Scampering among the rocks of Saint-Emilion
We awoke leisurely, as we had no particular place to be this morning. We primped and readied ourselves for the day. I was still quite toasted from my sunburn, so I was sure to lather myself heavily with sunscreen before heading out. Given the steep and almost rugged nature of some of the cobblestone streets, I opted for sneakers to provide a measure of comfort and stability. We ventured out and wandered the town in search of a boulangerie, although oddly enough we couldn’t find one. We made our way down a fantastically steep ramp and back to the plaza we had dinner at the previous evening. There, we were treated to some tasty crépes for brunch. St Emilion is particularly known for its Eglise Monolithique, so we swung by the tourism office to pick up our tickets for the guided tour. As the only English option left at 2 pm, our schedule was set.
We decided to climb the 196 steps to the top of the clock tower while we waited for our tour. There wasn’t any light aside from what was provided by a few sporadically placed windows, so it was somewhat interesting to climb the narrow spiral staircase in the near dark at times. We eventually reached top, which afforded some spectacular views of the town and the surrounding vineyard-laced countryside. After numerous photos, we climbed back down. The heat was particularly oppressive, so we kept to the shaded areas and made our way back to the hotel to drop a few things off. The handy thing about the town being so small is that it was relatively easy to swing by the hotel to take a rest in air-conditioned bliss. After watching an episode of Criminal Minds, we headed back to the tourism office for our tour.
Our guide took us down steep steps to the Eglise Monolithique, which is a cathedral that had been literally carved out of the limestone around the 11th or 12th century. We saw the catacombs and the grotto of St Emilion as well as the soaring interior of the cathedral, which definitely inspired more than a few images of the dwarves’ lair from Lord of the Rings. After we left the cool confines of the underground cathedral, we grabbed a few scoops of ice cream and continued our wanderings.
We popped into the town church, which was blissfully cool as well, before heading back towards the hotel. We decided on having dinner at the restaurant directly across from our hotel, which had a lovely outdoor terrace. David sipped on his giant Belgian beer, and we enjoyed our tasty tartines with delicious goat cheese and apple. As the sun set below the town, we ventured back out to take a few photos of the town lit up. The monolithic church and clock tower glowed and the view of the town was very pretty, and particularly enjoyable in the cooler night air.
