121. Bordeaux and surrounding areas.

March 03, 2025

Having stayed at this wonderful property for a few weeks now has made us realise how much we miss the countryside. The time has been flying by even though we haven't been doing much to speak of except enjoy just being here with the animals.

However, we'd be crazy to spend so much time here and not see other villages and at least one trip into the city of Bordeaux.

A local weekly market in the commune (municipality) of Eymet (pron. Ay-may) where a quarter of the population are ex Brits.

The City of Bergerac has an old town centre where there are still many buildings dating back to the 16th Century.

Sunrise at the property. Just beautiful.

We drove past a winery called the 'Château de Lavison'. Being the off-season, the opening hours don't match the website however we're hoping we can get in for a look before we have to leave.

We took a train into Bordeaux as we were told the traffic could be a bit unnerving for those of us who are used to driving on the left-hand side of the road. We drove to La Réole and caught a train from there.

Once we figured out the ticketing system, getting around Bordeaux on the trams was a breeze.

The first stop was this Boulangerie (french bakery) recommended by Daniel and Ellen. It was as if we took a portal to a bygone era.

The architecture is amazing in Bordeaux. Where, in most cities, you have the odd period building, it's no exaggeration to say 80-90% of the buildings are of the same era and style as the ones behind us.

Even the streetlights are works of art.

In the heart of the city stands one of the oldest belfries in France, the 'Grosse Cloche' being the only remaining vestige of the city's ancient ramparts, whose bells have rung in Bordeaux since the 13th century.

Superstition has made its way into the train platform numbering!

Someone's gotta do it. Daniel said Spangle the spaniel looks French. I guess he does.

(Oh la la! Ee as been deelightfool!)

We found ourselves buying a live chicken as unfortunately, two chickens were killed by a neighbour's dog, leaving Blackie on her own.

So we went shopping to buy her a companion.

The owners were so pleased they named her 'Pauline' being a combination of our names.

The melding of cultures forgot to show le beurre.

Having imbibed in the fruit (juice) of the vine on many occasion, one rare moment arrived where we had run out and as the sun had gone down, I was not going to chance driving to Sauveterre to replenish stocks.

On a previous early evening drive, I had to swerve to miss wild deer on 3 occasions, which, by the way, are not small creatures. One ended up running beside the car and its head was at the same height as mine and, as beautiful as they are, their antlers can cause a huge amount of damage, so night driving is not an option for me here.

Back to the story. Max contacted the owner and asked if we could raid supplies of their easily replaceable wines. After, diminishing their supply somewhat, we went to town to replenish stocks but to no avail. When the owner said they were easily replaceable, she meant that we could go to a nearby winery that made these wines exclusively. The first thought was oops, $$$. Was this some exclusive wine that will lead us to cut our trip short?

Apparently not. We drove to 'Chateau La Tuilerie du Puy' and were met by Karen who offered us a free tour of the winery. She was Dutch and had perfect command of both English and French. (So jealous of these tri-lingual people!)

Some wines were more expensive than others since the fermenting of particular wines can only go in clean barrels that haven't been used for previous wine-making.

I wouldn't want to have to clean these every season... or would I?

Notice the small amounts given for tasting? We left a bit smashed.

Some of the old villages like La Reole, look like empty movie sets. Winter is a time, apparently, when everyone stays indoors and once the warmer weather arrives they're out in droves, celebrating wine harvests and all things French. We do need to come back to this region as it would be wonderful to view the sea of green vineyards as far as the eye can see.

Shopping day for this farmer.

We will treasure these memories.

Being in the French countryside, with so few people speaking English, we experienced the authentic French way of life rather than the tourist-based centres we purposely and gladly stayed away from.

The variety and affordability of the cheeses, baguettes and tasty organic wines made for a wonderful staple diet - however, all good things must come to an end and it's time to move on.

We managed to relax and regenerate in the six weeks spent in Cazaugitat. So much so, we've already made plans for the next few weeks taking us through 4 countries.

We will drive through the Pyrenees to San Sebastian, in the northwest of Spain. After a night there, we drive to Madrid airport where we catch a plane to Malta and meet up with Daniel, Ellen and her sister, Meredith, and are hoping to catch up with family while we're there. We'll be sharing a 3 bedroom apartment in Sliema with 180-degree sea views. Can't wait!

After a week in Malta, we fly back to Madrid and drive onto Navalmoral de la Mata for a night before driving on to Faro, Portugal, for a 7 day pet sit.

From there, we drive to Seville, Spain, and fly to Majorca and again, catch up with Daniel, Ellen and Meredith where Daniel, now being a qualified pilot, is hiring a plane to take us up for a ride. Woohoo! Can't wait!

Eet ees eem, le Spangle