Speaking of Saint Emillion....

Set in the Burgundy area of France, St. Emilion is a lovely small town drenched in wine history. The vineyards surrounding it made for a lovely panorama as we wound our way up the hill. On our first trip there, our time was limited and we still had a long drive ahead, so we did not allow ourselves the pleasure of wine tasting although the possibility presented itself everywhere we turned. 

We did stop for lunch and it would have been a pleasure had it not been for the fierce winds that swept over the summit where St. Emilion is perched. We were too preoccupied with keeping linens and glasses on the table to really appreciate the food. Even so, the view was quite beautiful and a second more lengthy visit was in our future, if only to taste the wine varietal that was named after this little gem of a village.

 

                                                                                            As one might expect the architecture was charming with quite a few churches for a town of this size. There were many steep lanes with some requiring hand rails. Maybe cobbles in this setting are actually a help rather than a hindrance to walking, especially if one can imagine streets like these during rain storms. If nothing more, they did provide rusticity and the visual texture of them adds a nice element and more depth to a photograph.

The church photographed above seemed like many other religious buildings one sees during their travels, with one exception. It was fascinating to see the primitive drawing scrawled on one of the stone walls. Although it appeared to be a dragon, I can't help but wonder if it was a Medieval depiction of Satan.

The cloisters of this same church were pleasant to walk along on a hot day since they were cool and shaded, probably as the architect had intended. I especially loved the lacy filigree of the window frames pictured above, but still am puzzled by their placement against a solid wall. Could they have been intended as replacements if the others in the church should fail?

 

 

  As we made our way out of the village, we passed     

  another church, or what was left of one, along with

  a centuries old stone tower. While traveling through

  France and seeing ruins such as these, it's easy to 

  wonder what life must have been like in these bucolic

  places during war time.