Saint-Julien-Beychevelle

Hi Folks,
Since my last post Mike and I have taken a week to see some of the south western area of France - areas that neither of us have visited before. Instead of being constantly on the move, I decided to pick three spots and spend a few nights in each place. We’ve had to get back into a French mindset and remember some general rules: (1) everything is “ferme” from 1230 hrs to at least 2 pm and often later; (2) on Sunday everything is simply “ferme”; (3) dinner happens much later (not Spain later but at least 8); and, (4) check-in for most accommodations is equally late at 5 pm particularly at B&Bs - which makes sense so the hosts don’t have to stay in all day. We’ve now adjusted our schedules to French time.
Our first 2 nights stop this week was a B&B on Il de Re which is off of the Atlantic coast from La Rochelle. La Rochelle is the main city and capital of the Charente-Maritime and it is a huge tourist area. We took some time to wander around this old (12th century) port town. It was hosting a film festival when we visited and the place was packed with film people and spectators. Nope, didn’t see any stars that I recognized. The island of Il de Re is very flat - that was a bonus when we borrowed bikes from our lovely hostess Nelly on day 2 and did a bit of a tour. Besides wide sandy beaches the place is all salt marshes. The island is a biking mecca and there were literally hundreds of cyclists along the bike trails which criss-cross the entire island,. We even biked to supper one night . How very French! We came across a tiny Commonwealth war cemetery which was nestled into the small town cemetery. The headstones were of mostly aircrew from the same date in 1940 indicating a plane must have crashed close to the area. It is always impressive the way the war graves - wherever they are - are carefully maintained.
Our next stop for 3 nights was Rochefort which I picked mostly because of the accommodations and less because of the town. Our B&B - l’esprit 8 - was in a large old home that had once been the offices of the local government. The house and gardens were beautiful and our hosts couldn’t do enough for us. They were like old friends after 3 days. The home is full of industrial designer furniture and antique objects d’art. Our room was named Florence Knoll - evidently an influential French designer - and the room was designed containing samples of her furniture. The entire effect was quite beautiful although somewhat lost on this member of the extended family.
The town of Rochefort had some interesting things to see. Louis XIV established a large military fortification and naval station in Rochefort and it was from Rochefort that the French navy sailed to America to help fight the British in the American Revolution. The main buildings from that time remain mostly in tact and there is an interesting building that is almost 400 metres long, which was the factory to make the rigging or cordage (ropes ) needed for the naval vessels being built. It’s a good little museum with films and some hands on demos of how the ropes were made from hemp right through to massive thick lines for ships. We tried to visit the Naval Medicine Museum but…. “Ferme”.
Unfortunately, whilst in Rochefort , I developed a minor ailment and had occasion to visit the urgent care at the local hospital. It was a completely efficient and painless process. Within an hour I had been administratively processed - including an official armband and file - had been triaged and seen a charming, French “medecin” who tried his best English on me while I tried my best French. My traveller’s French doesn’t extend to body parts. Is a rognon (kidney) that you might order in a restaurant the same as a rognon that you should have two of? A similar situation in Victoria might easily have taken me 12 hours without any language barrier.
Yesterday Mike and I drove south and crossed the Gironde estuary by ferry. The area down the Atlantic coast is very sandy, full of pine forests and quite breezy. We stopped in the lovely beach town of Souillac sur Mer. Even mid-September, the crowds are mostly gone and the people that remain look like weather-beaten retirees - so we fit right in. We had initially thought to bike the coast but in retrospect it was probably a good decision not to. The scenery would become pretty “ same old” after a couple of days. We turned our Fiat east and we are now in Pauillac in the heart of the Medoc wine region.
Now, for someone who has consumed more than my share of wine - no laughing please- I know very little about the whole industry. In France, the system of classifying wines are what matters and the Medoc is part of the overall Bordeaux Region. This is red wine terroir and the term Chateaux is used to mean a territory or winery. Much like in the Okanagan Burrowing Owl or Platinum Bench would denote a winery. We are staying in Pauillac and today we borrowed the B&B host’s “wonky” bikes to do a leisurely 30 kms around the area. Mike reports that it was a bit like train spotting in the UK. We had a map of the “ Chateaux” or wine cellars and we biked around and saw many of them. Some were in old, stone buildings but many were in modern, more industrial looking buildings. Bordeaux wine is a huge industry and there are large warehouses everywhere. Although there are accommodations and restaurants, I got the feeling that tourism is not the main focus, unlike in the Napa Valley. Here it is all about the grapes and the wine. The grapes are mostly still on the vines and there is evidence that the fields are being readied for harvesting.
Tonight our hosts made us a wonderful dinner including a duck breast that was disguised as a beef tenderloin, We also enjoyed some local wine. Tomorrow we return to Bordeaux , hand over the car and reunite with my sister Helen. This coming week is all about the biking Bordeaux and into the St. Emillion wine region. More to follow.One more week to go.

You will see a picture below of Mike having a pression ( beer) right under a shelf of 6 Grand Cru wines from the area- sacrilege! But to be fair, even around here the top drawer reds are very pricey.

Thats’s it for now, So many of our friends are traveling right now. Hope the trips are all going smoothly.
Hope everyone is well at home,
Heather xxRead more