Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Last night we docked in Libourne, pronounced Leebourne. The city is named after an English Lord who founded the city during the 300 years that England controlled this part of France before they were driven out of France at the end of the 100 years war.  Libourne has a population of about 25,000 people and is a typical french city.  At one time Libourne was a major river port for shipping wine to Bordeaux. There was not much to see other then the Market in the city center plaza.

The star of the day was St. Emilion which is situated about 35 minutes from Libourne. It sits among some of the most famous wine producers in the Bordeaux region. Petrus has produced wines that have sold for as much as $6000.  In the wine shops we saw several different bottles of Petrus bordeaux's priced at $650. Tim went into a wine shop where the wine merchant helped him pick out a very nice 2016 bottle of bordeaux priced considerably less.

At one time St. Emilion was home to around 1000 people. Only 200 live there now.  The church dominates the city.  It was built in two sections.  The first section was built during the 11th century.  It has a fairly plain design and a lowish ceiling that is rounded in shape.  When the second part was built in the 14th century flying buttresses were in vogue allowing a higher roof. The interior was more ornate. Our guide said there was a quirk to one of the stain class windows. This window featured a bishop wearing eye glasses that had not been invented yet. The older section of the church featured a small mural most likely from the 11th century that had been discovered in 1890. She had no explanation for how it was discovered.  There is a beautiful cloisters off of the church with a lovely courtyard in the middle. In 2018 a french artist was commissioned to paint a mural on one of the walls facing the courtyard.  It is said to represent the Book of Revelations and is very contempary in design. The finished mural received mixed reviews when first revealed. 

We thoroughly enjoyed St. Emilion and thought it might be a wonderful place to rent an apartment for several weeks of quiet contemplaction and wine tasting.