After touring Blaye and the Citadel, the boat went upriver to Blaye, a ninety minute cruise.
Our Cruise Manager Piet, who was an enthusiastic supporter of the entire Bordeaux region, led us on a walking tour of the town of Bourg.
The village (even using the metric system, the population is only approx. 2,200 people) is on the right bank of the Gironde River, originated as a fortified villa in the 4th century by the Romans.
According to the website, ThegoodlifeFrance.com, Bourg is famed for "having been invaded by the Visigoths, ravaged by the Normans, fortified by the English, visited by four kings and hosted more royalty than anyone could have ever expected."
It is also part of the Cote-de-Bourg wine region.
(I hate to sound snobby, and to many this will sound snobby, but here goes: I'm not a fan of the Bourg or Blaye win regions of Bordeaux. People note that you don't pay a lot for those wines, but I don't think you get much for them. If I'm going to crack open a bottle of Bordeaux, I want it to be from one of my favorite seven regions -- see, I'm not picky, seven appellations provides a lot of options, and a lot of darn good wine!)
(Editor: You are right!
Writer: About liking certain Bordeaux wines and not others?
Editor: About being snobby!)
We went up from the port to the hilltop, passing many beautiful buildings and one dog who barked for attention. Before heading up the stairs to the top of the cliffs, we took a look at the public laundry building.
We walked through a gate of the city, past the covered market, and to views of the of river and left bank. From there we walked through more of the town to the Maison des Vins, which has nearly 200 different wines from the region in a striking limestone cellar.
After a brief look around, some of us headed back down to the ship.
It's a quiet village, and sleepy on the last Monday in August. But it was nice to wander about the village.
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