this blog (song) has no title, just words and a tune (Listrac - St. Emilion)

Clearly Roman ruins are so abundant throughout France that they require a minimum of sign posting and explanation. The wall below, is the remnant of a Dominican building. No explanation unless you found the Bureau de Touriste, which is no easy thing in France.

One for the Bishop, a Dominican left over.

We have decided that they signpost the Bureau office and then point other signs in random directions, or even better, they lead you to a square with several exits and no other signs to the Bureau office. Of all the buildings in St Emilion, the tourist bureau is the most unassuming and probably the most important.







The morning ride
And today began with grey skies and drizzle. Wow! That's unusual - not. I swear it's the reverse of the south coast, the afternoons are beautifully calm and sunshine. Yes, I got a bike! Sort of. It's a mountain bike, but after my 8km ride in the drizzle, I make no more jokes about mountain bikes. It was pedal all the way and no coasting. The rain made it interesting. I hope tomorrow morning is not wet. It was nice to have a ride though, no matter how clunky. Anyway, the day didn't look like it was going to improve so we shelved plans and decided to stay close to home and visit St Emilion, properly.

St Emilion

St Emilion is another of those beautifully picturesque Roman towns. The original town was surrounded by a wall, or rampart. The centre of town still has those narrow cobble-stoned streets that the French still believe need to be driven on. They haven't worked out the park-and-walk concept yet. Truly, we watched a woman fold her side mirrors in as she drove down one of the street this afternoon. Totally glad I was on foot.

So, we wandered in search of the Tourist office, and probably found it by accident, but that's not important now. By this time, we had seen most of the significant points of interest. Anyway, we booked a tour of the monolithic church and then had some time to waste, so we got lost in another part of the town.

There are never ending cobble-stoned streets, but my favourites were the aptly named 'pavage chaotique'. A rough translation, chaotic paving. Oh yeah! Walking up or down proved a challenge, very difficult underfoot.

Down is not so easy either.

Up looks tough.

Aside from the Dominican remnants near the town edge, the Fransiscans also had a shot in St Emilion. Their left overs still harbour a decent wine cellar. It looked a lovely place to while away a summer's afternoon, but the main building still needs some major repairs.

The cellar door.

The tower was one of my favourites. It just thrusts itself up into the sky. It's not as big as the clock tower above the underground church, but it still commands the skyline. It is clearly, well I think so, of Norman origin, nice and solid and square, no thought, no originality. But the official tourist book says, "origin: unknown".

Time was running out before our 2 pm tour of the monolithic church, so we returned to the square where the tour would begin and had a glass of red. Not just any red. It was a St Emilion Grand Cru ... only 57 wines in the region had been accorded that wonderful title! Tourist rubbish aside, it was a lovely glass of wine.

So, to the legend of St Emilion and the monolithic church ... well according to the tour guide, we know the church is real because we were able to walk through it. St Emilion, however, is described in more of a mythic state. The cave where he is reputed to have ended his days (body never found) has a fresh spring, the water from which cures eye problems. But there is also a chair (rock) of fertility, where women having difficulty falling pregnant can sit and will then conceive within the year. Too much to say that is not fitting for this page.

Another point of interest is that the statue of St Emilion in the cave only dates back to the 1940s and is clearly of St Francis of Assisi - not even a Frenchman.  Finally the stone tablet, on which the Latin inscription was said to have named St Emilion as being a historical reality, dated in the 12th century, was actually mistranslated and once accurately deciphered, in no way mentioned St Emilion at all!  Still on display as part of the tour though...
BTW, no photos available since all sites included on the tour, including the cave and the catacombs, are privately owned - only in France would citizens be allowed to maintain private ownership of sites declared by UNESCO to be of historical significance to the world!

Random stuff with photos
We went for a walk through the vineyards when we got home. We had been warned about people with guns, even though it isn't hunting season. Hmmm. Deliverance country.

They take rubbish collection seriously.

Anyway, amidst all the vines, Jayne saw this white bucket nailed to a post. "What is that?"she asked. If you can't make out the picture, or are unfamiliar with this stuff, it is a bucket full of spent shot gun cartridges. Banjo music.

Another random picture is of a wine shop. I don't know remember where it was in St Emilion and I would be unlikely to find it again, but the name captured me ... and I wondered if Ange had been keeping things from me. She has been to France a number times.

Who owns this shop? You be the judge.

And finally for today, thanks for hanging in, is a picture I have waited for since the battle fields of Flanders, but the weather has been so weird over here (just like home eh! but don't worry about climate change, it's a myth) that they have not been as prolific as expected. Anyway, here is my first red poppy growing by the roadside. OK, the first one I was able to stop and photograph.

And tomorrow ...
I hear you ask, we return to the scene of the last thunderstorm - Saintes and Cognac. Not sure what Cognac is famous for, but Jayne is really keen to visit there.