St. Emilion and Graves region, Bordeaux
An early start to the morning saw us on our way to the wonderful medieval town of St. Emilion named after an eight century saint who was renowned for his miracle working. Perched on a limestone outcrop much of the thirteenth to fifteenth century buildings are still extant. This is indeed a charming place with its’ narrow cobbled lanes and terracotta tiled roofs. A magnet for craftspeople and artists who have set up small shops in the alleyways, the town still exudes a medieval character. St. Emilion, a Benedictine monk originally from the environs of St. Malo further to the north, stayed in an underground cave hollowed out of the limestone for a number of years as a hermit. A tiny spring issuing from the rock provided the saint with water and to this very day visitors throw a coin in and make a wish. This is in fact a Pre-Christian tradition associated with a cult of veneration of springs which were thought to be connected to a mother goddess and certainly dates back to Celtic times. In the twelfth century a church known as the Trinity Chapel was built on the ground above. A number of remarkably well preserved thirteenth century religious frescoes were discovered high up on its’ interior walls and are a testament to the consummate skill of the unknown artist. The Benedictine monks hollowed out a huge monolithic church from the outcropping limestone near to this site between the ninth and eleventh century. This is a remarkable ‘underground’ structure. Undergoing restoration work a number of stone coffins have been discovered still housing their skeletons. After we had been taken to view these sites we strolled around or relaxed in one of the many cafes ranged around the lower square before returning to the Endeavour for lunch.
On our way back to Bordeaux we crossed the broad and sweeping Dordogne. This and a number of other rivers including the Gironde, Garonne and Vezere drain an area which was a veritable vortex of human cultural and anthropological development extending back as far as 500,000 years into the prehistoric past. These are the valleys closely associated with the emergence of anatomically modern humans approximately 35,000 years ago at a time when the so called Great Ice Age was at its’ maximum. These people adorned the walls of the caves in which they sheltered with remarkable depictions of the animals who shared their world. Wooly mammoth, deer, rhino and wild cattle are among the species which are painted with incredible detail and skill. The most spectacular and magnificent gallery of art is Lascaux which was discovered in 1940 by four schoolboys. Picasso was so impressed by these paintings and engravings that on emerging from the Lascaux cave he made the famous remark “we have invented nothing!”
Our afternoon was spent visiting a number of chateaux in the Graves area. The serried ranks of vines were heavily hung with dark grapes. This year the weather has been particularly clement so the grapes are exceptionally sweet. This whole area has a history of wine making of almost a thousand years. The processes of planting, grafting, picking, pressing and fermenting were explained by our chateaux guides and to finish off a wonderful afternoon we had wine tasting which gave us the opportunity to sample some of these world famous white and red wines.
An early start to the morning saw us on our way to the wonderful medieval town of St. Emilion named after an eight century saint who was renowned for his miracle working. Perched on a limestone outcrop much of the thirteenth to fifteenth century buildings are still extant. This is indeed a charming place with its’ narrow cobbled lanes and terracotta tiled roofs. A magnet for craftspeople and artists who have set up small shops in the alleyways, the town still exudes a medieval character. St. Emilion, a Benedictine monk originally from the environs of St. Malo further to the north, stayed in an underground cave hollowed out of the limestone for a number of years as a hermit. A tiny spring issuing from the rock provided the saint with water and to this very day visitors throw a coin in and make a wish. This is in fact a Pre-Christian tradition associated with a cult of veneration of springs which were thought to be connected to a mother goddess and certainly dates back to Celtic times. In the twelfth century a church known as the Trinity Chapel was built on the ground above. A number of remarkably well preserved thirteenth century religious frescoes were discovered high up on its’ interior walls and are a testament to the consummate skill of the unknown artist. The Benedictine monks hollowed out a huge monolithic church from the outcropping limestone near to this site between the ninth and eleventh century. This is a remarkable ‘underground’ structure. Undergoing restoration work a number of stone coffins have been discovered still housing their skeletons. After we had been taken to view these sites we strolled around or relaxed in one of the many cafes ranged around the lower square before returning to the Endeavour for lunch.
On our way back to Bordeaux we crossed the broad and sweeping Dordogne. This and a number of other rivers including the Gironde, Garonne and Vezere drain an area which was a veritable vortex of human cultural and anthropological development extending back as far as 500,000 years into the prehistoric past. These are the valleys closely associated with the emergence of anatomically modern humans approximately 35,000 years ago at a time when the so called Great Ice Age was at its’ maximum. These people adorned the walls of the caves in which they sheltered with remarkable depictions of the animals who shared their world. Wooly mammoth, deer, rhino and wild cattle are among the species which are painted with incredible detail and skill. The most spectacular and magnificent gallery of art is Lascaux which was discovered in 1940 by four schoolboys. Picasso was so impressed by these paintings and engravings that on emerging from the Lascaux cave he made the famous remark “we have invented nothing!”
Our afternoon was spent visiting a number of chateaux in the Graves area. The serried ranks of vines were heavily hung with dark grapes. This year the weather has been particularly clement so the grapes are exceptionally sweet. This whole area has a history of wine making of almost a thousand years. The processes of planting, grafting, picking, pressing and fermenting were explained by our chateaux guides and to finish off a wonderful afternoon we had wine tasting which gave us the opportunity to sample some of these world famous white and red wines.
