Way back in August when we were planning this trip I searched for a winery near Bordeaux that we could visit for a tour and tasting. I found Château Sainte Barbe, made a reservation and we went there today.

We decided to take public transportation instead of hassling with driving. First we walked across the Garonne to the Stalingrad bus stop.

Then we took a bus about thirty minutes north along the river.

Château Sainte Barbe winery has been making wine since 1650. We were the only ones on our tour and got to ask lots of questions about how the grapes are grown and how the wine is made.

After our tour and tasting we took the bus back into Bordeaux.

For dinner we ate at Le Comptoir Fromage. I often order things on the menu that I can’t quite translate. My starter was Pastèque snackèe, feta fumée Maison, vinaigrette pistachio, grenade de tequila. It was very good and now I know that pastèque is watermelon.

My main fish was Coquillettes au Gouda truffle et jambon. I didn’t know until it arrived that it would be macaroni and cheese with ham!

Le Comtoir Fromage was right across the street from Bistro Réno.

I uploaded my third video of the trip. You can see it here. I may not always link to new videos so you may want to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can more easily hear about new videos.

Our drive from Labastide to Bordeaux was relatively easy. But driving onto the center of a city is always a challenge. We are staying at a hotel in a great location right in the city center. The hotel had told us that we needed to book a parking spot at a parking garage in advance. We booked and paid yesterday so that when we found the entrance to the underground parking garage we just needed to show our QR code to get in. From there it was about a ten minute walk to the hotel.

After checking in we went for a walk. Bordeaux is beautiful.

We stopped for a break at a sidewalk cafe.

I have said this before but our dinner was perhaps the best of the trip. Coincidentally we are at Bistro Reno!

We are staying two nights at La Villa de Remparts. Our host there, Bertrand Garry Folzant makes beautiful kimonos.

It was really nice not to have to pack up and move on this morning. At breakfast our host recommended several places in the area that we might want to visit. We chose two and they turned ou to be fantastic.

Our first stop was the ruins of the Gallo-Roman villa of Séviac. The ruins of the Villa owned by a wealthy Roman were found in 1860 during the building of a farm. The site has been excavated and extensive mosaic floors have been discovered.

While we were at the site the farmer in the field next door was harvesting his grapes. we got a close up view of the grape harvester at work.

From Séviac we drove to the Abbey of Flaran. On the way we stopped for a picnic lunch next to a village church.

Flaran is a Cistercian Abbey initially built in the twelve century. In addition to touring the abbey we got to visit the art collection housed in what was the monk’s dormitory. The collection included a couple of works by Monet and one by Cezanne among others but the highlight for us was the collection of works by a painter I was not familiar with, Ken Paine. There were at least 50 portraits done by him. They were powerful and intense. I very much enjoyed seeing them.

For dinner we drove about three miles from where we were staying in Labastide-d’Armagnac to the next village, Saint Justin. We had an excellent dinner at a restaurant called Le Cadet de Gascogne.

I have said it before, but I love French breakfasts! Our breakfast this morning at Villa Marambat included the usual things like croissants and coffee but we also had homemade yogurts and figs from their tree.

After breakfast we went for a walk nearby.

Our drive today was short, only about sixty kilometers. Even with driving the back roads and a stop for a snack it only took us a couple of hours. We are in wine country. We are seeing lots of wineries and vineyards.

Labastide-d’Armagnac is a small town. We are staying in a wonderful Chambres de Hôtes, Villa des Remparts. It right next to the main square.

We had coffee on the square, walked around a bit and then sat by the fire and read.

For dinner tonight we sat outside overlooking the square.

I uploaded my second video of the trip. You can see it on YouTube here. I’m about two weeks behind in creating videos. I already miss playing cards with Brian and JoAnn but I guess I can use that time to edit videos. I do enjoy creating them.

I received my French vaccination passport!! What a relief! I sent my paperwork in September 3 so it took a little over 3 weeks to get. Without it I would have had to be tested every three days while we are in France. I had a covid test before I left Barcelona so I could ride the train. While we were on the train my QR code arrived!!

We took a taxi to the train station and had coffee there while we waited for our train.

We took the high speed train into France and then changed to a local train to Toulouse where we rented a car and drove about an hour west to the little town of Marambat.

We have seen many fields of sunflowers over the last two weeks but for the first time we finally saw a field being harvested.

We are staying in a wonderful old French house, Villa Marambat. It was used by the resistance during the war. The owners Aline and Jean Pierre have been very welcoming.

For a casual dinner Aline suggested a restaurant, Lou BAR’ataclau, in the nearby town of Vic-Fezensac. It was perfect. The waiter recommended a bottle of wine and offered to make us a charcuterie to share. As we watched the lady across the street close her shutters for the night I thought that except for the kinds of cars the street probably hasn’t changed much since WWII.

After 25 tries to get just the right selfie I finally got this one.