St Emilion

There were two places to park for camper vans, one free the other 32.50/night. Naturally we went to the free one only to learn that it was by permit only. Some farmers in France join a tourist thing; people pay an annual fee and are allowed to park on the farmers land. It’s a shame too, as it was at a vineyard. We had passed a pay parking spot along the way so we decided to check it out. We guess the auto-payment machine wasn’t working because it was off season, so we managed to park for free anyway, and we weren’t alone that night either.

We weren’t entirely sure if we wanted to see St Emilion because most of the vineyards are closed this time of year and no tours are running. However, our guide book mentioned that this town was the best to see in the entire Bordeaux region so just before noon we headed into town in search of the tourist office. The medieval streets and buildings were truly a wonderful site. The town was beautiful, charming and an extreme pleasure to visit. When we found the tourist office we joined up for a tour of one of the largest underground churches in Europe (the only way to view it) and wandered around for a bit before it started. Because of where the tourist office is located, we were able to get a great panoramic view of the city. The first place the lady took us too was where St. Emilion, the town founder, lived during the last 17 years of his life performing baptisms in a shallow well in the ground as well as the miracles he’s said to have done. It is said that if you make a wish and throw a coin in the water you must come back and thank St. Emilion if your wish comes true. There was also a low seat in the rock, where women sit and pray and are guaranteed to become pregnant within the year. She then took us to the catacombs and explained that there are over 80 hectares of catacombs underneath the region of St Emilion. It was then off to the church where she showed us some pretty morbid things. The first thing was an express way to rot, they used to believe that the faster you turned into ash the faster you got to heaven, they would submerse your body in water for a while and when they took you out the combination of air and water would accelerate the decomposition, they have a name in French for it but there is no word in the English language that exists. The word is “Pourriseoir”. The second was led coffins where they used to put the bodies of rich people that died of disease (so it wouldn’t spread) and apparently they still use these types of coffins to transport bodies in France till this day. Half the tour was done in French and Julie was translating for me, until the guide clued in about what Julie was doing, then the guide decided to explain everything in French and English for the rest of the tour. When the tour was over we decided to head into a wine store to see about shipping a case back home. At 130 euros to ship to Canada and having to pick the case up at the airport, we decided it is not worth it for us. Sorry, but it looks as though we’ll be the only ones to enjoy the wine this time around.