On 26 July we arrived at Sainte-Foy-La-Grande, a small town on the Dordogne river, about 70 km due east of Bordeaux. It is not the area we wanted to be in but it was all we could get. So we took it for 17 days - and it has seemed a very long 17 days to me. It is comfortable enough but our part of the building doesn't get any sun and doesn't have an outdoor area, both of which I miss. It has a great view of the Dordogne, but you must stand up at the window to look out. So spoiled aren't I? Paul has enjoyed it though, and although we are on the river we are also in the middle of the town.
Here is the house, an old medieval building divided into three apartments. The top apartment is quite large with a fabulous terrace facing the river. The bottom apartment is huge and takes up all of the ground floor plus one bedroom on the first floor. It also has a terrace on the river. So, in this photo, the two top windows are the living room of the top apartment and the middle window plus the bottom windows, are the two bedrooms of the lower apartment.
Our studio space is at the rear of the building on the river side. It has the two widows facing the river - the two blue shutters. You can see the terrace above us and the terrace below us (with closed umbrellas). The lower blue door opens onto the river quay with stairs going up to the first terrace. The owners are English and live in the British Virgin Islands - at present they are staying in the top apartment.
This is the view from our windows.
And that is a beautiful little chateau just over there on the left! They say that there are more chateaux, and grand houses in the chateau style, in the Bordeaux region than any other area of France. I think it is true. We have seen some wonderful houses on our drives around the area.
This is the original quay side where river barges would unload goods that were transported on the river. That sandy patch on the other side of the river is the local "beach". At certain times of the week it has 4 life guards and organised games like water polo, volley ball and badminton. Paul tried swimming there but said the water weed was quite sharp and uncomfortable. Despite looking like a mill pond, the river is flowing quite swiftly in the middle although it is very wide and shallow on the sides.
There are two very famous wine growing area close to us here in Ste Foy La Grande.
The first is Monbazillac, best known for its sweet whites. Here is one of the vineyards, complete with chateau, at Monbazillac. We bought three bottles here, similar to what we had tasted at George Biron's table at Sunnybrae in Birregurra.
Monbazillac
Monbazillac
The second famous wine area is St. Emilion, about 35 km east of Bordeaux. The town is fabulously well positioned on a hillside, surrounded by vines. It was stunningly beautiful.
If a space was not taken up by vines, it was occupied by tables, umbrellas and tourists.
The whole town was beautifully restored. Obviously, there is a lot of money in this area.
Of course we had to stop for a drink - it was quite a warm day, after all! Paul ordered one glass of a good local house wine at this cafe. It cost him 7.95 Euros ($11.30 AUD). You should have seen him squirming and to add insult to injury, he didn't really like it. Needless to say we purchased nothing from St Emilion.
This lovely pool of cold water, feed by a spring further up the hill, was surrounded on two sides by a small arcade of shade for weary oldies with sore feet and painful knees.
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