Saturday morning, Ben and Martha were up early, packing up their gear and getting ready to bike to the train station in Amboise. I left a few minutes before them and walked to the train station, and said my goodbyes there - what an amazing surprise to have had them join our trip.
Our taxi came as scheduled at 10:45 and took Patty and me to the station with our luggage - while we could have easily walked, the rain would have made taking the suitcases a hassle. While at the station, I went diagonally across the street to the used everything store - furniture, household goods, clothing, etc. It also handled shipping and receiving of packages. I bought a nice large used umbrella for five Euros.
We took the TER train to St. Pierre des Corps, and in our hour plus layover, went down and into the station where there was a cafe, so we each had a salad for lunch. The TGV train to Bordeaux was quick and efficient, and in two hours we were in Bordeaux for a 90 minute layover - so we went into the cafe, Patty for a glass of wine and me for a cappuccino. And then we boarded our final TER train to Moulis-Listrac. This is a local train with only three cars that stopped at every station. There was a woman working for the train operators - she was asking passengers to take a survey about usage of this local train. She originally approached us in rapid fire French and we declined, as we did not understand what she was doing. I watched her for the first couple of stops and figured out she was taking a survey, so I approached her and offered to take the survey - much to my surprise, my limited recall of French learned more than 50 years ago allowed me to read, understand and complete the survey of usage of this train. Francois told us there is discussion about whether to discontinue this local train, or to cutback on the frequency of the train.
Carole and Francois own and operate Domaine de Ludeye, the bed and breakfast where we stayed. As planned, Francois met us at the train station and drove us to Ludeye. We had a very nice room in a most pleasant and quiet area - I had read about and Francois pointed out that we were on the edge of forest and field area - to the west is forest and to the east are the fertile fields famous for growing grapes.
After settling into our room, we walked the mile into the town of Listrac-Medoc. Never knowing when we might need a taxi, when I saw a sign advertising a taxi, I took a photo to have the phone number.
We wandered around the small town center and discovered that the local wine co-op was open every day, so that was added to our schedule for Sunday morning.
We are definitely in the heart of wine country with 20 chateaus in the area.
Carole had made dinner reservations for us at Brasserie L'Embellie, the only restaurant open on Saturday evening. It was amazing - there were hundreds of wines to choose from, so we asked the sommelier/manager for a recommendation and bought a bottle of Caravelle 2012 that is from the local wine co-op. We shared an appetizer of risotto croquettes, then had the evening special of a cut of beef called limousine - cooked with fresh shallots, and served with salad and home made French fries - it was so much food, we could not even think about having dessert.
The restaurant is famous for its quotes of the day, both on the chalkboard and on the placemats.
After dinner, even though it was nearly 9:30, it was still daylight - in the park area in front of the public school, there was even a pizza truck - he was just closing as we walked by.
Sunday, we had a lovely breakfast and then headed into town around 10:30. The local wine co-op gives free samples so we tasted three wines. The one we liked best was the Chateaux Vieux Moulin - we decided that Tuesday afternoon, we would return to get a bottle of it and a bottle of the Caravelle to bring with us to Paris.
We then wandered around town and stopped by the local cemetery - we later learned from Francois and Carole that in addition to the large headstones placed by the family, friends and relatives placed small plaques and mementos.
Sundays, there is a small farmers market from 7 - 2. Because it was so early in the season, only one farm truck and one food truck were there. We bought two orders of paella just as it started to rain - so we put them in my backpack, I donned my poncho to keep the back pack dry and Patty opened the large umbrella for our mile walk back to the inn. While it was a constant shower, it was not a heavy rain - at times, it was merely a mist. When we got back, we hung our wet things in the shower to dry and then had our lunch of paella with some of the remaining Caravelle wine from Saturday evening.
After lunch, we both took naps - I went for a walk while Patty was still asleep and saw many homes with calla lilies.
The road I took went by the forest area described by Francois.
Many gardens are in bloom.
In the next hamlet to the north, I saw several new homes being built and homes being renovated, plus homes for sale. Francois said that while the economy has been good, the area is quite dynamic - prices are still reasonable enough for people to move out of Bordeaux to live here, 30 kms away. I took a photo of part of one of the for sale signs so that I could check their website - indeed, new homes with two to four bedrooms were listed in the 100,000 to 140,000 Euros price range.
While forests were to the left, everywhere I looked to the right was vineyards as far as I could see.
Neighbors have horses, sheep, goats, chickens and more - but I did not see any cows.
We had ordered dinner at the inn, so we had a lovely dinner with Carole and Francois, starting with a sparkling wine aperitif and gougeres freshly made by Carole.
Then it was white asparagus with cream sauce (it is asparagus season!), followed by beef and red peppers with red wine, and finally a lovely dessert.
After lunch and before our nap, Patty and I had gone for a walk. Francois has a friend who is a beekeeper and there are currently five bee hive boxes in the back yard of the inn. As we approached the area, Patty noticed a hive about ten feet up in the trees with a swarm of bees around it - she cautioned me to stop and look up, then retreat carefully. We told Francois and Carole about this at dinner. They were very excited and called the beekeeper. We were told that at this time of the year, a queen bee will leave the man made box hives to start a new colony, this usually happens late morning and midday, and within two hours they build a new hive. They excitedly called the beekeeper who came out, took down the new hive and put it into a sixth manmade beehive box - it was all very exciting to watch, but watching from a distance for safety. When the beekeeper walked back towards us, he still had 10 - 20 bees on and/or around him.
Our taxi came as scheduled at 10:45 and took Patty and me to the station with our luggage - while we could have easily walked, the rain would have made taking the suitcases a hassle. While at the station, I went diagonally across the street to the used everything store - furniture, household goods, clothing, etc. It also handled shipping and receiving of packages. I bought a nice large used umbrella for five Euros.
We took the TER train to St. Pierre des Corps, and in our hour plus layover, went down and into the station where there was a cafe, so we each had a salad for lunch. The TGV train to Bordeaux was quick and efficient, and in two hours we were in Bordeaux for a 90 minute layover - so we went into the cafe, Patty for a glass of wine and me for a cappuccino. And then we boarded our final TER train to Moulis-Listrac. This is a local train with only three cars that stopped at every station. There was a woman working for the train operators - she was asking passengers to take a survey about usage of this local train. She originally approached us in rapid fire French and we declined, as we did not understand what she was doing. I watched her for the first couple of stops and figured out she was taking a survey, so I approached her and offered to take the survey - much to my surprise, my limited recall of French learned more than 50 years ago allowed me to read, understand and complete the survey of usage of this train. Francois told us there is discussion about whether to discontinue this local train, or to cutback on the frequency of the train.
Carole and Francois own and operate Domaine de Ludeye, the bed and breakfast where we stayed. As planned, Francois met us at the train station and drove us to Ludeye. We had a very nice room in a most pleasant and quiet area - I had read about and Francois pointed out that we were on the edge of forest and field area - to the west is forest and to the east are the fertile fields famous for growing grapes.
After settling into our room, we walked the mile into the town of Listrac-Medoc. Never knowing when we might need a taxi, when I saw a sign advertising a taxi, I took a photo to have the phone number.
We wandered around the small town center and discovered that the local wine co-op was open every day, so that was added to our schedule for Sunday morning.
We are definitely in the heart of wine country with 20 chateaus in the area.
Carole had made dinner reservations for us at Brasserie L'Embellie, the only restaurant open on Saturday evening. It was amazing - there were hundreds of wines to choose from, so we asked the sommelier/manager for a recommendation and bought a bottle of Caravelle 2012 that is from the local wine co-op. We shared an appetizer of risotto croquettes, then had the evening special of a cut of beef called limousine - cooked with fresh shallots, and served with salad and home made French fries - it was so much food, we could not even think about having dessert.
The restaurant is famous for its quotes of the day, both on the chalkboard and on the placemats.
After dinner, even though it was nearly 9:30, it was still daylight - in the park area in front of the public school, there was even a pizza truck - he was just closing as we walked by.
Sunday, we had a lovely breakfast and then headed into town around 10:30. The local wine co-op gives free samples so we tasted three wines. The one we liked best was the Chateaux Vieux Moulin - we decided that Tuesday afternoon, we would return to get a bottle of it and a bottle of the Caravelle to bring with us to Paris.
We then wandered around town and stopped by the local cemetery - we later learned from Francois and Carole that in addition to the large headstones placed by the family, friends and relatives placed small plaques and mementos.
Sundays, there is a small farmers market from 7 - 2. Because it was so early in the season, only one farm truck and one food truck were there. We bought two orders of paella just as it started to rain - so we put them in my backpack, I donned my poncho to keep the back pack dry and Patty opened the large umbrella for our mile walk back to the inn. While it was a constant shower, it was not a heavy rain - at times, it was merely a mist. When we got back, we hung our wet things in the shower to dry and then had our lunch of paella with some of the remaining Caravelle wine from Saturday evening.
After lunch, we both took naps - I went for a walk while Patty was still asleep and saw many homes with calla lilies.
The road I took went by the forest area described by Francois.
Many gardens are in bloom.
In the next hamlet to the north, I saw several new homes being built and homes being renovated, plus homes for sale. Francois said that while the economy has been good, the area is quite dynamic - prices are still reasonable enough for people to move out of Bordeaux to live here, 30 kms away. I took a photo of part of one of the for sale signs so that I could check their website - indeed, new homes with two to four bedrooms were listed in the 100,000 to 140,000 Euros price range.
While forests were to the left, everywhere I looked to the right was vineyards as far as I could see.
Neighbors have horses, sheep, goats, chickens and more - but I did not see any cows.
We had ordered dinner at the inn, so we had a lovely dinner with Carole and Francois, starting with a sparkling wine aperitif and gougeres freshly made by Carole.
Then it was white asparagus with cream sauce (it is asparagus season!), followed by beef and red peppers with red wine, and finally a lovely dessert.
After lunch and before our nap, Patty and I had gone for a walk. Francois has a friend who is a beekeeper and there are currently five bee hive boxes in the back yard of the inn. As we approached the area, Patty noticed a hive about ten feet up in the trees with a swarm of bees around it - she cautioned me to stop and look up, then retreat carefully. We told Francois and Carole about this at dinner. They were very excited and called the beekeeper. We were told that at this time of the year, a queen bee will leave the man made box hives to start a new colony, this usually happens late morning and midday, and within two hours they build a new hive. They excitedly called the beekeeper who came out, took down the new hive and put it into a sixth manmade beehive box - it was all very exciting to watch, but watching from a distance for safety. When the beekeeper walked back towards us, he still had 10 - 20 bees on and/or around him.
