Bordeaux by night and a visit to Saint Emilion

We passed by a seafood restaurant yesterday and last night decided to return there for dinner. A very good move.

We wandered around the old town, 
it looked really beautiful by night.

The Water Mirror ( Miroir d’eau) provided spectacular reflections 
and the fog effect was rather impressive.

Today we explored Saint Emilion,

about 35km northeast of Bordeaux.

The Romans planted vineyards there in the 2nd Century

and at that time the town was called Ascumbas.

Then in the 8^th century it was renamed after a traveling monk,

Émilion whose followers began producing

commercial wine here in the 8th Century.

It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site,

built on a beautiful spot overlooking the Dordogne valley.

The steep cobblestone streets are lined with charming houses,

fascinating Romanqesue ruins,

and an underground Monolithic church

carved into the limestone.

We explored the town,

...enjoyed a delicious lunch

and took an 'Underground Saint-Emilion' tour,

during which we learnt the story of the monk Emilion

and the carving of the surprising monolithic church.

The guide led us through four monuments:

The cave Emilion took refuge in and then

became his home for the last 17 years of his life,

from 750 and 767.

Inside the cave you can see the spring,

used for baptismal water,

his bed carved out of rock

and a meditation chair carved out of rock.

This is reputed to be a fertility chair

and is apparently well known for its efficacy!

The Trinity Chapel, with remarkable medieval paintings.

The Monolithic church is entirely hewn out of the rock and is the biggest church of this kind in Europe. It is 38m long, 20m wide and 11m high.

There are some carvings in the stone to see

as well as four altars added in the 15 to 18th centuries.

The Catacombs are graves carved into the rock

next to the monolithic church.

A cupola was carved out to let light in

and show the way to heaven.

(no photography allowed)

Today we only walked  11.4k's.

Beautiful Bordeaux

It has been a beautiful sunny day and we've made the most of it.

This morning we set off for

the grand Place de la Bourse,

a landmark and symbol of Bordeaux.

The bronze and marble Fontaine des Trois Graces, erected in 1860 stands in the centre of the square. The fountain bears statues of Zeus’ three daughters. The buildings which surround the horse-shoe shaped square are in the Rococo-style which became popular in the late 1720s. The three buildings are perfectly symmetrical. To the north the Palais de la Bourse and to the south the former Hotel des Fermes which now houses the Musee National des Douanes (National Customs Museum). The square opens up onto the River Garonne. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After my incident in Zaragoza I was very careful when we visited The Water Mirror ( Miroir d’eau) which was installed in 2006. This water installation consists of a shallow amount of water covering an expansive area of 3450m² on the square. It is the world’s largest water mirror. It creates a reflection of the surrounding 18th century buildings. The water mirror is constantly changing. It works in cycles of 3 minutes changing water, 15 minutes as a shallow pool of water, 5 minutes draining and 3 minutes of a fog effect.

On our way home at the end of the day

the fog effect was in full swing!

We spent most of the day wandering through the historic Old Town, 

designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The beautiful Grand Theatre built in 1780

A bewitching bronze statue, “The Face”

is seemingly a circular 3D object but instead is only a game perspective and is extremely flat. It is situated right next to the Grand Theatre.

Rue St. Catherine,

the main pedestrian thoroughfare

running through the historic district...

We had lunch in a cafe and Peta was VERY happy with her choice, 
it involved warm camembert and crispy smoked duck!

More wandering and some shopping

went on after lunch!

We visited Cathedrale Saint-Andre,

built in the 13th century

and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is where the prosperous Eleanor of Aquitaine

was married to the future King.

It's also infamous for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar.

The cathedral saw another royal wedding

in 1615, this time between King Louis XIII

and Queen consort Anne of Austria,

following a tradition of fortifying military and political

alliances between the Catholic powers of

France and Spain with royal marriages.

The cathedral bell tower (tower of Pey-Berland) is separate from Saint-André Cathedral, this 15th-century tower was built to provide the cathedral with a large bell without threatening the structure.

We decided to head for home so that we could have a short rest 
and come back into the old town for dinner,

the lights on the buildings should look great.

It may be our only chance to do this because the weather forecast

for the next two days is pretty bleak.

This is our street,

you enter through an archway, close to the river,

our house is the one that you can see

at the end of the street,

with a big dark double door.

Our apartment is the one at the very top to the left

of the big shield.

The apartment takes up the six windows

at the top left of the picture.

The view from our kitchen window,

looking into the central courtyard.

We're about to head out for dinner...

I'll update you on our adventures tomorrow.

We walked 22 km's today!

About last night...

Our final night in San Sebastian was wonderful,

our pinxto bar hopping was lots of fun.

Every morsel we tried was a taste sensation,

some of the places were quite glamorous and

others were very basic in the décor department

but VERY crowded because of the amazing food being served,

here are a few photos.

We walked home via the beach...the pink sunset was beautiful.

Today we drove 244 km to Bordeaux via the pretty,

Basque fishing village, Saint-Jean-de-Luz,

and then the very glamorous Biarritz.

Lunch at Miremont was rather special.

Our apartment in Bordeaux is very spacious and comfortable,

the building is about 300 years old

and was at one time a convent.

We went for a walk before unpacking and

ended up having a delicious meal in a creperie.

Andrew and I had scallops with other tasty morsels in our crepes

and Peta went for figs and goats cheese.

The waiter suggested we try some Apple Cider from Normandy,

it was served in ceramic cups

interesting and delicious.

We're really looking forward to exploring this city tomorrow,

it looks like a beautiful place.