Steep lanes
Golden stone.
Chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Didier Descouens — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Didier Descouens — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Calips — CC BY-SA 3.0
Saint-Émilion is a medieval town in the Gironde department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwest France, in the heart of the Libournais among vine-covered hills, about 34 km east of Bordeaux in a straight line. Its history goes back at least 35,000 years; a Gaulish hillfort stood above it, and the Romans planted vines here from the 2nd century AD. In 1999 UNESCO made the town and its surrounding vineyards a World Heritage Site for their long, living tradition of cultivation, Romanesque churches and ruins along steep, narrow streets. Golden limestone houses with tiled roofs pile up in a small valley under old stone towers, with very steep cobbled lanes between them. Neat rows of green vines spread around the town to the horizon, turning gold and red in autumn. Visitors wander the lanes up and down, climb the King's Tower for a view over the roofs and vineyards, and tour the tunnels and caves cut into the rock beneath the town. Autumn is lovely for colour, and the town makes a day trip from Bordeaux.
Golden stone.
A wide view.
To the horizon.
Saint-Émilion, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Yes, from Bordeaux.
Autumn.