Medoc Peninsula

 

We cruised from Bourg over to the Medoc Peninsula.  We opted to visit the tip of the peninsula and the seaside town of Soulac ser Mer.  But first we have to dock at Fort Medoc - one of the three forts that protect the Gironde Estuary.   This was the start of the day, laden with a thick marine layer .. but became very sunny!

It's about an hour's drive up the peninsula through a very important wine area in the Bordeaux region.   There are 584 wineries here out of 4,637 !  Wine grapes everywhere!  Vines were mostly for: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and malbec.

Can you tell that we lucked out on the weather!   Soulac ser Mer is a very affluent beach town!   Similar to Florida's Sanibel & Captive Islands and Oregon's towns of Seaside, Manzanita, and Cannon Beach.

Most of these summer homes were empty.  Very cute town!   We found a leftover German bunker that was part of their 'Atlantic Wall'.

It was Monday, everything was closed, so we walked back through the 'ghost town' to the bus location near the ancient church.

Notre Dame De La Fin Des Terres - built in the 12th century out of small and large stones.

Our guide treated us to a drive back by a different route that showcased many of the fancy vineyards' chateaus.

It was a delightful afternoon on the peninsula.  Back at the boat we enjoyed the 'sip 'n sail' happy hour and listened to our cruise manager describe tomorrow's activities.  We dressed up for dinner and joined some friends :

The couple on the left is from Sweden and the two ladies in the middle are from Halifax, Nova Scotia.   Fun conversation.

main course: slow braised beef brisket, red wine-tomato sauce, tarragon vegetables, cheese polenta

dessert:  chocolate lava cake, caramel ice cream

Here's our activity tomorrow:

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  See you there.  Take care, Joe & Jan

Citadel of Blaye & town of Bourg

We were docked at the base of the famous Blaye Citadel.

This is a massive fortification that is part of a trio of forts that protects Bordeaux from ships entering the Gironde Estuary.   It's a concept very similar in the Puget Sound area of forts that defended Seattle made up of Fort Worden, Fort Flagler, and Fort Casey.   It was labeled .. 'Triangle of Fire'.

This fortification was also called a bastion.   It was designed and construction supervised by a French military engineer and genius named Sebastien Vaubon.  He built 130 of these star-shaped forts.   For a long time siege warfare dominated the warscape.  He brought a scientific mind to fort design.  Here's an aerial view :

He made it almost impossible for his designs to be breached.

He built 3-layers of walls and moats.   His gate entrances had 3-layers of thick drop-down doors.  He had tunnels everywhere for his soldiers to maneuver.  Surprisingly his 2,000 laborers took only 5-years to build this on 90-acres!

Surprisingly the walls' rock faces were very thin but were thick with packed earth behind them.  Cannon fire inflicted very little damage.

Vauban's forts and infrastructure projects were copied everywhere.  His parallel trench concept help our revolutionary army defeat the British at Yorktown!   His curriculum for his officers and engineers of mathematics and science influenced the formation of the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1824! and the curriculum at West Point!  A very interesting and informative tour!  Jan and I continued with a tour of the nearby town.

And, of course, we found another church .. following the steeple ..

This is .. Saint Romain de Blaye, built in 1667.

After lunch our ship headed back up river to the town we saw a couple of days ago, Bourg, the one that has an upper town and a lower town.  This pic was taken a day earlier as we cruised past it on the way to Blaye.

Here's a look at a city staircase and gate.

Here's a look at the wall where in 1938-40 they carved out 7 large areas from the old stone quarries to store oil.

We took a peek into one :

These tanks were 44-65 meters long by 11-meters by 8.5 meters.   Because they were embedded in the limestone cliffs they were protected from bombing.   The Germans occupied the town and utilized the oil storage for their Kriegsmarine.  We made our way to the upper town and visited the carriage museum.

It was time to head back to the ship for dinner.

appetizer: honey whisky gravlax (Nordic salmon), whole grain mustard dressing, potato chips, salad cress

main course: slow roasted pork tenderloin, red wine-peppercorn jus, sauteed vegetable, truffle mousseline potato

Tomorrow we opted to go to .. Soulac-sur-Mer, a seaside resort on the peninsula of Medoc, on the Atlantic seashore.     See you there.  Take care, Joe & Jan.

Water Mill, bread making, and cruising to Blaye

Jan's 'boule' (squashed ball design) of dough prior to oven baking.  More on the bread making later.   Two groups were taken by coach from our Libourne docking location to the .. Mill of Porcheres, built in 1850, on the river Isle 'ees-la', a tributary of the Dordogne.  The mill was initially a stone water mill then turned into a cylinder mill in 1937.

The first group was instructed how to make bread while our group was given a tour of how the mill took the grain and made flour.

Many many pieces of equipment that make this happen!   You'll see a complicated 'Willy Wonka' type of 'factory' that includes spinning wheels, turbines, pinions, washers, wringers, winnowers, grinders, converters, sasseurs, sieves, plan sifters, flour chambers, belts, pulleys, tubes, and chutes!

Here's some grinding wheels - just like the ones Bob's Red Mill used.

These are the cylinders they changed to in the 30's.

These are the shaker/shifter machines with silk screens.

Tubes and chutes running everywhere on three levels!   After processing and going through 12 stages grinding, cleaning, and sifting, .. after a WEEK they're ready to bag :

The most AMAZING fact .. this whole 3-floor operation was run by .. 2-men !!

Now it was our turn to make bread.

The ingredients with a warmed up bowl of yeast were mixed and put into a large dough-hook machine and afterwards were cut up into 200g chunks and distributed and then she showed us some typical shapes we could make.  This was mine :

20-30 min. of baking time and .. voila !

It was a fun visit!   Back to Libourne and lunch.  Of course we munched on our warm bread on the way back.   After lunch we started cruising down river.   We went under a bridge that Gustav Eiffel, yes HIM!, built in 1883.  It was destroyed in WWII but rebuilt by his grandson.

Before we docked in Blaye, we passed many chateaus or wine production areas as I showed you on the map earlier, here's the Chateau Tayac and it's logo :

We docked in Blaye for the next day's exploration fun.  Dinner tonight was ..

herb crusted rack of saltmarsh lamb, natural jus, glazed vegetables, artichoke puree, potato gratin ..

Tonight's entertainment was brought in from Bordeaux, 'La Douce France' :

Daylight savings change is tonight in France, it's already 12:30!!   To bed I go.