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.