After arriving back in St Emilion we took a tour of the underground church. It brought to life the story of St Emilion, a monk with a vision. He gathered a few thousand workmen and dug an underground cavernous monolithic church apparently modelled on  one he saw in Cappadoccia. This was when he wasn’t meditating in his small Chapel where he lived in solitude for several years. I love these stories. It’s amazing what one shy monk can do. 

 

 
The hour long tour keep us cool and the history lesson was great as well. All English speakers and it’s funny how you can identify other Australians in a group. The older ones all have a “Chips Rafferty” look of weathered skin and dry humour and the younger ones look like they would rather be back on the beach in Biarritz. The English are easy to see in their socks and sandals, and the Americans…….. Well we didn’t have any on tour , so I don’t have to be careful about what I say  John Donati!  

 

 
Following that tour we visited our bar with the fan misters for a quick beer then headed off for an hour in the vineyards. The area is very pretty with vines growing in neat even rows with large chateaux sitting in the middle of the vineyards making everything look like a fairytale. Even the Chanel family own a property here. One of the owners came over to our group ( not Mr Chanel I would have recognised the loafers) and on hearing we were from Australia said ” very good Shiraz from there” We felt quite patriotic!