After being in Italy with family, I had the great pleasure of meeting up with a group of 6 women that I have known since our 20s in Morocco. The rich cultural bonds of the place sealed our friendships and we have stayed in touch over time. More recently, we met in Oaxaca and dyed fabric with natural dyes and supported the local economy. One of our tribe lives in a small village near Bordeaux and we agreed it would be a good idea would be to go down to visit Kit and learn about the region.
blue Paris knocker
When I landed in Paris, we rendez-vous-ed in the Marais at the Hotel Jean d’Arc, where the others had been staying for 5 days. We were leaving the next day taking the TGV down to the South, so we took advantage of our moment here together and started our communal eat and wandering of the quartiers. Even for so short a time in Paris, where I lived for a number of years, it is a rich visual treat. Each store window displays some element of beauty and simplicity. And, of course, the architecture is so old and elegant, small touches that draw your eye in, such as blue doors and handsome brass knockers. Quintessential and trite maybe, but never boring, always a delight. And the food, well, the best!
The next day we dragged our suitcases to the Gare Montparnasse and hopped on the TGV, a big, heavy and very fast train. In 3 1/2 hours we were in Bordeaux, where we took another train to St. Andre de Cubzac, the birth place of Jacques Cousteau. On small back roads we were transported to the magical world of Kit and her daughter Abeline in the small village of Comps.
Bordeaux vines
Bordeaux landscape
The house is really a small chateaux, surrounded by vineyards and stone compounds. Villages are clusters of these compounds, perfectly composed, nestled between rows and rows of vines. Sometimes they are punctuated by a Romanesque church from the 13th century, itself sculptural and simple. I felt a real affinity for the scale of the place. It was a much more intimate landscape then I had pictured, when I thought of “Bordeaux” and the legend it has in the wine community. My friend Zuna and I made time to draw some of these landscapes, trying to capture the strong shapes of the stone buildings.
There was much camaraderie through the making and eating of food and the shopping for it. In Paris I wanted to shop for clothing or objects- in Comps, I wanted to buy the fabulous goat and sheep cheeses sold in the Marché. We searched for things like the ceramic plate grater from Provence or antique glasses for the Porteau de Charente. There were sights to see, among them the grotto of Pair non Pair with it’s ancient bas reliefs of Cro-Magnon-era beasts; a duck blind / ecological tour that served “aperos” (wine, liqueur, and snacks) at the end. We visited the Citadelle de Blaye, an old fortress built to keep the English out of the rich valley of Medoc. One highlight was a progressive wine tasting and meal that took place a 3 wineries, each with a different portion of our evening meal, and serenaded by a talented trio who played in among the large vats. Walking from one establishment to the next in the evening light was truly enchanting.
Another tour was to a place not far off the pilgrims camino to St. Jean de Compostela- Saint Emillion. It is a very quaint town, but has powerful places within it: the hermitage of St. Emillion, dug into the stones, where he meditated for 7 years. Next to that is a catacomb, hosting his remains and those of some Knights of Templars. There is a large underground church carved with high buttresses with stained glass windows looking out floor level, featuring some medieval paintings. In an adjacent church which had been used by a blacksmith, the years of soot served to protect the centuries old paintings, which have been restored and are an thrilling example of the style and symbolism of that dark time.
The sisterhood created one last Moroccan feast and celebrated our connections by eating couscous and cooked salads, dancing in the candle lit lanterns to Moroccan music with the full moon over the roof of the Chateaux. We felt like we were back outside of Marrakech once again.
