Bordeaux, Sept. 6-9, 2007

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In Bordeaux, we stayed at an Ibis Hotel across the Gironne River, so we got to cross the port de pierre many times! Such a beautiful bridge, especially during night. There was a lot of construction along the waterfront, and the trams are brand new, so Bordeaux is kind of undergoing a revitalization of sorts I suppose.

Bordeaux reminds me of Trinidad, Cuba because all the roofs are made of the same material and the the architecture seems similar to me. It's a very pretty city, but can get kind of boring to hang out in. The shopping along pedestrian and tram only streets is very nice though! Saint-Catherine is the main pedestrian shopping street (just like in Montreal, but only without the cars, it's excellent!) Unfortunately, every store it seems we went into played really loud, bad american and canadian pop music. Would have been nice to hear some french music instead.

Finding a decent place to eat that wasn't expensive was a pain. As in other cities we visited, many restuarants only serve food during specific hours (usually not until after 7:30pm). We did however, after much searching, manage to eat at a different fantastic restuarant each night. Surprisingly, we were the only ones in all 3 restaurants each night (a Chinese, Vietnamese & Libanese/Syrian one respectively). Everyone must have been watching rugby or something. Or eating at the insanely expensive french restuarants.

We climbed the St. Michel tower, apparently the second tallest stone tower in France, and very cool. There was a spooky crypt down in it and the views at the top were great! There's a neat little history to the tower too.

We went on a half day wine tour which was pretty good. There were only 2 wineries though, and the first one really sucked (good if you like really sweet, expensive wine made from rotted grapes - i prefer ice wine though). The second one was good though, and the bus tour of the surrounding countryside of Bordeaux and some little villages was definately worth the money of the tour, even if your not a big fan of wine.

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Photos

Bordeaux facade at night
The waterfront of Bordeaux, in the areas that weren't undergoing construction while we were there, is very beautiful, especially at night.

Bordeaux Tram
I love how there's grass on the tram tracks!

Ancient Crypt
This ancient crypt is located under the Basilique Saint-Seurin.

Chateau Cheret-Pitres
An excellent winery.

Bordeaux church
This might be Notre Dame, I'm not too sure. So many churches in Bordeaux, and all over France for that matter; the architecture is amazing, but they start to all look the same after a while.