St Emilion Attractions

The charming little town of St Emilion (pop. 3,400), lies on a hill to the east of Bordeaux, still partly surrounded by its old walls (13th-15th C.). It has a fine collegiate church in Romanesque/Byzantine style (12th-15th C.) with beautiful 16th C. stained glass and a 14th C. cloister. To the south, on the rim of a gorge, is a Romanesque/Gothic bell tower (15th C.), below which, entirely hewn from the rock, is the "monolithic church" (12th-16th C.). Adjoining this is the Chapelle de la Trinité (13th C.), below which is the cave hermitage of St Emilion, with the saint's "bed" in a recess in the rock. The town has a picturesque market square and from here a street runs up to the Château du Roi, a castle built by Louis VIII in the 13th C.

The surrounding historic landscape which has remained little changed since Roman times has earned the surrounding jurisdiction a UNESCO World Heritage designation.