When traveling, especially on a long trip, there are always unexpected things. And things began unexpectedly in Bordeaux. We had scheduled an 8:50 am tour of the small village of Saint Émilion, famous for its centuries of Bordeaux wine making. Saint Émilion is about a 50-minute drive east of Bordeaux. Didn’t foresee a problem. The ship docked at 1:00 am, and we would walk 10 minutes to the meeting point.

However, the night before, an announcement came over the cruise ship telling us that there was a problem with moving a bridge and we were unable to dock next to the city of Bordeaux. Instead, the ship planned to dock at another site where we had to take a 45-minute bus ride into the city. That meant we had to get off the ship and take the bus into the city no later than 8:00 am.

Why was this a problem? Because it was a rare instance in which we had non-refundable vouchers for the tour. We almost never do that; it was an oversight.

Since we had no idea when the first bus would leave the ship, we began going up the ship chain of command, pestering people about making sure the first bus left early. While we never made it to the captain, we were assured by Michele, the guy in charge of the buses, that there would be no problem—the first bus would leave by 8:00 am.

But all was still not okay. What if there was traffic and the bus was late? Would the tour company wait? When Rebecca called the tour office to explain our ship predicament, they told her the tour could NOT wait more than ONE minute. No exceptions!

So the next morning, we were the first people off the ship and the first on the first bus. Our fears were alleviated when we found out that the bus ride would only take 25 minutes.

We arrived on time. We were 2 of 7 people in a van. There was a guy from Austin, two people from Australia, and another couple (half New Jersey, half Pennsylvania).

Our guide Valentin. We had to call him ValenTEEN because he hated to be called Valentine. He was talkative and explained a lot of history.

The Romans recognized the area as great for wine making as early as the 2^nd century BC due to the perfect soil and climate. The first settlement was named Ascumbasi. Wine making became more popular as Christians moved into the area.

In the 8th century, a monk named Émilion arrived in the region. He was looking for a Hermit lifestyle. He was already popular because of his charitable works and miracles. He showed up in 750 and settled into a cave. While a hermit, Émilion actively evangelized the local population until his death in 767. Guess he wasn’t a total hermit. Obviously, the town of Saint-Émilion was named after him.

Saint-Émilion became a pilgrimage site because it was a stopping point along the Camino de Santiago (watch the movie The Way to know about the Camino). During the 11th and 12th centuries, monks built an underground Monolithic Church—Europe’s largest subterranean church, with 125 miles of tunnels and space.

Saint-Émilion became a huge wine producer. Its wine became internationally recognized in the 12^th and 13^th centuries for its Merlot-based blends. Another church, the Collegial church, was built (above ground) in the 14th century.

During the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), Saint-Émilion went back and forth between Britain and Fance until the Battle of Castillon in 1453 placed it under French rule for good. It became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1999. Only 250 people live in Saint-Émilion. There are nearly 20,000 acres of vineyards and over a million tourists visit every year.

We visited the Château Haut-Rocher winery. They are a family-owned operation that’s been operated by the same family since the 15^th century. It converted to organic farming in 2019 and achieved a Level 3 High Environmental Value (HVE) certification.

Muriel, our guide at the winery, gave us a tour of the vineyard, wine-making process, and barrels of wine. She was so upbeat, enthusiastic, and happy that I asked her if she acted like this every day with tourists or was it just because she liked us. She made it clear that she didn’t like us and was happy around tourists every day. I loved her sense of humor.

The wine tasting went as expected for me. My senses couldn’t taste or smell any of the ingredients I was supposed to. Nutty, Fruity, Spongy, Fishy, it all tasted the same to me.

Although we have a close friend at home, who shall remain nameless (the first letter starts with M), and doesn’t care for lactose, who could not only sense the ingredients, but could tell you the size of the grape with her eyes closed.

While we had two days in Bordeaux, and our ship was further from the city than expected, we decided to stay on the ship the second day and wash clothes and sleep a lot.