Kai in St Emilion
Passing through some random town with a big boat
11 March 2008: We got a good, early start this morning and headed straight to Saint Emilion. As we got closer, there were more and more grape vines. Each vineyard had what you would think as the epitome of a beautiful, large French chateau. Our hearts skipped beats as we drove. Then, our hearts melted when we got to town! This small village was very old, dating back to the 8th century with pristine stone buildings and cobblestone streets. It’s built somewhat like a fortress on top of a hill, overlooking the wine growing valley. I’m sure this place is heavily visited during the high season, and I can see why! We hit the closest restaurant for some wine and local cuisine where we had some Kir Vin Blanc to start (I prefer Kir Royal, made with Champagne, but this with white wine was good too), foie gras (Sean never had it), roasted duck breast and sea bass for lunch and a few glasses of red wine to wash it all down with. We were pretty fat, dumb and happy when we left!
Our next mission was to head to the coast, maybe about an hour away, to Gujan-Mestras, for some oysters that I heard about in a magazine article (Conde Nast Traveller, I think) about a year ago. Nothing fancy, just eating them on picnic tables right on the docks where they farm them. For 6 Euro ($9USD), you get a half dozen oysters, lemon, bread/butter (they were out, but we didn’t care) and a glass of white wine. For 10 Euro, you could get a dozen with the same package. Mission completed, and they were good, but we’ve had better, and not without a wild goose chase to find the docks. We kept getting turned around, and somehow went in circles through that town.
Next, we headed down the street to our campground in Arcachon. Again, this time with maps in hand from the Tourist Office, we kept getting all turned around and did a few more laps. I guess all that patting myself on the back from finding Bayas the day before jinxed me or something!
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