Bordeaux, France (Day 1)

 To get to Bordeaux you need to travel about 40 miles up the Garonne River and at the last bit we needed to sail under a draw bridge.  Most of the ride up the river wasn't too exciting.  But I did get a few pictures before we docked around noon.

A pretty little home along the way

No trouble getting under this bridge

This looks like it was once a platform of some sort

This bridge is only 9 years old.  It takes 11 minutes to raise the center section, which had to be done for us.  Don't think it needs to be raised for the low river boats like Viking River Cruises.

This interesting building is a wine museum

The view from underneath - a pretty cool bridge.

And what it looks like normally

Our first stop was at the town of St. Emilion in wine country.  It has walls dating back to the 14th century and lots of religious buildings.

A beautiful cathedral

A look over the town from the cathedral area

 

We also toured an underground church from medieval times.  It was carved out of the sandstone hills.  It is now privately owned and they don't allow photos.

Next stop was at a winery for a bit of explanation and tasting. The Pomerol Appellation rules say they cannot water the grapes - they must rely on rain.  That can be challenging, especially now with the climate warming up.  They primarily grow merlot and also cabernet so the local wines are usually a blend.

 

Aging in the barrels for up to 2 years

We tasted their wines from 2018 and 2008.  Unfortunately, we didn't really care for either of them.  The wines we have on board seem better.

We didn't get back to the ship until almost 6:00 pm so we decided to order room service, get into our comfy robes and eat on the balcony overlooking the river.  The weather was perfect, upper 70's with no wind, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We're here overnight and have an early tour tomorrow.