Saint Emilion and Bordeaux …
What better way to spend Saint Valentine’s Day than in the Bordeaux region of France! The area is well known for its exceptional wines and we will bring some bottles home with us!
Just outside of the City of Bordeaux is the village 
of Saint Emilion. It is nestled amongst the vineyards and chateaus that surround the area.
Designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 
1999, Saint Emilion is the town where time stood still. It is an 18th century archaeological treasure and strolling along the streets you can imagine what it might have been like to live here hundreds of years ago!
The Church of Saint Emilion is carved out of a monolithic limestone rock. It was a small group of people who qualified for burial here namely those
associated with the church, noblemen or children who were thought to be too young to have committed any sins. We missed getting a picture outside of the Church of Saint Emilion but we did manage to snap a picture of this bell tower as a substitute.
Saint Emilion is well known 
for its wines. And, of course, every other shop is selling a selection of the area’s finest. This one sold wine over 100 years old!
Excavations in the 11th century uncovered a vast network of passageways 
dating from the 5th century. No pictures were allowed in the catacombs. This is a picture of the cloisters which were nearby. The catacombs were discovered along with some 200 acres of quarries spread under the vineyards.
Today this underground network is put to 
The City of Bordeaux has a uniform look to the buildings that line the river and they go on, and on and on …
In the 18th century, the medieval wall was 
demolished to make way for grand Louis XV styled residences decorated with sculptures, stone balconies and magnificent wrought iron work.
In the heart of old Bordeaux, on the site of the original Roman port, we found the Church of Saint Pierre. This church had some wonderful stained glass windows! It’s not often we’ve seen this vibrant blue color in all the churches we’ve visited over the last week.
The Gothic styled B
In its heyday the Sainte Eulalie quarter was home to craftsmen and stone masons. 
The Sainte Eulalie Church includes several convents, cloisters and gardens. Compared to the other churches we visited this afternoon, Sainte Eulalie looks like it has undergone a major restoration. The grounds are well taken care of and it was nice to roam around the area. In warmer weather one can imagine the street vendors, buskers and artists lining the square to capture the attention of the tourists! There was an open market in the area that was selling antique pictures, lamps and glassware.
Before heading home we briefly visited the Palais Rohan which was built in the late 1700s. Even back then there were problems keeping construction costs in line! 
During its 15 years of construction the Archbishop of Bordeaux was forced to use his own fortune to get the job done! We peeked in the museum just before closing and were able to spend a few fleeting moments admiring old world masterpieces. It would have been nice to have more time to visit the palace but, alas, this will have to wait until next time!
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