Bourdeaux

We had a two part trip to Bourdeaux. We went directly there when we got to France (well Orly Airport and then a high speed train) and then came back a week later to join friends for a couple of days before we boarded a Windstar Cruise.

Bourdeaux part one

At this point it’s Jeff and me. We get into town in the afternoon and after tussling with the tram ticket machine we got to our hotel for the next couple of nights. The trams in Bourdeaux are quite nice. They are new looking, low to the ground which is good with roller bags and quite clean. The lines are in the center of roads no sharing lanes with cars like trolley lines in some US cities. We ride it a couple of times while in town. Our hotel is right at a tram stop.

First Name is our hotel and from the online pictures I thought there was a giant teddy bear in the lobby. Nope it is a giant stuffed dog and there are lots of trinkets with his mug you can buy. We do not. In our exploring the first afternoon, we find a small shopping mall (Miere) across the street from the hotel, an old cathedral with old royal tides (St Andrew Cathedral), a square with the church and the Hotel de Ville which is like city hall. We eat very French our first night (not) - Fish and Chips at a nearby Irish Pub even with Irish waiters. For some reason it was an early to bed night for us.

One picture to sum up the area we were staying in

The next morning, we have booked a food tour with Boudreaux Food Tour. The tour is the 2 of us, the guide and an intern. It turned into equal parts food tour and tour of the city. We start by an old city gate where our guide gives us each a canelé from a bakery close to her office. They are still warm and quite good. A canelé is a local delicacy - it is small with a cakelike interior and a crunchy exterior with a hint of vanilla and oh only egg yolks are in it no egg whites. In ancient times, they used the egg whites to cleanse wine so lots of egg yolks were getting wasted until someone came up with little sweet item.

sturgeon pate in jar and the pamphlet talks about the 3 sizes of sturgeon they have

We wandered around the cathedral area some and talked about the city hall (Hotel de Ville) and then we headed to our next stop. Truth be told if we had been asked we would have probably skipped the next one, but it turned out interesting. We went to a sturgeon shop. Sturgeon shops are basically caviar shops. This one has its own sturgeon farms, and we actually had a pate from sturgeon - no caviar. The pate was ok, but hearing the story of the operation and seeing all the different skins/leathers and what they make from them was impressive.

From there we walked a little while till we got to a square area where the Intercontinental Hotel is. To my amazement, this large building that houses the hotel was a single-family residence at one time. We were told the roof top bar is a great place for a drink and a view in the evening. It is directly across from the opera house. We would eat lunch right next door. We had the midi meal of the day. It seems common for restaurants in Franch to offer a 2 or 3 set course meal for lunch which they change on a daily basis. You might get a first course then the main dish or they may all be served at the same time. Dessert is common and some include wine - on this day we got wine with the meal.

We walked around some and then it was time for a couple of sweets. First we had another local specialty. a Dunes Blanche cake. It is actually a local company from Arcachon thus the dune name is a reference to the huge sand dunes there. It is basically a cream puff with a crunchy topping - yes it was good. We also went for a blind tasting in a jam shop. They had 2 jams for us to taste with the labels covered. The ones we tasted were made from local ingredients like walnuts from the nearby Dordogne region and wine in another. We bought 3 little bottles so we can open one at each of our Air BNBs and enjoy,

Dune cakes

Our last stop to try any food was a chocolate shop. We could choose 2 pieces of chocolate and then they gave us small cups of hot chocolate. While Jeff drank all of his hot chocolate, I have to admit it was too rich for me. We also wandered into a gorgeous wine shop. The majority of the shop is set up around a winding staircase. The wines are separated not by chardonnay, etc but by which part of France they are from. The picture of Jeff and I at the top is on that staircase.

Mirror at the top gives the illusion that the wine shop continues to infinity

Alter of Notre Dame De Bordeaux

After the tour and after a little rest we headed out to the City of Wine Museum. Not really sure what to expect from a museum all about wine, but it was interesting. It is not very old so it has some modern takes on the exhibits. You have an audio guide to listen to different exhibits and movies. Jeff and I started out together but separated for a while. I did the history of wine, and he did an exhibit on becoming a sommelier, so he was sniffing and looking (I think) while I followed a maze from ancient Egyptians to modern times. We did the portion on Boudreaux together and then headed to the top for our free wine and the view. You had a choice of several wines and then you could walk around the covered outside area with placards explaining which part of the city you were looking at. It made for a nice ending to the museum.

Photo courtesy of City of Wine Museum
Resembles a carafe

Photo courtesy of City of Wine Museum
tasting area at the top of the museum

Bourdeaux Part 2

Jeff and I got in before our room was ready, so we wandered around the area a little bit. This time we are close to the river, so we walked along it. It is Mother’s Day in France lots of people are out and there is a Latin America festival going on (found out later we were too early for it). We get in our room and refrigerate a bottle of Rose wine we purchased when visiting Chateau De Panisseau to share with Kathy and Scott when they get in from Paris. Later Kathy, Scott, Jeff and I wander around the area and the waterfront some. We figure out where our Windstar ship will berth and we see the festival in full mode - music, dancing.

Saint Emilion UNESCO World Heritage Site

Next morning the 4 of us head to the tram and then train to get to Saint Emilion where we will walk from the train station to the town itself (how many modes of transport can I put in 1 sentence?).

Looks like a cave to age wine ?

Saint Emilion

We have a Tuk Tuk tour of Les Cordeliers scheduled for about an hour after we arrive so we wander this ancient old town for awhile and then onto the winery.

Cloitre Des Cordeliers

inside of the old chapel is their store and tasting room

Jeff expected a small loud Tuk Tuk like in Asia
Not a modern large EV

We find our tuk-tuk driver and the other couple we are sharing the tour with and are off on our way. We start by going out of town to the vineyards and our guide talks a little about the land. Our first pull over is for a winery with a fun name: Château Trotte Vieille The name came from the fact that an older woman trotted to town regularly from there in the past. Then we rode onto to another winery that was special because the building was quite old. We went past another old place (house this time) that still has a windmill like they used to have in the vineyards. Then it was back to their place to go down in their caves.

Château Trotte Vieille

We went down an incline and after she opened two big metal doors we drove down into a level of the caves. Let me back up for a minute. This winery is housed in a former 14th century Franciscan Monastery and the Les Cordeliers refers to the cords that were worn as belts by the monks. Back to the story. The caves were dug after the monks had left. First they were actually a quarry then later someone used the caves to grow mushrooms. This was followed by a family that started making champagne/sparkling wine in them. The family sold the business to a corporate entity (current owner) who is part of a co op where they get their grapes and have equipment to process the grapes. Only the bottles that are sold onsite are stored in these caves. At the end of our tour, we go upstairs to taste 3 of their products. We all felt the first sparkling wine was a little sweet, the second one was a blanc de noir so made from red grapes and a little more effervescent - better of the two. Our third was a sparkling rose which was nice too. After wandering around the shop for awhile we went outside to where they had a picnic set up and put 2 picnic baskets together, got a bottle of the blanc de noir (grand cru, I think) and had ourselves a nice lunch in parklike picnic area. Then it was time to wander around and see the town some more before our afternoon tour.

Each hold 600 bottles

Not much distance between Carol and the wall we are driving past

Sediment expelled via riddling process

Old machine in background constantly turns an entire metal crate of wine
Replaces slow riddling rack hand process

Wines we tasted

Our afternoon tour, was a happy addition. The people who own the winery we had toured in the Dordogne area had relatives with wineries in Saint Emilion so we were able to arrange a tour of one of them. We toured Chateau Saint Georges with Joseph who is 4 or 5th generation of this family in the wine business. As we were driving up the driveway to the chateau we stopped by a couple of pillars with water at the bottom of them and explained that originally one had been used to clean the wagons before they went up to the chateau. He pointed out some of their oldest vines and that most of their grapes are merlot with some cabernet franc and some cabernet sauvignon. They are also starting to grow olives both to eat and for oil. We talked about the chateau itself. Parts of it are from medieval times and there was a major renovation in the 17th century. The family has owned the chateau for 15 years but do not currently live in it so they are in the process of restoring it. Joseph also pointed out the church in town that was part of the chateau's property at one time.

We walked through their wine production area and the part that sticks with me is the number of bottles they had and how they stored them. The bottles were stored unlabeled in 4X4 foot metal containers (600 bottles per container). A huge amount was there because they keep the wine longer than most American wineries because their clients expect to be able to drink the wine when they buy it and not need to store it. Although he also mentioned that they have some clients with huge wine cellars. Oh my gosh, totally forgot to mention that they still use a form of egg whites to cleanse the wine (they do not filter it) which allows their wine to age really well. It was a very interesting couple of hours and you could hear the pride in how they care for their wines. We of course tasted a couple of their wines. The first one was from 2022 and was a little rough for me. Then we tasted the 2017 and oh yes it was good. Jeff agreed as in he was whispering to me we are buying some of this wine which we did. Time to head back to Bourdeaux and meet up with the remainder of our friends who have now made it to town too.

Walking Tour of Bourdeaux

Next morning all 8 of us head to the tram station and then to the area with the opera house to meet our tour guide Stephanie an American who has lived in France for 20 years so she knew the city and we were able to communicate easily with her.. We met by the opera house unfortunately as it was starting to rain. We ran for cover under the overhang where she talked for awhile and then we made a dash across the street to the neat wine shop Jeff and I had seen on our previous tour. From there the rain stopped (well for a while) and we were off on the tour.

Occupiers

While we walked, Stephanie taught us some of Bordeaux's history. The city has been occupied 4 times, Romans, Vikings, English and Nazis. Now most of the occupations were friendly but not all. The people of Bordeaux welcomed the Romans and to this day there are signs of their occupation because they brought innovation to the city and peace while the rest of France fought them. Next up were the Vikings who the Bordeaux people also welcomed and got trade and peace from them. During the hundred years war with England, this area was under British rule which was great for the area because the Brits really liked the Bordeaux wine so a lot of wealth was accumulated and many castles/chateau built. The last occupiers were the Nazis which was not a friendly occupation. This was WWII and the Germans were determined to block this port from the allies.

Eleanor of Acquitaine

In the mid 12th century, Bordeaux was part of the Duchy of Acquitaine not part of France. Eleanor was one of several children born to the Duke. But when her mother died, her father chose to raise her like a son rather than a daughter (no convent education, taught the things a ruler would need to know). This was a good thing because her brother died and thus she became the ruler of the Duchy. She was still single at the time and in need of a proper husband so she went to the King of France and asked to be wed to one of his sons who later would become King of France. This marriage took place in Bordeaux at St Andrew's cathedral. I should mention that while the marriage was going on, they went on the crusades together, where she was credited for winning a battle. Despite her success, her marriage was dissolved as she didn’t bear any sons.

Saint Andrew’s Cathedral

After the end of her marriage, Eleanor found a new husband in Henry the duke of Normandy. Now this couple controlled more area than her former husband. They had several children including boys together. More importantly, they became a power couple because Henry ended up becoming King of England. Remember, Eleanor was not one to sit on the sidelines, she was in the middle of ruling countries which overtime got on Henry's nerves and then she had the audacity to support her sons in a revolt against Henry. He imprisoned her in a Loire Valley castle. He dies, son releases her and while son is in power, Eleanor arranged all sorts of power marriages for her kids before she dies.

Now much of this time is part of the 100 years war between France and England. So the people in Bordeaux are getting rich off the wine shipments to England and refusing to send troops to support the French. This was not a one-time thing; multiple times the King of France wanted money or troops from Bordeaux and they said no dating back to the Romans. Not surprisingly, the French Kings don't like the people of Bordeaux much. To the extent that the kings attacked the people on Bordeaux on occasion.

King Louis XIV

This king did not like most of the French royalty of the time and decided to decamp in Bordeaux. However, at that time the city was still living as a medieval city. So being a king he redesigned large parts of the town. This was the Period of Enlightenment. He tore down the medieval walls and opened the city up. He built 3 gorgeous buildings near the waterfront which were his palace (summer I think). Since the king was here, other influential members of the royalty also set up houses thus the gorgeous old row homes that exist today. Stephanie pointed out that above the windows there were often images of people. Most of them were the images of the owners of the homes and thus royalty but there were a few commoners above windows too.

Other Key People who made today's Bordeaux landscape

After Louis the next person would be Napolean Bonaparte. He did not do Bordeaux a favor. He built a bridge so that his troops could cross the river (Garonne) more efficiently. The bridge is stone and still standing. Napolean died before it was completed. Problem with the bridge is that it is too low for sailing boats to pass under it. Before it was built Bordeaux was the second busiest cargo port and you could sail to the Mediterranean, due to a canal that had been built between two river systems. The bridge brought that to an end.

Also, around this general time period, one of Napolean's descendants had the water fountain that was in the middle of the palace grounds torn down since it was of a former King of France. The fountain maker/designer died before the fountain was complete. City fathers approached the local art college and asked them to finalize it for them. Well, the fountain was supposed to be 3 Greek goddesses. Art students tweaked the women and instead you ended up with 3 influential women naked in a major square. Queen Victoria of England, Queen Isabella of Spain and Napolean's wife.

Fast forward to the 20th century and the Nazis are occupying Bordeaux. They had a major occupation here with an Italian submarine base, lots and lots of German ships at the port. When the war was coming to an end, the Germans did not want to make things easy for the Allies, and they are short of time to get the ships out of the harbor, so they order the scuttling of all the 300+ ships thus blocking the river and the port. It would take years to make the river navigable again and in fact there are still wrecks that you can see at low tide.

This really killed the cargo trade in for Bordeaux. They had a mayor for 50 years who had been a war hero, but he really did nothing to help the city move forward. it was well known in France in the 60s to say 80s that Bordeaux was not a nice place. Then in 1995 the guy does not run, and a new mayor comes to town. He starts the process to create the nice city that Bordeaux is today. He said hey we are no longer a cargo port and won't be one so let's use the river front in new ways. Thus, the riverfront is cleaned up, bike paths and walking paths are built. He had a really unique fountain/water feature built in front of Louis's old palace that reflects the view at times and also allows people to play in it some on hot days. We are standing in the middle of it in a picture. He also started a program to clean the exterior of the buildings of Bordeaux. One of the reasons Bordeaux had a nickname of Dark City was all of the buildings were built with sandstone that had absorbed the soot from coal burning, etc over the years. The goal was to have all the buildings cleaned up by 2015 and while most are; they are still in the process of cleaning them. It was also decided they needed more than one main industry in town, so they are actively positioning themselves as a tourist town. A very nice tram system was built (electric, but only rarely above ground wires so as to not distract from this historic buildings) and everyone seems to like us tourists.

Our group - note the reflection of the buildings

Left Queen Victoria
Right Napoleon’s wife

Back to our tour with Stephanie. We walked down the narrow streets talking about history but also about the local shops and what we were seeing and sometimes comparing that to the USA. We had lunch at a small spot and then walked some before we had our afternoon sweets. It rained off and on most of the day so every so often we would head somewhere quickly! We tried a canele which is the Bordeaux specialty we had started our food tour with. We also went to the Dune Blanc spot. Laurie and Suzanne liked them so much they contemplated visiting again the next morning. We also went to a very good chocolate spot. It was not local, but still quite good - Alan Ducaise has a small chain of chocolate shops, and we tried some of his chocolate and ice cream. The shop was purposely decorated to look like a bank to the extent that some pieces came from a closed bank. We ended back at the opera house (no rain this time, yay). Where she pointed out a triangular building and said it was the Bordeaux wine merchants building. Explained how the bottom floor was a wine bar where quite good and reasonably priced wines by the glass could be had. She also warned that it is so popular that waiting for a seat is not uncommon. Part of the group headed straight there. Jeff and I backtracked to a couple of shopping sites she had pointed out and then joined them there for 2 very nice glasses of wine. In fact, mine was from the winery in Saint Emilion we had visited.