CRUISING TO BORDEAUX

---

CADILLAC FRANCE SEPTEMBER 29, 2018





Today we are cruising the Garonne river to Cadillac. When we tie up to shore, there is no dock, but instead a long ramp that comes out and meets a ramp from our boat. There is very little on the shore, just a few buildings. We walk about two blocks in from the river and there is a lager wall and the remnants of a city gate. There are many locals and families with children walking in the same direction. When we get through the large gate, we can begin seeing the edges of the garners market spilling out of the town square into the surrounding streets. The vegetables are beautiful, also the meats and cheeses. There are live chickens, ducks, Guinea-Bissau hens,.and of course eggs. There are also clothes, jewelry and shoes. The market is very crowded so we go on to see the church. It was quite dark inside and very blackened from years of candles. We then decided to go to the castle. The castle dates from the 1500’s. The castle proper has 3 stories with broad stairways leading up and down. I fell up the stairs and hit my head on the marble wall. I got a large lump on my forehead. The guide very kindly got me ice which helped the swelling. My head still hurts so I guess DENNIS will take over the rest of this blog. In the afternoon I went to Roquillarde Castle, owned by the same family it’s entire existence. The original building, part of which still exists ( keep and walls) is from the 11th century. The “new” part where the family lives is only 700 years old. They live in the central keep and we toured the rooms around it designed and furnished by Violet Lee Duq,architect to Napoleon. The most interesting rooms were the kitchen and dining room, the latter which had a secret door to a drawbridge over the moat. Over the years windows were put in by le Duq in most of the places where only slits for shooting arrows existed. This was in the Graves region of Bordeaux.

---