Posting from St-Emilion
 

This is the first time I've actually posted while on a trip, but I have a few minutes and a good WiFi connection, so here goes.

We are presently in a Chateau B&B right outside of St-Emilion called Franc Pourret. The B&B is very nice and close enough to St.-Emi to walk to it in about 20 minutes through the vineyards.

We just had a great dinner at a restaurant in St-Emi called "Le Tertre". Last night we ate at L'huitre l'Pie which was also exceptional.

On this past weekend we attended the Grand Cru weekend in the city of Bordeaux. It included a tasting of 100 grand cru chateaus, dinner at one of them and a bus tour of the Medoc. It was exceptional and I recommend it for next year for any wine lover.

It's late, we had a lot of wine, and tomorrow we are headed to Sarlat so now I am going to bed.

Good night and I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Thanks for the quick report on St-Emilion. It's been a number of years, but I have wonderful memories of the place and especially of an excellent meal of Coq au Vin with some of the local wine.

Sssteve! Glad to hear you're down on the ground & off to a good start. I am s-s-so looking forward to your Dordogne report. Please keep it coming if and when you stumble upon good WiFi again.

We are now in Sarlat. On the way from St-Emi we stopped in Bergerac and visited the Monbazillac chateau.

The weather has been fantastic this week. Today it was sunny all day and the temp got to 28-29 C. It was too hot even at 6 PM when we trekked up to Beynec chateau.

We are at a lovely B&B in Sarlat called Les Cordelier.

sssteve!! How nice to read your lines. I am happily following your entries!!!

I cannot believe you are staying also at Les Cordeliers!! I hope you will have better luck than we, as we also stayed there about 2 weeks ago!!

Since you are managing to get on-line, this means you are NOT in Room 6 as we were, with no WiFi and no ability to fix it. As long as everything was OK and we had no "complaints", our host was OK, not overly nice, but OK. If you had something to report that was not 100%, like our inability to connect and our water being not hot enough with not enough pressure either, he did not like that at all.

On the plus side, the place is clean, with very large rooms and serve a good breakfast, albeit not included in the room price. However, in retrospect we may have been able to get a better deal for the price somewhere else. Nonetheless the place has the #1 spot on tripadvisor and that is partly why I went for it.

I will be anxiously awaiting your "take" on the place.

Have a really great time and keep up the reports if you can. Don't miss the Saturday market which starts right outside your door and goes all the way to the other side of town almost. It is fabulous, you have some great finds, free tastings, and great great vendors who have a real sense of humor and good will.

I wonder where you shall be taking your meals......

Enjoy !!!

Flame:

We are in one of the upstairs rooms and the wifi is very weak, and right now I am in the downstairs lobby where the signal is fine. My wife is miffed that there is no TV but the rest of the group don't seem to mind. We are 2 couples.

The hosts have been very nice and eager to please and it's hard to beat a fully stocked kitchenette for the guests.

Last night we ate at the restaurant with the cave in the back. The restaurant was nothing special but the cassoulet was very good. What amazes me is the the restaurant prices. They are about half the price of the restaurants we ate at in St-Emi and Bordeaux.

Tonight we eat at Le Presidial, weather permitting. This morning we have the first showers of the trip.

Everybody enjoyed strolling about Sarlat last night. It is really a beautiful town.

sssteve

Sounds like you are having a great time!! Indeed the stocked kichenette was a nice touch. If you can move rooms, no. 2 was great and WiFi worked well. Yes the lobby was fine for the computer but much more comfortable if you can use in the room.

What restaurant has a cave in the back? We did not eat at Le Presidial - I hope you enjoy it. I can HIGHLY recommend Le Grand Bleu which was fabulous, if you can get a reservation before you leave. We loved Sarlat as well, but then we loved all the towns that we visited in the area - a lovely lovely area.

I am particularly interested to hear all about the Grand Cru weekend when you get back home and have time. It sounds like something I would love!! We had SUCH great wines during the time we were there......

Blowing away the rain for you...........

Ciao for now.

Yes, the grand cru weekend was incredible. I can't do it justice here so I won't try. It will all be on the next web page. I will say that with our dinner at the chateau (Brainaire Ducru) we had a 1986 red which was fabulous.

Yesterday, we took the gabore ride. We missed the boat at Beynec so we drove over to La-Roque Gageac and got right on a boat there. There is more of a selection in La-Roque than in Beynec. In any case, we enjoyed the "cruise". The day was cloudy and in the late afternoon it rained hard for about 10 minutes.

We visited the Jardins de Marqueyssac which was fabulous, even though the day was gray with no sun.

In the evening we ate at the Presidial and the meal was fabulous. I had the best duck liver escalope I have ever had in my life. It was incredible.

Today the skies are blue and the sun has returned. We are headed to Rocamadour. As soon as I close here, I'll go search for a good restaurant for lunch...

We leave for the Dordogne and Auvergne regions on May 30. Enjoying all this first hand info. I booked a table at Presidial. We're staying at Bon Encontre. Leave some duck liver for us please.

No problem Julie - there are lots of ducks left!

Today we went to Rocamadour. It was fantastic and the weather was fabulous. After that, we took a scenic ride to Autoir, St. Cere, Loubressac, Carennac and Martel. Without question Loubressac was the most beautiful and really lived up to its designation as a "beau village" of France. We had lunch in Autoir where there is a very nice restaurant.

I appreciate these ongoing comments, Steve. I checked my itinerary to confirm that Loubressac is on the list. Was the restaurant in Autoire the Auberge de la Fontaine?

Wow, you just reminded me of a glass of 1986 Burgundy I had back in 2000 at Au Crocodile in Strasbourg. Oh my goodness - one of the best things I ever tasted.

You're also bringing back memories of a 2006 Dordogne trip. Thanks, Steve!

I think I'll have to crack open a St. Emilion this weekend...

Sap - exactly! While we were there, the bread truck came by to deliver bread to the neighborhood ladies.

Today, alas, it is raining. It is Saturday and market day. Tomorrow, the sun comes out again, and is expected to last for the entire week. The weather has been wonderful, although the wine makers would prefer a bit more rain.

Last night we ate at La Hoirie and had the best meal of the trip since the meal at the chateau in the medoc. Everything was superb including the service. It is a bit away from the center of town, (about 2 KM) so it may not be as well known as the Presidial, but it was even better. For those with a car, I highly recommend it.

Today it's supposed to rain until the late afternoon so we may have a long lunch instead of dinner.

The trip is now officially half over. Tomorrow we head for Figeac and Cahors.

Interestingly, our one major rain day was also on Saturday at the Sarlat market. But after lunchtime, it stopped and was OK. Hope you have continued good weather and good times.

We enjoyed our day at Rocamadour as well. It was quite amazing. Did not travel though to the other destinations you wrote afterwards. We also took the boat ride at La Roque Gageac and visited the Jardins de Marqueyssac. All fabulous!!

Have you been staying the entire time at Les Cordeliers at Sarlat?

Yes - 4 nights at Les Cordeliers

Enjoying this very much. Have not yet been to this area in France. Wah!

It rained all morning in Sarlat, but the market went on as always. It mostly just drizzled.

In the afternoon we drove to Terrasone to visit the Jardins lImaginarie. The gardens are beautiful, and the sun came out while we were there. This garden can be visited only on a guided tour which is included in the price. It take an hour and a quarter.

The old town of Terrasone was beautiful and was well worth the visit.

Today was another beautiful day,

We visited Gourdon, Figeac and St-Cirq LaPopie. La Popie was everything it is billed as - beautiful and loaded with tourists even in the middle of May. It is what it is. It really is beautiful and not to be missed.

For dinner we ate at Le Gindreau in St. Medard, an incredible restaurant. Details at a later date. Now we are tired and on our way to bed!

I'm almost embarrassed to write it but the weather continues to be incredible.

Today was another perfect day and we visited Pech Merle and then Cahors, and at the end of the day, we visited Chateau Lagrazette which is one of the leading wine makers in the Cashors area.

Pech Merle was a great visit, and Cahors was, as most people here have opined, a place without much to see. The Valentre bridge is beautiful but other than that, there's really not much to see. We spent a couple of hours here including lunch.

The ride from where we are to Pech Merle was outstanding. It goes through a national park, and the views and little towns are incredible. This is the route which goes through Vers and St-Gery. It's a very windy road but also very beautiful!

We are staying at a B&B in Merques called Le Mas Azemar. The place is like a chateau and museum combined, but the hostess, Sabine is wonderful. She cooks everything herself, and tonight we will have her dinner at the b&b with 8 other people. (10 all together)

Wonderful report. Love the computer and ability to google things that you mention about which I'm not yet familiar.

Are you taking a guided tour or picking up stuff as you go along?

TD:

Everything was planned months in advance, including reservations at notable restaurants.

TD: I guess I didn't answer completely. We are 4 people and I planned the trip. The only guided part was the bus tour of Medoc.

We just got back from a tour of the Lagrazette chateau and winery. The general manager of the chateau gave us a very nice tour.

Last's night di8nner at Le Mas Azemar was memorable but I won't go into details here.

It is now Tuesday night and we are in Albi. Today was another beautiful dAy and we visited ST.ANTONIN NOBLE VAL and CORDES -SUR-CEIL. Both were outstanding.

Tonight we had dinner at Le Parvis right across from the cathedral. The food was excellent but the service was terrible. Before dinner we visited the cathedral and the Toulouse Latrec museum.

Tomorrow we visit Gaillac (more wine) and then finish in Toulouse.

Today we visited Gaillac and enjoyed visiting 2 chateaux (wine chateaux) very much. One was a small family run "domaine" and the other was one of the largest in the region. In both places we were greeted warmly and really enjoyed the visits.

We had lunch in Gaillac, a pleasant small town, and then we drove to our B&B in Toulouse. The B&B is wonderful and the hostess has really made it a beautiful place and it's a 10 minute walk from the Capitole. The name is "Les Loges de Saint Sernin". It's located right near the Basilica Saint Sernin which is one of the prime attractions in Toulouse.

Alas, our trip is nearly over. We fly home on Saturday.

Wonderful report, SSteve!! Thanks for the reference to it from your response about Monday in villages.
How did i miss this?!! We arrive May 29. Very interested in all the information you're sharing.
Yes, those last days of a trip...BUMMER!!

Also interested in Toulouse restaurants, brasseries, cafes, near Pl Capitole--did you try any?

Great trip report SSteve. We are headed there in mid June visiting the same towns that you've visited. Thanks for the great tips. I sure hope we luck out with good weather like you.

We will be staying in Toulouse on the front and back end of our trip. We also, like CaliNurse, would be interested in any recommendations for restaurants, cafes near Pl Capitole.

Last night we ate at Capoul on Wilson Place. Everything was very good, but seemed expensive after the small towns we have been in. The seafood and fish were super fresh and tasty.

Today we are going to Carcvassone.

On our last night we will eat at Emile, but I don't know if I will have time to report...

Our B&B host recommended a small restaurant near Saint Sernin called "Le rond de serviette", if we want to eat at a restaurant which isn't for the tourists but is where the locals eat. We walked in a different direction so we didn't see or check it out. It's at 3 place du Peyrou.

Sssteve, thanks for Toulouse restaurant mentions.

Looking forward to your impressions of Carcassonne, how long you stayed, and if worth a stop before your return home. Bon voyage!!!

Winnick, one i read of as a good place (maybe on Chowhound?) is Brasserie Au Pere Louis. It's on Rue Tourneurs, a few minutes' walk south of Place du Capitole. We may well end up there, as it open on a Sunday evening, when we arrive.
If i can be as disciplined as Sssteve, and can figure out my new iPad, will try and post from the scene, so you can get a few more ideas before you leave for your trip.

Don't miss Carcassone. It's quite amazing.

Thank you, Sssteve, for posting in the midst of packing!(?) OK, Carcassonne stays on the itinerary!!!!!

On the way back from Carcassone we stopped for lunch at Castelnaudary , the reputed world cap[ital of Cassoulet. We ate a wonderful Cassoulet at a small restaurant called Les Gazoulis. If you are into cassoulet, it was wonderful at this restaurant.

Today we toured Toulouse on foot and finished the morning with lunch at the Victor Hugo market.

Our lat meal on this trip - Restaurant Emile... It looks like all the rest but the food was exquisite and the experience perfect for our last night...

Thanks Sssteve and CaliNurse for recommendations.

CaliNurse - have a great trip, look forward to hearing from you during your travels in the area.

We're home.

As always the trip will be documented on our web site in about 6 weeks.

Welcome back. Glad your trip was good. Will be checking your site eventually....

Sssteve. Home at last!! Now the "fun" task of going through the mail )-:

Can you post a link to your website once the info is up?

Here's a link to our home page which includes most of our trips, including several to France and Italy.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/

Impressive website! You have put lots of work into that!

WREN: I know, I know!

I spend most of my time awake either planning a trip or building the web page of the trip we just finished!

CALINURSE:
If you are still listening, and haven't left yet, and if you eat at Emile's in Toulouse, have the "ravioli foix gras". We ate at a lot of good restaurants, but this was the best dish I had anywhere!