Month: March 2019

Our last few days in Bordeaux have been beautiful – clear skies, mild temps and NO crowds. On Friday we visited La Cité du Vin – interactive exhibits, displays and information, all around the theme of wine.

First off, the building is 8 stories tall and includes restaurants, bars, seminar spaces, a library and two floors of wine information – not really a museum but more of an interactive wine education center. All this is contained in a swirl of glass and gold and silver metal, rounded like a wine decanter. Nearly the entire globe is covered and you need several hours (we spent about 6 altogether) to go thru the entire museum.

Media images and the quality of the exhibitions is fantastic. Wearing the headset allows you to hear everything in your native language.

In addition to the wine information there was a special exhibit about glassware – with a focus on wine- during our visit.

Both exhibits were well worth the cost and time spent.

We broke up the “learning experience” by going to the seventh floor for lunch at Le 7. This place has a fantastic view of Bordeaux along the La Garonne River and the Pont Jacques Charles Demas Bridge.

We had our lunch on the outside terrace to enjoy both the views and the breeze. As you can imagine, this place has an extensive wine list but we limited ourselves to one bottle of Taittinger Brut Champagne.

Continuing our tour of the wine experience we didn’t finish

up until close to 5:30, as we needed to get to the 8^th floor for our complementary glass of wine. The 8^th floor is for those who have paid the price for the wine experience and they give you a glass (I’m sure you could buy another if you wanted) from a selection of about 10 French wines as well as wines from 8 or 9 other countries! It was not easy to choose, but Corsica, Greece, Spain and Brazil were tried.

The following day we drove to Podensac – about 53km from our apartment to visit and taste Lillet.

Lillet is a French aperitif and is technically not a wine – it is 85% Bordeaux region wines (Semillon for the Blanc and the Rosé and Merlot for the Rouge) and 15% macerated “secret herbs”, mostly citrus and quinine bark, liqueurs.

This ends up being 17% alcohol, a bit higher then most wines for sure. Our tour was in French, but all of the information was printed in English along the way.

Lillet has been made basically with the same ingredients since 1887 in the same place. They source the finished wine from various places throughout Bordeaux, but the bulk of it is Semillon. Our guide, Emma, was able to answer questions and share experience in English as well.

After our tour, we cruised over to Cadillac

for an al fresco Menu de Jour at L’Entrée Jardin, and walked through city center to post a card. David programed the GyPSy to take us on the green and blooming back roads back toward Bordeaux. Not only is wisteria in full bloom everywhere, and Janeen had her first lilac sightings, both white and lilac.

 

 

Bordeaux – our next stop on the adventure is the current home of Ryan and Chris. We had rented an apartment not far from the center of the city and we connected with them as we coordinated with the Owner for access. It’s a two-bedroom place on the third floor – no view to speak of but it includes parking which is a must.

We have been in Bordeaux previously so we have already visited many of the significant sites.

Our goal here was to visit with Ryan and Chris, eat a few nice meals

and venture down to Sauternes to sample Château d’Yquem.

Of course there are open markets and we tromped around a couple just to see what is out there.

It amazes me the amount of stuff that gets put out at one of these markets. There were tables and tables of old photographs, silverware, furniture, lamps, clothing, door hardware, books, bottles of all sizes – an amazing assortment of things.

 

Of course there was several different churches

to go into, places to eat, shopping walkways (there is even an Apple Store)

to avoid and beautiful weather. We have been very fortunate, thus far, to be on the cusp of spring with clear skys and lovely weather (hopefully that will come with us as we venture north to Belgium and the Netherlands).

However, the one thing I had mentioned to Ryan I wanted to do was visit Château d’Yquem.

While Sauternes are certainly not the main adult beverage we enjoy, from time to time it is nice to have something different and Château d’Yquem is just that special thing.

The last time we were here the chateau was closed, as were many of the chateau in the district as it was May Day – a National Holiday.

The making of sauternes is not easy – the grapes basically have to be infected by a fungus – Noble Rot – grapes typically become infected with Botrytis when they are ripe.

When it is determined that it is time to pick, the crews go through the vineyards and only pick those grapes that are ready – this is very demanding, hand work and results in multiple passes through the vineyards.

As many as 5 or more different pickings can be required to get all the fruit from the vines during the season.

Once the grapes are picked it is a traditional wine making process – press the grapes, age the juice in oak barrels, blend to make the right flavor profile and bottle it. Château d’Yquem, as I’m sure most producers in the area, age the wine in barrel (new French oak) for two years before making the final blend and bottling the juice. Needless to say all the labor involved results in some hefty pricing for the really good stuff. The average price for a standard bottle of Château d’Yquem is over $300 and goes even higher depending on the age of the bottle.

Our tour was enjoyable – visiting the aging caves, learning the history of the Chateau (another wine widow 19^th century as in Champagne), seeing vines, a flower and herb garden –

but of course the final stop – the tasting room was the highlight. We tasted both the still (non-sweet white wine they make, also very pricy) as well as the 2017 vintage of the good stuff. It was quite nice and a second pour was offered and accepted!

Along the way we have had some great meals and more to come. We are in Bordeaux for another few days flying to Brussels on Sunday.

After we completed our adventure in Avignon and Saint Remy, we needed a direction to go. Having received several recommendations from friends to visit the New Aquitaine region and more specifically to visit cave paintings, we headed for Sarlot in the Perigord area close to the Dordogne River.  Spring weather, however, changed our days in the Dordogne Region to garden adventures instead of caves as the Lascaux caves have been carefully reproduced for touring, but the actual caves are closed to protect them and the small tram that allows visitors to view the actual painted walls at Rouffignac does not start up until April we shifted gears and went to two different gardens. No regrets.

Marqueyssac gardens perched on sandstone cliffs above the fertile valley of the Dordogne overlooks

Beynac castle, Fayrac and Castelnaud and was abloom with fruit trees and green fields. Six kilometers of shaded walks are lined with 150,000 boxwood trees and rockeries.

The topiary art maintained by 5 gardeners by hand offers surrealistic mounds and mazes as well as “stone blocks” near the mansion.

The Holm oaks, often limned in moss and lichen, are dark foliaged, and are the reason this is called Perigord Noir.

Returning to Sarlat, center of Perigord Noir, we dined on duck, foie gras, confit, grilled duck breast, and strolled past multiple shops with shelves lined with goose liver. One of the things David had wanted to do was visit a geese farm – alas we couldn’t find any that were open and had an English tour – darn.

When a second day of warm spring weather, blue skies and sunshine greeted us, David wound his way across the back roads of Perigord Noir to Eyrignac Gardens,

privately owned estate for 22 generations. Bright green carpets of lawn are edged with gravel paths to let one wander the 200-hectare estate viewing 6 gardens.

The defining walkway of yew and hornbeam pruned into architectural shapes was in “recovery” mode.

It required a postcard to in vision.

Formal French gardens are adorned with topiary, benches set in meditative alcoves, and 17^th century water features.

Italian influence is also viewed down an arcade of terra cotta planters and overlooking this arcade, a small English “natural” garden that leads to the family chapel.

The White Garden, newest of developments, is entered through a crimson Tori gate and graced with multiple fountains, including bronze frogs.

Seasonal hyacinth, tulips and narcissus defined spring White. Red viewing benches overlook the topiary farmyard, espalier orchard in process, and four meadows: wildflowers, grape varietals, decorative grasses, and “roaming square” being planted.

Both of these gardens were a joy to visit and we had them virtually ours to explore without anyone around. There “might” have been 3 other couples in the garden while we explored.

While we didn’t get to either of the historic caves, we certainly had a wonderful time staying in Sarlat and venturing out to the surrounding villages.

Carcassonne – A medieval city in the south of France was our next stop. This medieval walled city sits in the luscious valley of the Aude River – the gap between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central mountains of southern France. Slate roofs glint in the sun atop 13^th century towers that dominate the horizon.

Surround by mountains and vineyards this fortified city surrounds 2500 years of history. Carcassonne became identified when the Romans fortified the hilltop around 100 BC. Over the next 1000 years or so it continued its prominence. In 1067 it became the property of Raimond-Bernard Trencavel the viscount of Albi and Nimes. Located along the then French boarder with Spain, it was a central spot for defense of the region. In 1659 this all changed. The Treaty of the Pyrenees moved the boarder well south and Carcassonne’s military significance was greatly reduced.

The fortifications were abandoned and left to decay. Napoleon basically struck Carcassonne off the map when he declared it not worth caring for. This caused such an uproar that the local mayor convinced the Inspector of Ancient Monuments to reconsider and Carcassonne was made a historical monument allowing it to receive funds and be restored.

The use of internal Wells and food storage is reminiscent of Moorish fortification more than Western Europe or Roman construction, including the double walls.

Shops provide child size shields, swords, helmets and other fantasy of the knight objects. The actual Knights who chose this fortification were cruel defenders of the Inquisition of the Cather’s, a religious group which questioned Papal authority, or rampaging armies who sought land and wealth for smaller kingdoms. (Battle of Crecy).

Despite the 1659 border change, the Catalan/Spanish influence remains in the language of visitors, the food specialties, and the Pyrenees visible on a clear day.

Carcassonne is the second most visited National Monument of France, right behind Mont Saint Michel, which we visited in December.

The stained glass in the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire is dazzling, even on an overcast day.

The Museum of schools offered an opportunity to try out the pen and ink,

and the class pictures were reminiscent of photos of farm schools such as my father attended in the 20s and 30s, with all ages lined up in one room.

We chuckled a bit at the sign on the Chateau, closed for the day.

Ten years ago we completed our first riverboat cruise that ended in Arles. After we got off we actually had to go back to Avignon to pick up our car (rental place was closed on Sunday in Arles) and cruised to Saint Remy to stay at L’Hotel Sous les Figuiers – The hotel under the fig trees. This nice little place has only 14 rooms and it seemed like a good place to return while we were in the area.

Saint Remy has a population of about 10,000 and a lovely city center. After we arrived, and before we checked in to our Hotel, we stopped at the Tourist Office to check out the Van Gogh Walk.

This is about a 1KM walk that starts in the City Center and ends at the psychiatric institution. Over the course of the walk there are some 20 stops to learn about various paintings

that he did while in Saint Remy and to view a representation of the actual locations. It was a pleasant walk and we learned quite a lot about Vincent’s time in Saint Remy.

When we got to the hospital (still in use) we couldn’t figure out how to visit his actual room so we headed back to the city center for some lunch.

After lunch, we headed to our Hotel and were greeted warmly by new Owners. Seems writing something on the reservation about coming back 10 years after our first visit to celebrate our 50^th anniversary pays off! When we got into the room (the same one we had 10 years ago) there was a chilled half bottle of champagne! Very nice.

The following day, after a Petit déjeuner breakfast, we headed out to the markets of Isle-sur la-Sorgue.

This village is famous for its market with LOTs of vendors selling just about anything you could want. We wandered around for a couple of hours but were restricted from buying anything (Where would we stow it?)

Do  we carry it around for the next 2 months in Europe?) So we bought only some olives, and other consumables. At one part of the walk we were clearly in more of the ‘flea market’ area with tables covered with all kinds of stuff – dishes, door hardware, old post cards, clocks, furniture and LOTs of things.

 

Our stay in Saint Remy and the visit to Isle-sur la-Sorgue were both very pleasant.