Saint-Émilion

‘In the heart of Libournais (the area around Libourne), in a region of wine hills, Saint-Émilion is a medieval city located at the crossroads of Bordeaux, Saintonge and Périgord. The town and surrounding vineyards was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, owing to its long, living history of wine-making, Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.’

Our visit to Saint-Émilion didn’t quite go according to plan. We thought there was a ‘voie verte’ - green way - cycle path we could walk for the 8kms from Libourne, and that we would arrive for the Tuesday market day. Neither of those things were true. ☺️

The cycle path from Libourne is all on the the road, albeit not a particularly busy one. The train, a 6 minute journey, is definitely the preferred option - unless there is a problem on the track - see return journey below. Also, there is no longer a weekly market in Saint-Émilion and when there was it was on Tuesdays not Wednesdays. 😂

As the mercury was heading to high 30s again, we planned just a few hours in Saint-Émilion before taking the 11-45 train back to Libourne. We tootled around with little plan or purpose. We didn’t get to see the underground church, though we did get a sense of the town and took some photos.

By then it was time to walk back down to the station to take our train. The train was already there when we arrived but sadly it would remain there for some time. An electrical problem on the track - most likely due to the heat - meant our train and the one an hour later were both cancelled. SNCF announced replacement buses would be sent but we didn’t know how long that would take. It was too hot by then to consider walking the 8kms back by the road. 🥵

As we waited outside the station with all the other passengers, seeking shade, I saw a car pull up and noticed two phones mounted on the dashboard. I think that’s a taxi, I said to The French. I assumed the driver was looking for someone who’d called. I watched intently as he circled the car park, but no one appeared. So I made my way over to ask if he could take us to Libourne, and we were on our way. I feel the fare may have had a ‘supply and demand’ surcharge … but we weren’t complaining. In no time we were back in Libourne in our air conditioned apartment.

I’m putting our first visit down to reconnaissance. Further and better research has revealed there are popular walking paths outside the town - eg. Saint-Émilion Vineyards Loop, 4.8 km exploring historic vineyards and the Cordeliers' Cloister loop, a 7.7 km path offering views of the historic town and its surroundings. They sound perfect.

A second visit is in order. 😎Read more