Asturias, Euskal Herria & France Cruise - Bordeaux Page 3

Off at 0900 for the vine growing areas just East of Libourne. We were driven round the Pomeyrol chateaux after a commentary which told us all about viniculture in the region & how green & superior their methods were. Then, to St. Emilion, where we first stopped at the Chateau Ambe Tour Pourret for a look around & a wine tasting. We tasted three wines in ascending order of quality, the first two, I would not give tuppence a bucket for the the last, perhaps £2.99 a bottle & this after the big build-up in the coach.

The Chateau Ambe Tour Pourret	New barrels	Fermentation vats etc.
Another chateau nearby	Yet another chateau nearby	Grapes as yet, very tiny

They still use horses for ploughing

Moving on, we parked at the end of the St. Emilion main street & walked round the town, past the dry (by design) moat & in by the top church.

The top church & monastery

Top Church & monastery

Monastery cloister 13thC

Then, a surprise, as the town is split by a huge cleft in the limestone, so there was a view across it & the plain to the North (I think). We went down a fairly vertiginous street & through a square to some ancient features mainly underground, carved out of solid (not so solid) limestone. These included St. Emilion's tomb (although he seems to have been de-sainted for insufficient miracles) & a whole, full-sized church but this tour was a bit protracted & chilly, unlike the day as a whole.

Off right from the panorama above	Chapel above St. Emilion's tomb	Vast underground church
Vertiginous streets	Top church tower	Bad Art Gallery (good gallery, bad art)

Lunch was not included & this was a Bank Holiday for Ascension Day, there were no Menu deals in the restaurants & we eventually found one at the top which did snacks but with beers, this was €36. We found a gallery of bad art & better, round the top of the gorge on the other side, the Cloître des Cordeliers, which is partly used as a bar & rubbish shop.

Cloître des Cordeliers across the town

Inside the Cloître des Cordeliers

Chapel in the Cloître des Cordeliers

More steep streets

Steep gateway

Le Couvent des Jacobins

Outside wall

Back to the coach, we got back to Bordeaux in 40 minutes but were driven round the city rather unnecessarily for another 40 minutes, although we were very tired & crashed out after some tea. The ship sailed at 2030, with an elaborated turn round. I stayed on deck for 100 minutes, admiring the bridges & the sunset. My camera had played up all day, so I used the old one for the sail away.