A bit of sightseeing in Bordeaux

After our one-day visit to the Ile d’Oleron we stopped in Bordeaux city before starting our wine route around this area. This visit turn out to be very brief…

We were looking for an aire south of Bordeaux, free if possible, with water and electricity included, as Dora was due to be fed. We were also looking for a Launderette, as the last time we washed our clothes was just before we left the UK and we have started to recycle some tops, washing them by hand in Dora, which is really awkward.

The  drive took longer than expected, France is a big country and Dora is not precisely ‘Speedy Gonzalez’! It was 18.00 and we hadn’t even got close to north Bordeaux. We estimated a good couple of hours until we got to the other side of the city. This, of course, assuming smooth flawing traffic around the ring road, which may be unlikely in peak hour.

So we changed our plans stayed at another aire north of Bordeaux, in St. Genis de Saintonge, which according to our guide, it was free. Not the case. Once we got there, the aire had had an upgrade. It now cost €6.00 to stay the night and €2.00 for four hours electricity. Still not bad. We decided to stay here as driving longer to find a free aire would have ended up costing us more in fuel.

We went for our usual stroll before dinner and guess what? We found a launderette! In the UK, the staff can do the laundry for you for an extra £5.00 and we wondered if the same deal applied in France. So we popped in to find out.

The lady welcomed us warmly. She was chatty. She explained as best as she could that she would look after our clothes for us. Her price including washing powder and conditioner would be €24.00, not bad at all considering we had about 30 kilos worth of clothes! We were very happy about the deal and relief. Imagine if we had had to do the laundry in Bordeaux!

The next morning, we drove to the Laundry’s door step and left all our clothes with the lady. In the meantime, we had breakfast, had a shower, filled Dora with water and did general cleaning. We timed all of this perfectly; by the time we had finished, the laundry was done. I went to say good-bye and thank her. She became interested in our travels for the next year. Gary was impatiently waiting outside. “Why do Spanish good-byes always take so bloody long!” he exclaimed. Eventually, we headed off towards Bordeaux. It was around midday.

After only one hour driving down the motorway, we started to sense the wine region. The vineyards inundated the landscape. Occasionally, we could see the odd patch of trees and houses far away on the horizon.

It was incredibly hot, probably nearly 30 C, it felt like we were in the middle of July. Later on, we learnt that Bordeaux had had a very wet summer. It was only from the end of August onwards that the weather started to warm up. Because of this, they were just finishing harvesting the grapes.

It was such an abstract image, the vines, starting to lose their leaves due to the arrival of the autumn, whilst still producing grapes at their best.

The brightness of the sun intensified the contrast of the colours. It was extraordinary.

As soon as we arrived at Bordeaux, the drive slowed down as the traffic increased. Noisy, active, vibrant, all those attributes of a big city that we are so used to in London and we now find so disturbing as our life revolves around the countryside.

Remember in Nantes when we had trouble parking Dora? We promised to learn from it by parking her somewhere outside the city and using public transport. Did we actually learn?

We drove straight to the Centre Ville looking for the tourist information office, aiming to get as much information as possible about this extensive wine region, i.e.  wine routes, chateaux to visit, walking routes, etc. We were going to be here only for the weekend so we wanted to make the most of it.

Once we found the tourist office, the problem arouse, “where the hell should we park Dora?” There were plenty of parking spaces in the city, but they all have height restrictions, Dora is too tall. There were also parking spaces available close to the pavement, but they were too narrow, Dora is just too fat, her bottom always sticks out. We eventually found a big motorhome-friendly car park where we could have left her for up to ten hours for only €10.00, but it was full and there was a long queue of cars waiting to get in.

After spending about ten minutes shouting and blaming each other, we decided to drive all the way back to the outskirts to park and use the public transport instead, just as we originally planned, if only we had done it two hours before!

With no map and, therefore, not a faint clue of where we were going, we followed the signs towards a shopping centre. The shopping centre happened to be located in a residential area, with plenty of free spaces available and a bus stop nearby. Perfect! However, it was in the middle of a very large estate, were the estates here like in London? Would we return to find Dora with no wheels?

Going back to the city centre by public transport took about an hour, but fortunately, the bus left us very close to the tourist office, we didn’t have to walk that far.

We had heard that, in Bordeaux, chateaux are not historic buildings like in the Loire Valley but actual vineyards, which you can visit to taste the local wines. However, because of the time of year, you had to book the visit in advance. We were hoping we would get as much information as possible about how to arrange these bookings to make the most of our weekend in Bordeaux.

The staff at the tourist information office told us that, we were lucky because that weekend, there was a ‘Portes ourvertes dans les Graves’ event, open doors in Graves, one of the wine regions in Bordeaux. This event takes place every year and consists of all chateaux opening their doors to the public and offering wine tasting, accompanied by local products such as cheeses and foie-gras. They would also take people around their factories to explain how they make wine and tell them about the history of the place. Feel free to visit their website if you want to find out a bit more about what they do: www.vinsdegraves.com.

We couldn’t believe our luck, this is precisely what we wanted. So we started to collect as many leaflets as possible to plan our route. “Are you still interested in seeing Bordeaux?” the lady at the tourist information office asked. “Yes, sorry. We were so excited that we totally forgot about the city”. She gave us a map, ringing a couple of sites. This is all that we had time to visit in the hour we had left after our parking fiasco.

We started with the cathedral.

I know very little about architecture but I am very lucky, I have Gary always willing to explain everything about the building, i.e. construction process, materials used etc. However, sometimes he becomes too excited and could go on and on if I don’t stop him in time. He loves his career.

(Nice flying buttress…GDR)

Nice detail above the main door, and lovely gargoyles (or so I am told).

The interior was impressive. How did they manage to build such high ceilings and perfect arches?

(usually trial and error, with a lot of loss of life…It was worth it, it was a church!  GDR)

The average time we spend inside churches is normally less than five minutes. This time, we stayed a bit longer to enjoy the coolness as it was so hot outside.

Lovely details of the balconies at the back of the cathedral.

(They are not balconies! GDR)

Bordeaux is a lovely city, all buildings have been constructed with the same type of stone, light brown colour and smooth finish. The town landscape looks uniform and clean.

(And boring, GDR)

The temperature held up high. The main square was packed with people and tourists making the most of the hot weather.

I love that ‘cafe culture’ so typical in France. So popular in Spain too.

We were getting to the end of our walk, now along the river Garonne. Impressive gate remaining in the old wall, dated, I believe from the fifteenth century.

A large clock had been built on the top of the arch. Still in use.

Gary loves trams. We had to get on one of them every time we visit a city that has some. So we did when we went back to Dora.

The tram tracks being built on grass caught my attention.

Another gate in the old wall that took you back into the old own.

Gary of course, very interested. I would ask him for details a bit later. I was getting overloaded with sightseeing at that point.

Eventually we got to the promenade along the river.

We walked for another ten minutes before getting on the tram to go back to Dora.

Another panorama shot to capture the vastness of the river landscape.

A sort of flat fountain built in the middle of the promenade expelled water and mist every now and then.

Adults and children seem to be having lots of fun when the water came out.

18.00, time to go back to Dora. It took us another hour to get to the car park where we left her, she still had her wheels! This is France, not London.

Sitting in the middle of the traffic, we admired the sunset.

We drove all the way back to the aire, close to the region where we would start the wine route the next day. Although not far from Bordeaux, the drive in the dark, on small countryside slowed us down. We eventually got there at 21.00.

Once we settled in, we said to each other: “Next time, we should plan this much better”. I have heard this before.

SM