Wine Wrangling Woman: Day 7 Afternoon Saint-Émilion Excursion-Wine Shopping

After lunch onboard the ship, we enjoyed a walking tour of the famous town of Saint-Emilion, a visit of underground monuments and a wine tasting. St.-Émilion is about 21 miles northeast of Bordeaux. Its history dates back almost 2000 years when the Romans planted vineyards in the region. The town itself dates from the 8th century, when Émilion, a Breton Monk, came to settle in a hermitage carved into the rock. Fascinating Romanesque churches and ruins remain, stretching all along steep and narrow streets.

a local vin cellar

The "Great Wall", a reminder of the 13th century Dominican convent destroyed at the beginning of the Hundred Years War to prevent the enemy from using it as a pressure point on the city.

A tall bell tower marks the place where Europe's largest monolithic church lies underneath. It was carved out of solid rock at the beginning of the 12th century. We couldn't take pictures down there-not allowed and too dark anyway!

A breathtaking view of the city and the surrounding area from the bell tower. We ate a bite and shopped around the village. If you look left of the tree, you will barely see the cellar we bought wine from. Photos are below.

A beautiful church, one of many we visited.

I know it doesn't look steep, but it was. The "Tertres" are a special feature of St.-Émilion. The word Tertre is specific to the town and refers to the steep pedestrian cobblestone streets. There are four of them in the town. The cobblestones were brought by English wine traders who loaded them in their ships as ballast before replacing them with barrels full of wine.