Like Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion was on my map of places to go on my roadtrip in 2016. So this long weekend in Bordeaux was the perfect opportunity to catch a train to this little but beautiful French wine-making town. As a matter of fact, the whole place is so historic that the town is a UNESCO Heritage-listed site!
I caught an early train from Bordeaux and travelled the 40 minutes or so to Saint-Emilion. Actually, I'm not sure if I got into a bit of trouble on the train with my ticket - the very polite conductor explained to me that I'd paid too much for my ticket and I should have bought another one. It was only 14 euros return so I didn't think it was that badly priced! And I couldn't quite work out if he was trying to help me or tell me off!
I got off the train at the station then, with a few other groups of tourists, looked for information about how to actually get to the village from the train station. We eventually worked it out then set off. It was not a particularly long walk, quite nice in the brisk winter air.
I was at the historic city centre quite early, and being low-season there was nothing open for hours, so I did what I do best - went exploring! I walked up the very steep cobbled lanes (called les tertres) - I am not being hyperbolic when I say very steep, they were so hard to walk up! And being cobbles and it being winter and damp, they were slippery too. I don't know how the townspeople get around if there's any ice! I walked right to the top of the village, then around the road circling it from up high. It was such a pretty place.
At a more reasonable time - that is, when the village was waking up a bit - I went to the tourist information office and enquired about a tour of the monolithic underground church. The only tours available in winter were in French so I paid for it and just tried to follow along. The church itself was impressive - HUGE and carved out of the limestone hill in the 12th century! No photos though because it was dark inside and I don't think you were really supposed to take photos inside. But take my word for it, the sheer scale was just incredible.
After the tour, it was definitely time for lunch. I found a boulangerie that was open, then found a patisserie that was open and bought myself a baguette and a packet of Saint-Emilion macarons, which are different from the standard pastel-coloured biscuits. Instead, they are more like a chewy almond cookie, much more similar to macarons how they were originally made than the ones made famous by Laduree.
I found a bench on the high road, and sat and had myself a little picnic. The sun even made an appearance!
After lunch, I walked up to the main road that drove past Saint-Emilion. There was a ruin up there, plus lots of vines. I wandered around the top roads on the other side, as I'd spent more time exploring the church side of the village. Saint-Emilion, being a wine area, had vines as far as you could see, and signs for wine houses everywhere. I wish I had been there in summer (though apparently it gets packed) for some wine tastings, as nothing was open in the winter. But it was nice to have the place basically to myself - I think there might have been about 20-30 tourists there in total, so it was just quiet and as though the little village was hibernating.
I walked back to the train station just before 3. I'd seen everything in the little village and it was time to leave the cobbled streets behind. It was another nice walk back to the station, but I made a few detours, walking up some of the side roads up to a church and finding some pretty little places along the way!
I got back to my hotel about 4:30, and warmed up and changed for dinner. I walked back over the bridge to the old town and kept walking to find a restaurant - it was a Sunday and nothing much was open. Finally, I found this place I had read about called A La Cantine, and it was simple, delicious food (unlike my dinner last night!). A very nice and chilled end to a day in which I clocked up over 20km of walking!
