Europe – Day 8 (Wine tasting in Chateauneuf du Pape)

We were so excited to go wine tasting in France – the first region we were tasting in was Chateauneuf du Pape. We had three wineries on the books for our first day wine tasting.

Our first stop was Domaine de Beaurenard – and we had a good first experience. After the visit, we went to the castle of Chateauneuf du Pape. The castle had crumbled besides one wall, which made for some great photos.

Our first wine region in the south of France

It was extremely breezy on top of the hill

In the Avignon region – they have a lot of wind. They actually have a name for it – but I’m not very good with the French language. I would say it’s equivalent to the Santa Ana winds we have in California. It helps with the grapes – as it helps move away insects, etc.

Our next stop was supposed to be Vignobles Mayard. We pulled in and realized how run down the place looked – we decided to move on. Jon had realized Château Mont-Redon was open and they are a large producer in the area. We went there next – and I really loved the place.

Our server – I think his name was Alex – had spent time in the French Navy working alongside with the US Coast Guard. We got to taste a lot of different wines – and we were fortunate to meet a little Beagle buddy named Sully. We loved him!

Our last stop of the day was at Chateau La Nerthe – our server had been to California wine country and we had a great time chatting with him. We all complained about how expensive it can be to taste back home – and also, how much more they mark up the wine.

Because we had been so efficient with our time – we were able to head back to the city of Avignon and go to Palace of the Popes. This building was constructed during the 14th century – when the Pope fled Rome. This was not well received in Italy – and led others to believe that the Pope was a puppet of the French.

The Palace of the Popes had previously been accessible for Jon, but unfortunately they were doing some remodeling and he wasn’t able to join us. We decided to power walk through (it was closing in roughly an hour and a half) and meet up with them outside. It is very sparsely decorated – but you can use a tablet to get a better view of how things would have looked back then.

Because we were on a time crunch, we didn’t bother with the tablets. We wanted to be able to see the structure and get a feel for the place. If we were to return we would definitely allocate more time – and use the tablets. But there is never enough time!

As we were leaving, Jon called us to let us know that there was a train that would take us around Avignon. This was nice for a few reasons: 1) it was accessible 2) it would allow us to see more of the city without having to walk everywhere! We really enjoyed it – and I think it was around 5 euro a person.

Once we got back to our hotel – we parted ways before dinner. I decided to take a walk up to a Fort that was close to our hotel. It had just closed, so I couldn’t go inside. But it was still really interesting to see from the outside! This fort would later assert force against the Popes who were just across the river – and to protect the Abbey of Saint Andre.