought we could wait until a more expensive dozen justified the shipping. The bottle price was ridiculously high at E8.90 and in Australia you are lucky if you can get one under $100. Satiated with the views, the Cloisters of the Collegiale, the battlements, the towers, the food, the people, the omnipresent Chateaux vineyards and vineyards and the everything, we dragged ourselves away and down to some serious navigating for Caroline to get us home to Les Pachauds at Rouffignace St-Cernin de Reilhac. We stopped a do-op producers shop on the main route and got some amazing strawberries ( its strawberrie festival tomorrow, 20th). Once we got off the southern highway from Bergerac the skies opened and down came the wet stuff for a good 20 minutes. By this time we managed to get to the quiet forest and hamlet roads of the Perigord Noir in the Dordogne interior. Past some beautiful villagesand soon the familiar water tower of our village appeared.
We got down to the serious business of cooking the fresh asparagus and the Basse Cote (lower steak) and of course to be accompanied by today's St Emilion. Well it has been 15 years since I first discovered St Emilion wines when I was at the AXA University in Cantenac (near Bordeaux) and finally my dream of finding the village was fulfilled and Caroline's curiosity for this place was delightfully closed.
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