|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
WINE, WINE AND MORE WINE... |
|
OTHER RELATED PAGES |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
This was a
trip which combined several things we love - good wine, good food,
great scenery and good friends. We started with a fabulous Grand Cru
Weekend in Bordeaux, continued east to St-Emilion, and then into the
Dordogne valley where we visited Sarlat and other beautiful places.
After Sarlat, we headed south to visit Figeac, Cahors, Albi, and
finished with 3 days in Toulouse. The trip took place in May, 2011,
and below is the itinerary. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Here is a link to a Google map with our full route. |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
CLICK ON ANY THUMBNAIL TO SEE A FULL SIZED PICTURE. |
||||||||||||||
| Our trip started in Bordeaux city to attend the Grand Cru Weekend which is a weekend devoted to wine lovers which has taken place once a year for the last few years. (For non wine lovers, I suggest you skip ahead to here.) It is composed of 3 main events - a Saturday tasting with 100 grand cru chateaux each of whom presented at least 2 vintages, several Saturday evening dinners at different chateaux (or a party in Bordeaux city) and on Sunday, 3 different bus tours to different areas of Bordeaux. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Each event is separate and you can choose which to attend or not to attend. We of course, attended all 3 events; on Saturday, the tasting in Hangar 14 in Bordeaux City, and dinner at Chateau Brainaire-Ducru, and on Sunday a bus tour to the Medoc region which included visits to 3 chateaux and lunch at one of them. The total cost per person for the 3 events was 275 Euros. We thought the price was quite reasonable, considering the high quality of the whole weekend. | |||||||||||||
| Everything was organized very professionally, the dinner at the chateau was exceptional, and the bus tour was enlightening. On the bus tour we visited Lynch-Bages, Prieure-Lichine, and Kirwan where we had lunch. I have to say that Bordeaux wine is not our favorite, mainly because it's so expensive and isn't at its best until at least after 7 to 10 years, but this trip made us appreciate it much more and understand why Bordeaux is considered the wine capital of the world. We were very surprised by the openness and friendliness of the chateaux representatives, and I think the best example of this was the dinner at Brainaire-Ducru, which I will describe in detail below. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Brainaire-Ducru is located in the Saint-Julien region of the Medoc. As we arrived from Bordeaux city after a ride of about an hour, we entered the estate gates, and drove up the long avenue up to the main buildings. The chateau staff were waiting for us and made the bus stop about 50 feet from the house where we descended. The staff, which included the general manager and the owner's family walked out to greet us and shake each of our hands. It was a very warm and surprising welcome. We were taken into the chateau buildings where we were provided with a full tour and a tasting of several delicious wines. | |||||||||||||
| After that we were brought to the dining room where tables were set for dinner. Before being seated, we were served wine and hors d'oeuvres, and after a few speeches welcoming us, were seated for dinner. It was a wonderful dinner which included several courses and about 6 different wines, as can be seen in the picture at the top of the page. The oldest vintage was a 1986, which was still excellent. All in all, a memorable evening. To the right is a picture of the dining room before we sat down. |
|
|||||||||||||
| In Bordeaux we stayed at the "Quality Hotel Saint Catherine" which was a nice hotel in a terrific location right in the center of the "golden triangle". I booked the hotel through Priceline and there were no problems. The rooms were spacious and breakfast was not included in our booking. There were plenty of places for breakfast right near the hotel. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
For our first dinner, we ate at La Tupina, a restaurant serving regional and Basque cuisine. As you enter, you are facing a giant burning hearth where meat is roasted and the kettle is always hot (picture to the left), although the menu is varied and has a variety of dishes including fish and seafood. They have a terrific wine list and an incredible selection of Armagnac. The dishes we had included scallops, black boar, risotto chicken, tournedos, lamprey (a traditional fish on area menus) and lots of giant white asparagus, which was in season while we were there, and every restaurant and market had plenty of it. To the right you can see Alisa and I after our 1990 Armagnac. |
|
||||||||||||
| Bordeaux is a pleasant enough city, but not too pretty and only a few interesting attractions. If you're not into wine, there's not much reason to visit. The regional countryside is flat and boring and the traffic is pretty bad. We enjoyed it because we knew why we were there. The weather on this trip was amazing and just about the only real rain we saw in 2 weeks was during the wine tasting at the hangar on Saturday, so we really didn't notice. Without question, this was the best weather we have ever had on a visit to France. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
On our last evening in Bordeaux, we ate at a delightful fish and seafood restaurant called Fernand. I had oysters and Alisa had the best fish soup she had on this trip. She compared all the others she had to this one. We saw at other tables the mountains of seafood people were eating and understood that for seafood, this was the restaurant to eat at in Bordeaux. | |||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
FOR
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CHATEAUX WE VISITED, |
||||||||||||||
|
|
On Monday morning we rented a car from Avis and headed out of Bordeaux City. Our Zafira van was just right for the four of us and our luggage. We were on our way to the area of St-Emilion - first stop Chateau de la Riviera. This chateau has a history going back to the 8th century and is famous for its extensive underground caves which cover about 8 hectares. We were taken around by Laurent, a young and handsome professional guide. The tour was only through the caves which were very impressive. At the end we tasted quite a few wines and bought a few things at the wine and gift shop. This chateau was very impressive and is located in a beautiful setting. |
|
||||||||||||
| After Riviera, we headed for our B&B, Chateau Franc Pourret which is located about 1 KM outside of St-Emilion. This chateau is a working winery and our hostess, Catherine Ouzoulias is a most gracious and helpful host. She has only 2 rooms which perfectly suited us. Breakfast was fine and it was possible to walk into St-Emilion through the vineyards. After getting directions from Catherine, we decided to forego the adventure, and instead, she explained to us exactly where to park for free just outside of town. Don't get the wrong idea. This chateau is a very modest chateau, more like a stately country manor house. It's a large house with 2 bedrooms for guests. See the picture to the right. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
The St-Emilion wine appellation as well as its nearby neighboring appellations are part of the Bordeaux region although being located about 40 KM east of Bordeaux city and exhibiting a very different terrior and scenery. It also has a separate history and a different classification system. The region has rolling hills and the town itself has been somewhat derisively referred to as the "Disneyland of Bordeaux". The town is highly commercialized, and every second store is a wine store, but also very unique and we found it highly entertaining. If you visit, don't forget to wear good walking shoes, as the town has some serious slopes and cobblestones. | |||||||||||||
| As quickly as possible after checking into the B&B we got ourselves to St-Emilion, had lunch at a forgettable restaurant and then visited the underground pottery museum. (Click here for the museum's French only home page.) This museum is one of several of St-Emilion's underground attractions. It was very interesting and well worth a visit. It's chilly inside, but no need to bring a coat as the museum will provide you with a shawl. Check out the picture to the right. |
|
|||||||||||||
| At 4 PM we had an appointment at another chateau, this time at "Petit Village" in the Pomerol. This is a very small but very interesting chateau with a modern outlook and beautiful facilities. We were guided by Celine. More about this chateau on the chateau page. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
The
following day we visited the major underground attraction in St-Emilion
and that is the
monolithic church. The church is underground and the
tour includes the chapel, the Hermitage of St Emilion (the founder of the
town) and the catacombs. Visits can only be made by tour, and we
took a tour with just the four of us, and the guide of course. The guide spoke some
English, but she conducted the tour mostly in French. Actually,
among the 4 of us, I was the only one who didn't understand French.
I didn't mind. I read the English pages they provided and understood
most everything. The place is very interesting and I highly recommend
it. One unusual thing we did was visit the "Collegiate Church" which is a church on top of Roman ruins and a wine tasting bar. We had some bubbly wine in the courtyard. To the left is a shot of the central arcade of this complex. |
|||||||||||||
| After lunch, we visited Chateau Figeac, located a few KM west of town. Figeac is the largest property in the St-Emilion district with 40 hectares of vines and is also one of the oldest. It was also the most expensive tour we had at 10 Euros but it was very impressive. Here we were joined by 5 other visitors. 2 of whom came in a limousine and had their own private guide who translated from English back into French. See the picture to the right of the huge and impressive tasting room at the chateau. Read more about this chateau on the chateau page. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
We ate at 2 good restaurants in St-Emilion. The first was L'HUITRIER PIE, a very nice restaurant with a wide selection of fish and seafood, as well as the standard regional fare of duck, and foie gras, and more foie gras. My appetizer was the best dish of the evening which was a trio of foie gras preparations - one was a classic foie gras, one was a brulè, and one was in a phylo leaf. Here's a picture to the left. Other dishes we had were fresh oysters, a fish terrine, and magret with oyster sauce foam. As for wines, we started with a Bordeaux white (2009, Chateau Dubois Challon), then a 2009 Bordeaux grand cru from "Tour de Seme", and finished with a 2004 Chateau Briatte Sauterne. We fell in love with the sauternes and finished almost every meal with one. All in all, an excellent meal. | |||||||||||||
| The other notable restaurant was LA TERTRE. We were intrigued by this restaurant and wanted to see how the waiters served people sitting at one of the tables on the steep slope outside the restaurant (see the picture to the right) and we thought we could get a simple meal here, but we were taken by surprise. We just sat down here (inside) without any advance planning and it turned out to be a very nice experience. It's a beautiful place, right on one of the main sloping streets leading down into the heart of the village. There was nice jazz music in the background and the food was superb. We had as appetizers, escargot, salad with duck (a popular local dish), a salad with langoustines, and a dish of mixed salmon (tartar and smoked). For the main dishes we had entrecote, coco vin, magret (duck again) and a beautiful fish dish with a fish which I believe was called "meagre". We finished with cheeses and a creme broulè. The wines were a 2010 Chateau Bonnet white blend, a 2003 Chateau Lussac red, and a sauterne, a 2007 Chateau De Bastour. To the right is a shot of the classic magret served here. It was another wonderful meal. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| We left St-Emilion with a sigh, and headed east to the Dordogne. The Dordogne which is part of Perigord Noir region is noted for its beautiful countryside and lovely river valleys. It is full of history and beautiful villages and is at its most beautiful in the spring when everything is green and blooming. The most centrally located and most interesting town is Sarlat-la-Caneda (known simply as Sarlat), a restored medieval town which today is the biggest tourist magnet in the area. During high season, (July & August) we were told, traffic in Sarlat is bumper to bumper and shoulder to shoulder and is not very pleasant. However we were there in June and things couldn't have looked any brighter. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
On the way to Sarlat, we planned a stop in Bergerac, a small wine appellation noted for its sweet wines and its chateaux. We visited the old town, strolled through the weekly open air market, and had our cheapest meal of the trip. We ate in the Halle Couvert (the covered market), an institution which can be found in any decent size French city. Here, they had a fish stand with an attached fish restaurant. Choose your fish and cooking technique, and the price is 9.90 E per dish. The meal for the 4 of us cost about 50 Euros. Here's a picture of us to the right enjoying our delicious fresh fish. To the left is a picture of the statue of Cyrano De Bergerac, one of the symbols of the town. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
After our sumptuous lunch, we headed to Chateau Monbazillac. Included in the price of 5.80 E is a tour of the famous chateau and wine tasting in the very large wine and gift store. The chateau was interesting but we weren't turned on by the wine, which was sweet, but not nearly as tasty as sauterne. To the left is a picture of Alisa and Paulo in one of the chateau rooms and to the right are a few very old bottles of wine from the wine museum in the cellar of the chateau. |
|
||||||||||||
| After Monbazillac, we drove east through Issigeac, a sleepy little town on the way to the Sarlat area. We arrived in Beynac at about 5 PM and enquired about visiting Chateau Beynac. Chateau Beynac and Chateau Castelnaud are the 2 most prominent tourist attractions in this area of the Dordogne River (about 10 KM directly south of Sarlat). They are only a few KM apart but both have incredible views of the valley and the surrounding countryside. Castelnaud is a medieval castle with a warfare museum, but we never did get there. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
On the other hand, we did visit Chateau Beynac. As I said, we got to Beynac after 5 PM, and it was still quite hot. One of our group didn't want to walk up to the chateau. I know now that there is vehicle access to or near the chateau, but I didn't know it then. So we started walking up, and up, and up. The walk takes about a half an hour. We got there at 6 PM and were allowed in. We toured the chateau and enjoyed the beautiful views. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Beynac is one of several towns beautifully set right on or above the Dordogne river. We also visited La Roque Gageac, and Domme, although not on this day. Domme is particularly beautiful and has spectacular views, and La Roque is right on the river and snuggled up under the mountain. Both are a "must see". |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
On this day, after the trek to chateau Beynac, we drove to our B&B in Sarlat. We stayed 4 nights in Les Cordeliers, a beautiful B&B located perfectly with large beautiful rooms and gracious hosts, Chris and Amanda. They had bought the house 8 years previously, spent 2 years renovating and now operate a very nice B&B with 6 rooms. One of the unexpected perks here is a kitchenette for guest use which is stocked (at no charge) with beer, cold drinks, snacks, tea, coffee, etc, - a very nice touch. | |||||||||||||
| The house has good Wi Fi, but didn't reach the top floor where we were, so we had to go downstairs to use our computers - a small price to pay for an otherwise perfect stay. It has no parking of its own, but every day, we found parking on the street. The worst case is that you have to park in a free parking lot about 100 meters away. Again, the location is absolutely the best, a 1 minute walk and you are in the center of old Sarlat. |
|
|||||||||||||
| Sarlat is as enchanting and lovely as everyone says. It has been beautifully restored, is clean, and neat with beautiful stores, and at night the gaslight makes for a very romantic setting. We enjoyed our stay here very much and Sarlat is indeed an ideal base for visiting the entire Dordogne region. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Among our many activities in the area was a Gabore boat ride along the Dordogne. It lasted for about an hour and was very enjoyable. There are several different companies (at least they looked like different companies) and several different possibilities as to where to get on a boat, although I'm not sure what they all are. I'm sure about Beynac and LaRoque and on a beautiful day, I don't think it matters much. We drove to Beynac early, but not early enough and missed the 10 AM boat. So, we drove to La Roque where we found out that there are many more departures there than at Beynac and got right on a boat. Pictures to the right and left. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
We visited 2 lovely gardens in the Sarlat area, Jardins de Marqueysac, which is located right on the river between Beynac and Domme, and Jardin de L'Imaginaire which is located in Terrasson about 30 KM north of Sarlat. Both these gardens were beautiful but they are totally different experiences and quite different in their philosophy. | |||||||||||||
|
|
The first (Marqueyssac) is a beautiful and very large wooded site with a small chateau and restaurant, and many walking paths where you can spend hours strolling and enjoying the views of the Dordogne valley. The latter (L'Imaginaire) is an architectural wonder which has been designed and built to create a specific atmosphere and send a particular message. It is by guided tour only. The tour lasts about 45 minutes and includes quite a few steps. Our tour was in French, but I believe there are tours available in English. The views here are of the lovely town below, Terrasson. This park was beautiful, and we certainly enjoyed it, but we preferred Marqueyssac which was wilder and and provided a whole afternoon's enjoyment, including lunch with a lovely view. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Our stay in Sarlat was designed to include the Saturday market, and we had a ring side seat. It rained a little in the morning, but we had the option of returning to our B&B whenever we felt like it. The market takes over the whole town and we had lots of fun and enjoyed it very much. Being that it was still May, it was not overcrowded and we were told many times that in July and August, it is intolerably crowded. |
|
||||||||||||
| We ate at 2 excellent restaurants in Sarlat, Le Presidial, and La Hoirie. Le Presidial is reputed to be the best restaurant in Sarlat, but from my conversations and research, I don't think many people even know about La Hoirie. It is a converted hunting lodge just on the outskirts of the town and is also a B&B. Le Presidial was very good, but in our humble opinion, La Hoirie was better. Le Presidial wins as far as the setting. We sat outside in the beautiful garden, (picture to the right) but the service, ambiance, and food were better at La Hoirie. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
At Le Presidial, we had escalope foie gras, with truffle sauce and warm pear (the best I had during the entire trip; pic to the left), terrine of foie gras, marinated salmon, and smoked salmon. For main dishes we had scallops, lamprey, shrimp and a cod dish. Everything was delicious, although the red wine was delivered straight out of a very cold refrigerator and they tried to convince us that it was at the right temperature. This was surprising and disappointing. The service in general was indifferent. | |||||||||||||
|
|
At La Hoirie, everything was perfect. Even the chef's appetizer was noteworthy. It was a gazpacho with citrus terrine and a foam of something we couldn't identify. For first courses we had foie gras and salmon tartar. For main courses, we had a beef dish, a lamb dish with zucchini and a crème sauce, a river fish with cooked garden vegetables, and a turbot dish. For wines, we started with a white 2008 Chateau Boyrein, then a red Bergerac Chateau Lagrazette 2006, and with desert, a Monbazillac Chateau Belingard 2007. Deserts were a selection of delicious chocolate creations, an apple tart and 2 orders of fromage (cheese). This was one of the few restaurants which brought out a full cheese cart for us to select from. This was our finest meal up to this point in the trip. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
We visited Rocamadour as a day trip from Sarlat, but it is so fantastic that I decided to make a separate entry for it. It is so incredible, and the views so outstanding, that I just don't have enough words to describe it. Just check the pictures. We parked at the "top" in the chateau parking lot and paid 2 Euros per head to walk the ramparts. I highly recommend it, but come with enough Euro coins, because the entry gate to the ramparts takes only coins. Then we walked down along the "Chenin de Croix", a steep path down with depictions of Christ's walk down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, and then a visit to the town. There are 2 elevators for those so inclined. We spent about 3 hours here. |
|
||||||||||||
| Rocamadour is in the department of Lot, and after our visit there, we continued on to several small towns in the area. We started with Autoire where we had lunch at what I found out later to be a well known restaurant, "Auberge de la Fontaine". I now know that it's also a hotel. The food was good country fare. I had a local specialty - stuffed goose neck. It wasn't quite what I had expected, but Alisa enjoyed her river fish, Rebecca enjoyed her salad, and Paulo enjoyed his onion soup. Autoire was quiet and sleepy and we strolled around a bit, but the highlight of our visit here was the bread truck (picture to the right) which visited while we were eating lunch. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
After Autoire, we visited St. Cere (a not so small town) where we drove up to but couldn't quite reach the brooding ruins of the Chateau de St-Laurent-les-Tours, the main attraction in this town. At the Chateau is a permanent museum dedicated to the works of the local hero and artist Jean Lurçat. In any case, it was closed at that hour so we moved on. Our next stop was Loubressac, which is tiny but located on top of a mountain and was very beautiful. We took lots of pictures here. | |||||||||||||
| After Loubressac, we visited Carennac, Martel and Souillac. Carrenac is a beautiful village on the banks of the Dordogne river, and we strolled around a bit in all three towns. In Souillac, we visited the 12th century abbey, the Abbatiale-Sainte-Marie. Then we headed back to Sarlat. It was a beautiful day from start to finish. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
GOURDON, FIGEAC, ST-CIRQ-LaPOPIE & CAHORS |
||||||||||||||
|
|
On Sunday, we headed south toward Figeac. Our first stop was Gourdon, a beautiful small village with a 360° panorama from its upper reaches. It was still early and everything was closed on a Sunday morning, so we took in the view and then moved on in the direction of Figeac. | |||||||||||||
|
|
We arrived in Figeac late in he morning, but early enough to have a cup of coffee and stroll through the medieval center. Figeac is a beautiful and very old town and we really wanted to stay here overnight. However, logistical constraints dictated otherwise. We spent a few hours here and the highlight was the visit to Champollion Museum which is located exactly in the center of the old town. Jean-François Champollion was a son of Figeac and is credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. The museum is beautifully designed and is very interesting. It describes Champollion's life's work and has many exhibits of Egyptology and the development of language in general. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
After Figeac, we headed to St-Cirq-LaPopie. We took an absolutely beautiful route which took us through a town called Cajarc. We took D19 to Cajarc and then followed the Lot River to St-Cirq. St-Cirq-Lapopie is one of those towns that people either hate or love. It's small, and quite beautiful with stunning views from every corner. On the other hand it's quite commercialized, and from the traffic we found in May, I can't imagine what it would be like in July or August. On the other hand, it's beautiful and attracts large numbers of tourists all throughout the year. It's one of those towns which has suffered from its own popularity. We enjoyed it. We had lunch there and climbed around and took lots of pictures, and probably bought a few items too. Unless it's July or August, I highly recommend visiting if you are in the area. Climb up to the uppermost viewpoint and enjoy the views. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
After Lapopie, we drove to our B&B, Le Mas Azemar, located in the village of Mercues, a few KM outside of Cahors. Cahors is the center of a wine growing region named after it. The wine of Cahors is known as the best unknown wine of France and also as "the black wine" because of its very dark color. As a city, it doesn't have a lot to offer beyond its unusual geography and its medieval bridge, The Valentre Bridge. It's unusual geography refers to the fact that its entire inner core is located within a loop of the Lot River and is therefore almost completely surrounded by water. We strolled around town (the second day we were in the area) and visited the famous bridge. The bridge is really beautiful. Picture to the left. | |||||||||||||
| On this day, after Lapopie, we went straight to our B&B, which turned out to be the most unusual of the B&Bs we stayed in. It's a combination between old chateau and museum, and the hostess, Sabine is a delight. The place has a lovely garden and Sabine serves aperitifs and snacks there, as well as offering a full dinner for her guests if they want. Sabine's husband Claude is the chef for dinner. We were there for 2 nights mainly because it was located right between the 2 chateaux we wanted to visit (Lagrazette and Mercues), but the B&B itself turned into one of the most interesting stops of the whole trip. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Each of the six rooms is colorfully decorated and is completely different from every other. Breakfast was lovely with lots of home made offerings (made by Sabine), and the dinner we had was straight out of a movie. The first night, the four of us were there alone, but the second night, we were joined by 8 French guests, some of whom were there for only one night. The entire company joined in the house dinner, which includes aperitif, wine and a full meal for 34 Euros. Everything was delicious, if not exceptional, but what made the evening exceptional was the warm ambiance and hosting skills of Sabine. It was a real experience. Sabine had her own good wine to serve, but we contributed to the evening 2 bottles we had picked up at Chateau Lagrazette during our visit there. |
|
||||||||||||
| Regarding the chateaux and the wines of cahors, we were scheduled to visit 2 chateaux, Chateau Lagrazette on Monday, and Chateau Mercues on Tuesday as we were leaving the area. These are 2 of the leading chateaux in the Cahors area. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we decided to cancel our visit to Mercues in order to get on the road to our next stop, but we did have a very enjoyable visit at Lagrazette. It was too early in the morning to notify Mercues of our decision, and I felt a little bad about not visiting. I was very surprised to get an email from them later in the day asking what had happened. I apologized profusely via return email. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
As for Lagrazette, we had a very enjoyable visit. We were welcomed by Jean, the chateau's general manager who was most cordial. We took a full tour of the chateau despite the major renovation which was going on and tasted quite a few wines. We bought several, 2 of which made it to dinner at Le Mas Azemar. More about this chateau in the chateau page. |
|
||||||||||||
| During our stay here, we visited Pech Merle caves near Cabrerets. The entire area is filled with caves, many containing prehistoric cave paintings. Pech Merle is one of the best with authentic paintings and this is the one we decided to visit. It was fascinating with a well presented tour (in French) lasting about 45 minutes. The drive to and from was also a highlight. Our GPS took us on a route north of Cahors, through a beautiful national park, and then through Vers and St-Gery. No pictures allowed in the caves. The other cave we considered visiting was Lascaux II which is located north of Sarlat. Lascaux II is a replica of the original (Lascaux) whose cave paintings were reproduced using the ancient techniques due to the deterioration of the originals. |
AN ARTIST'S
JOURNAL OF ST-CIRQ-LAPOPIE
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Here in the Cahors area we had our finest meal of the entire trip. The restaurant where we had this meal is called Le Gindreau and is located in the tiny village of St. Medard which is a few KM west of Mercues. The setting was beautiful, the service was impeccable, and the meal was exquisite. We started out with the chef's starter which was a gazpacho. For appetizers, we had langoustine ravioli, a fish dish with herbs, and I had a trio of foie gras - a ball of foie gras ice cream(!), a classic patè, and a foie gras brulè. This dish was exceptional. | |||||||||||||
| For mains, we had a beautifully presented lamb dish, brill with potato puree and garden vegetables, and breast of pigeon. Our dinner menus included cheeses as well as deserts and everything was exceptional. Alisa couldn't eat any of the menu deserts, so the chef improvised a beautiful fresh fruit salad which was just as beautiful as the other deserts even though it wasn't on the menu. See Alisa's salad to the right. All the deserts were incredible especially the perfect soufflé I had. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
To the upper left is chef Pellisou with Alisa and Rebecca, and to the left is the chef's special desert, which was in addition to the deserts we ordered. Everything here was so good, I've created a small album of our visit here. Click here to view it. For wines we started with a 2009 Loire Insolite Vionier from Phillipe Pontier, then a red 2002 Chateau des Grauzils ("L'eclat"). We had after dinner drinks instead of our usual sauterne. The meal here cost 360 Euros. | |||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
ST. ANTONIN DEL VAL, CORDES, AND ALBI |
||||||||||||||
|
|
We left the Cahors area and drove to St. Antonin Noble Val, which we found to be a very nice little town and well worth a visit. We strolled around for a couple of hours and then drove to Cordes-Sur-Ciel, our highlight for this day. The weather was perfect and we got there just in time to take the last train up to the top before the lunch-break. Yes, even the tourist train stops for an hour and a half for lunch. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Cordes is really beautiful and full of attractive shops where Alisa and Rebecca bought some nice things. As noted, there is a tourist train which runs about every 20 minutes which can take you up to the top, and back down if you wish, but the walk down isn't really a problem (picture to the right). We had lunch here at a restaurant called "Restaurant le Panoramique" and enjoyed with our lunch the incredible views from this restaurant. Here's the view to the left. Actually Cordes is called "Cordes above the clouds" for good reason. There is very often a cloud around its mountainous base and the town sticks up above the clouds. We certainly weren't disappointed that there were no clouds this day and the weather was absolutely perfect. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
In Albi, known as the "pink city" because of its pink colored brick faced buildings, we stayed at a simple 2 or 3 star hotel just a 5 minute walk from the cathedral, called "Hostellerie du Vigan". It has its own closed garage parking (7 Euros) and it was just perfect for one night. We had a really crazy colored green room. We strolled around town 2 or 3 times, visited the amazing Cathédrale Ste-Cécile which is the largest brick building in the world. It's built more like a fortress than a cathedral. We also visited the Toulouse-Lautrec museum which is right next to the cathedral. In July 2010, Albi was named a UNESCO World heritage Site. Here is a very nice article about this town. Albi is a city with a lot of history, and a misunderstood role in the Cathar period and Albigensian crusade which wiped the Cathars out in southern France. Contrary to many popular historical versions, Albi was not a major stronghold of the Cathars. |
|
||||||||||||
| In Albi we ate at a restaurant called Le Parvis. The meal was nice, but the service was the worst we encountered. To the right is the most unusual dish we saw - an appetizer of watermelon and cheese which Alisa couldn't resist. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
GAILLAC, CASTELNAUDERAY, CARCASSONE |
||||||||||||||
| We left Albi in the morning and headed to Gaillac, a small wine appellation, considered one of the oldest wine growing areas in France. We visited the town, where we ate lunch and we visited 2 chateaux, one before lunch and one after and both visits were delightful. | ||||||||||||||
| Our "morning chateau" called itself a "domaine". Its name is Domaine de Pialentou, and is a small family run winery. We were greeted and taken around by Agnes, the owner. We thoroughly enjoyed this visit, and bought several bottles of wine. The wine was delicious and Agnes was delightful to chat with. Her English is excellent. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
Our "afternoon chateau" was Chateau Lastours and this was a special visit as well. Chateau Lastours has a long history and we were guided by Hubert, the present owner and scion of the founding family. Hubert has a wonderful sense of humor and kept us well entertained with his colorful explanations of wine lore. Lastours is one of the biggest chateaux in the area, and we left here with a few bottles of wine. More information on both these Gaillac wineries on the chateau page. |
|
||||||||||||
|
|
After Lastours, we visited the little town right nearby, Lisle-sur-Tarn. Here we visited a most unusual museum - the chocolate museum. Not surprisingly, it's called "Musee art du Chocolat". Admission cost 3.5 Euros, and you get a tour by the artist's wife. The entire place, which is also a chocolate shop, is filled with small and large sculptures made entirely of chocolate. The place is also very well air-conditioned and is a great relief on a hot day. | |||||||||||||
| After enjoying the chocolate, we headed for our last stop, Toulouse, (another "rose" colored city) and our last B&B, "Les Loges de Saint-Sernin". This B&B turned out to be the prettiest of the B&Bs we stayed in. The owner, Sylviane Tatin obviously has a great talent in interior decorating and loves bright vivid colors. Sylviane serves a wonderful breakfast with a wide selection of her home made jams and confitures. The kitchen is bright yellow and in the morning, it's flooded with sunlight. The only drawback to this lovely place is the limited parking nearby. There's a movie theatre right across the street and street parking is very limited. There is a large parking garage about a 5 minute walk away and we had to use it 2 of the 3 nights we were there. Sylviane has a special overnight price for guests using this garage. |
|
|||||||||||||
| The B&B is located perfectly, right near one of the biggest tourist attractions in Toulouse, the Basilica de Saint Sernin, which is the largest Romanesque church in all of Europe. It is quite huge and very impressive. It's also about 10 minutes from the Capitole, the absolute center of Toulouse. We spent a full day and a half wandering around Toulouse. We were at the Capitole and Place Wilson numerous times, strolled down to the river and saw the beautiful bridges over La Garonne River, and visited the famous Victor Hugo market and had lunch there. We also discovered that the main street right near our B&B (Blvd de Strasbourg) has an open air produce market every weekday morning. | ||||||||||||||
| Carcassone is derisively referred to, by its critics, as the Disneyland of southern France. We took a day trip here while we were in Toulouse and the town is certainly incredible. It was a Cathar stronghold and was attacked and destroyed more than once in its long history. It is an entire city within the walls of a castle and is a UNESCO world heritage site. In the mid 19 century, it was restored by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. There is no way to know how accurate the restoration was, as there were many different periods and stages in Carcassone's development. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
In any case, today it is beautiful and probably the most popular tourist attraction in southern France. It was a delight to stroll the cobblestone streets and shop in the lovely shops. We visited the chateau and its ramparts and they are not to be missed. Here is a YouTube video of a visit to the chateau and ramparts, and here is an excellent site with 360° panoramas of the major sites in Carcassone. The other major site to visit here is the basilica, which we also visited. | |||||||||||||
| Now, what do Toulouse, Carcassone, and the town directly between them, Castelnaudary have in common? They all claim to make the best cassoulet in the world. Cassoulet is the number one regional dish in this area. Catelnauderay calls itself the "capital of cassoulet", but the other 2 towns have not accepted this declaration without a fight. Cassoulet is a rich, slow cooked bean stew, cooked with sausage, pork, goose or duck (depending on where it's made), and which is supposed to be cooked (according to tradition) in a special earthenware pot called a cassole, which should have been made in the village of Issel. Today there's only one manufacturer left who makes these pots in the traditional manner, and although he doesn't make them in Issel, he does claim to use clay from Issel. There is even a "Universal Cassoulet Academy" which was founded in order to promote the cultural heritage of cassoulet. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
Catelnauderay is not a big town, nor is it a tourist attraction beyond its reputation as the capital of cassoulet, but I had no intention of leaving the area without tasting what is reputed to be THE BEST cassoulet in the entire area. That would be found at a small simple restaurant called "Le Petit Gazouillis" in Castelnauderay. During my research for this trip, I found the name of this modest restaurant mentioned over and over again regarding the quality of its cassoulet - hand made daily by the proprietor, Alain van Ees Beeck. I decided there must be something to this so I put this restaurant on our schedule. We left Carcassone just before lunch (with the encouragement of my 3 partners) and headed for the holy grail of cassoulet. I'd already eaten several versions of cassoulet during the previous 2 weeks, but I knew that there was a special dish waiting for me at Le Petit Gazouillis in Castelnauderay. | |||||||||||||
| We got there at about 1:15 PM, and the place was full. We actually had to wait for a table. We were seated at about 1:30 and we weren't disappointed. The cassoulet was really excellent and certainly the best I'd had (admittedly not many). The rest of the meal was fine as well, but I was blinded by my cassoulet and remember no other details. |
|
|||||||||||||
| We ate at 2 nice restaurants while in Toulouse. The first was La Capoul, which is located right on Place Wilson. We didn't expect much as we entered but it turned out to be an excellent restaurant. We weren't too hungry on this day so we had an abbreviated meal of salmon with seaweed risotto, grilled shrimp, and a cod dish. | ||||||||||||||
|
|
Our last meal in Toulouse was at a restaurant called Emile which I picked especially for the occasion. Actually, Emile is well known for its cassoulet, but we weren't there to eat cassoulet. We were there to have a memorable meal to finish off a wonderful trip. The meal was excellent and we weren't disappointed. For appetizers, we had gazpacho with lobster, fresh oysters and a dish of ravioli foie gras, which I had and which was one of the best dishes I had on the entire trip. It was absolutely delicious. Our main courses were scallops on caramelized leek (pic to the left), sweatbreads, and John Dory cooked to perfection (pic to the right). For wines, we started with a 2008 Pinot Gris from Domaine Bernhard & Riebel, and then a l'Hortus 2009 red from Languedoc. We had 4 deserts and they were all magnificent. |
|
||||||||||||
| The next morning we flew out of Toulouse. Our flight left at 9 AM so we had to leave the B&B quite early. Sylviane had the coffeemaker all ready so that all we had to do was turn it on and have our coffee. There was no gas station on the way to the airport and we weren't able to fill up the gas tank. Avis really stuck it to us. | ||||||||||||||
| All in all, it was a lovely trip. Everybody got what they wanted. I got to eat the perfect cassoulet, Alisa got to discover all those wonderful sauternes, Rebecca found the driest shortest espresso in France, and Paulo go to drive the whole way with me as his navigator. And, we all had lots of wonderful wine and food and the greatest weather any of us had ever seen in France. | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
BELOW ARE SOME USEFUL LINKS YOU CAN USE |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right. Enjoy your next trip!! ~Steve & Alisa~ |
|
LAST UPDATED: SEPT. 2, 2012
