May 7, 2024:
Having spent all of the previous day traveling from London, England to Bordeaux, France, we started our France vacation by getting a car at the Bordeaux airport (we stayed across the street from the Bordeaux train station the night before).
After getting our car, we drove to Saint Émilion, parked at the main car park just outside of town, the Place Bouqueyre car park, an eight-minute walk uphill to the Office de Tourisme (TI), Saint Émilion (next time we’ll take a more circular route along the road going into town on the right to avoid the very steep cobblestone hills). We were accompanied on our entire 2024 France trip by good friends Barb and Fred.
Office de Tourisme – Saint Émilion
We had prebooked a “special meal” at La Table de Pavie for 12:15 pm, across from the TI and next to the Saint Émilion Bell Tower.
Hotel de Pavie – Table de Pavie – Saint-Émilion
Saint-Émilion Bell Tower
While we were waiting for our lunch, the girls got a key from the TI and climbed the Bell Tower for beautiful views of Saint Émilion.
Nancy and Barb in the Bell Tower
Views from the Bell Tower
Our lunch (which lasted until 3 pm), was spectacular and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. La Table de Pavie is a two-star Michelin Restaurant and they offered us three choices of set menus for lunch (we ordered wine separately). Before we moved to the dining room for lunch, we had drinks in the hotel parlor.
Drinks in the hotel parlor before lunch
Art on the wall of the Hotel La Pavie
The staff was extremely attentive and the courses were well presented and all were very delicious. We were glad we prebooked, as the dining room filled up during our lunch.
Dining room of La Table de Pavie
Enjoying each course of our La Table de Pavie lunch
La Table de Pavie is open Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, 12 pm – 1 pm for lunch and 7:30 pm – 9 pm for dinner; Wednesday-Thursday, for dinner only, 7:30 pm – 9 pm; closed Sunday, Monday; 5 Pl. du Clocher, 33330 Saint-Émilion, 33300, +33 5 57 55 07 55; https://hoteldepavie.com/en/la-table-de-pavie.html.
We had hoped to take a 2 pm English tour of the Saint-Émilion Underground Church, but were unable to due to the length of time spent serving our lunch (Nancy and I visited the underground church in 2009).
After lunch, we tried two recommended Saint-Émilion wine-tasting places, but the first one only did tastings for six or more people (Maison du Vin), and the second (Wine Bar by Vignobles et Châteaux) was too expensive per person.
So we decided to drive to our accommodation in Domme, France, La Perle de Domme, and unwind from our long day of traveling the day before (and drink wine there).
We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had booked two separate spacious, modern apartments with full kitchens, along with amenities such as a pool, outdoor patio, wine bar, spa and massages (for an extra fee), along with free parking, all for the price of a single apartment with two bedrooms. We later found out that the place had been renovated after lying vacant for many years and had just recently opened (the prices are sure to go up rapidly).
La Perle de Domme – two separate apartments and patio/wine bar for the price of one
We ended up enjoying our evening watching the sun go down over the Dordogne Valley at the Belvédère Café – great million-dollar views from the outside tables; open daily 11 am – 9 pm for lunch and dinner; +33 5 53 31 12 01; at Le Panorama, free parking.
View of the Dordogne Valley from the village of Domme