Saint-Emilion to Saintes

We woke up this morning to the slight smell of smoke. The temperature was 28 degrees Fahrenheit and we had been warned that there would be smoke among the vines to protect them from the freezing temperature. We also saw and heard helicopters flying over the vineyards stirring up the air.

Smoke over the vineyards
Helicopter at dawn over the chateau where we are staying.

The breakfast at Chsteau Fombrauge where we were staying was wonderful.

Breakfast at Chateau Fombrauge

The Bed and Breakfasts that we stay at in rural France don’t usually allow check in until 4 or 5pm. So although we had a relatively short drive today we took a circuitous route. We stopped for a picnic lunch.

Picnic lunch

The park had a pizza machine that could provide a cold pizza in 30 seconds or a hot pizza in 3 minutes.

Pizza machine

France has the first round of their presidential elections this Sunday. It is interesting to see the election signs. As I understand it, there are strict rules to ensure fairnes, so all the signs are the same size.

We still had time to kill when we got to our B and B so we saw an abbey not too far away and parked there to read and nap while we waited for our check in time.

Abbey Fontfouce
Abbey Fontdouce
The view from the car

Our Landlady where we are staying, Les Cuves, gave us a list of nearby restaurants. We chose one and drove into Saintes for dinner. It was a small restaurant called Les Repaire des Artistes. We had an excellent meal and there was no problem corking the leftover wine to take with us.

Hot Brie cheese with chorizo and bell peppers
Melted cheese with charcuterie and potatoes
Our restaurant
Saintes Cathedral and the moon on the way back to our car.