St. Emilion

Alette and Olivier are our friends from Philadelphia who, now, live here in St. Emilion.  Truthfully, they are our friends from Europe (France and the Netherlands) who lived in our neighborhood, in Philadelphia, for a short but wonderful time.  We had to make a trip to stop by and stay with them during our world tour.

St. Emilion is an ancient town outside of Bordeaux.  It is where the grapes are grown and the wine is made.

The town is from the 8th century and can actually be traced back to the 3rd century when the Romans first grew wine here.  The current building that Alette and Olivier live in is from the 18th century.  So, it’s almost new.

A Chateau is a winegrower’s estate.  I somehow had ski lodges in my head when I thought of a chateau.

This is a remnant of an ancient door at a gate of the town.

That is water in a shallow pool.  This was an ancient laundry.  No quarters needed.

You can walk around all day here and find history as it leaps out at you. We visited an ancient church built underground, because they could. The rock was easy to dig into so they celebrated St. Emilion. They later built a tower so that others would know that the church was there. Jon got us a key, so we climbed to the top. Even Alette and Olivier had not done that before.

This is the back entrance to their place.  They have a beautiful home with a shared backyard that is quite relaxing.  We thank them for having us and for all of the excellent cuisine.