Bordeaux France - Wine, food, wine, sights, wine, french people, wine, french language, wine and wine!

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Friday March 30th - After a good 12 hours of traveling and/or sitting in airports, we finally made it to Bordeaux. Customs was non-existent and we luckily got the last tourist map from the airport information desk. With our baggage in tow, we found an English speaking taxi driver (first one in line at the taxi stand) and we found the apartment rental with no problems. Our hosts were very friendly, as far as we could tell - they only spoke French! But they smiled a lot and we got through the tour of the home with lots of pointing, nodding and smiling. We were also amused by the antiquated gender-specific tasks in which they navigated the tour. Brian, here is the electrical panel. Shannon, here is the broom closet. Of course, we just had to laugh. They were a lovely older couple and the apartment was awesome for our 1-week visit. We were finally alone around 8:30 and all we could think about was food. Please don’t judge us, but when we walked past the Vietnamese restaurant and saw pho on the menu, we were pretty sure we’d be coming back for dinner. But first, we would see the cathedral, which was right around the corner and whose spires we could see from a mile away. After a brief walk past the cathedral and through the Place Pey Berland, we headed back to the Vietnamese restaurant for a late and delicious dinner. On the way home, we stopped at the 24-hour grocery mart and bought some wine which we didn’t stay awake to drink.

Saturday March 31st - Today we were really looking forward to going to the Marché des Capucins. We love markets and this one did not disappoint. One big reason we wanted to come here was for a restaurant in the market simply called, Bar à Huîtres (Oyster Bar), a sit down place offering 6 oysters and a glass of wine for 6.50€. So we left the house at 11am with empty bellies and went straight to oysters and white wine for breakfast. Afterwards we only walked around the market for a short while because we had some information to find out before the tourism offices closed. So from there we walked towards the tourism office at the train station with a pit stop in a small shop to grab a couple of postcards and a birthday card in French. The birthday card (we´re assuming, but as it was in French we can´t be sure it was a genuine birthday card) was for Brian´s dad´s birthday a week later. We mimed stamps by pointing to the envelope and said United States and the guy gave us eight stamps. We had no idea their worth or how many it would take to get the card to the States so we plopped half the stamps we were given onto the envelope and dropped it in what appeared to be a mailbox and wished for the best. It arrived a week later just in time to convey the message to the birthday boy! We arrived at the tourist office at the train station a short while later but just our luck, they had just closed. It was Saturday and just before the typical afternoon shop closings, but we found some needed train schedules for some of our side trips, so we were satisfied. We also knew there were 2 other tourism offices. We found a route via the river and finally found the next tourism office in the center of downtown Bordeaux. Unfortunately they could only help us with local downtown Bordeaux attractions, not anything about the outlying wine country regions or the beach. So, we asked some relevant questions and made our way to the next and “main” tourism office. Here, we got more maps and lists of wineries that would be good to visit. We tried to decide between a self-guided tour and a half-day tour to a neighboring wine region, called Medoc. After getting most of our questions answered, we carried on towards an amazing fountain in the Place des Quinconces - definitely one of the coolest and largest fountains we’d ever seen. Maybe not the largest in circumference, but in the size of the figures within the fountain and the tower and landing in the middle. (The first time we saw this up close, there was no water, but later we will see it again and it is even more magnificent with water). From the fountain, we found a bar with a view of the nearby scenery and ordered a glass of wine while we discussed our options for Medoc... After we had some time to think we went back to the tourism office, asked a couple more questions and also found the transportation office to rent bikes. During our whole stay, this was the place that had the most limited English speaking. We don’t blame them - we were in France after all. So after a stressful comprehension of how to use the bikes, how the docking stations worked and the rules, etc. we took our bikes for a tour of the north part of downtown. We rode through the Public Garden (that was the name of the park); we saw the Notre Dame church with a lady selling palm leaves for Holy Week; we found a modern market and shopping area with the Fromagerie where we bought some brie and made our appointments for tour/tasting on Tuesday and went grocery shopping for dinner; and then we headed back through the main plaza and towards the water again. With our goodies in tow we returned our bikes to a docking station near our apartment and walked the rest of the way home after a healthy 8-hours of sightseeing around town. With the cheese from the Fromagerie and the bread our hosts graciously left, we made ourselves a nice cheese plate and poured ourselves some wine to enjoy the sun and put our feet up on the patio. We didn’t end up cooking our steaks until later, around 9:30. We had a nice side of chilled mussel and soybean salad and some more wine. Then we crashed. Hard.

Sunday April 1st - April Fool’s Day was forgotten today as we left the house and found our bikes. We went straight to the boardwalk and took the river route north until the trail ended in the industrial area. Along the way, docking our bikes every 30 minutes (rules), we passed an outdoor market and shopping district. After we took the boardwalk as far as we could possibly go, we returned to the outdoor market, walking our monstrous bikes and weaving through the crowd of people. The market was alive and bustling with vendors and happy customers enjoying the wonderful weather. There were stands of ready-to-eat items, not dissimilar to street fairs you would find in the States. There was also an oyster vendor where you could grab seafood goodies to-go in one line and shucked oysters in another line. A wine vendor was selling bottles of wine with a couple of dixie cups to enjoy with your oysters and there were many tables with people enjoying their feasts. Many stalls were filled with cheeses, meats, produce and pastries too. There were long lines for various hot sandwiches, meals and some local delicacies. We couldn’t do much with our bikes except keep moving, but we managed to step aside to sample some wine. We tried a red, a white and a rose and all were great. We decided to buy a 5 liter box of the white wine. Coincidentally it fit rather nicely into the basket on the front of our bikes. We also decided to grab the local little cake desserts we had seen everywhere, called caneles. We bought 20 of the mini pastries. For the rest of our dinner we would go back to the market we went to for breakfast the day before. There was no way we’d be able to maneuver shopping for dinner while pushing our bikes, and we had had our eye on the fois gras, among other things, at the first market we liked. But first we crossed the bridge on bikes and took a detour of the other side of Bordeaux. Once we finally made it back to the market, things were shutting down. We probably got the last bit of foie gras sold that day. Luckily we were able to hit a few other vendors as well - brioche, potato ball of shrimp thing for lunch and 2 apples (to accompany the foie gras). We had our bike baskets full and it was almost time for Shannon’s mom to arrive to the apartment, so we stopped to eat our potato shrimp ball for lunch and rushed back. We got back with time to spare and poured ourselves some wine while we waited for the phone call of her arrival. We finally got anxious and headed outside the lobby. We got a few strange looks while we drank in front of the entrance to the apartment building. When she finally arrived we greeted her with wine and cheese and then let her refresh before showing her the sights. We first saw the cathedral and then headed in a new direction that none of us had seen yet, into the old part of town. We wandered around and found ourselves at another main place that was familiar to us from riding bikes. We bought some macaroons and chocolate and continued on. And then on the way to the beautiful, giant, dry fountain/statue we got distracted. Maison du Vin was open and there were people inside drinking wine. It didn’t look like a bar situation, it looked like a party. We asked if it was open to the public and they said “Yes!” So, without hesitation, we went in and found ourselves surrounded by professional tasters and some delicious “First Tasting” blends. This is like “Spring Barrel Tastings” in the States. We tasted so many wines, before they will be officially bottled and available to the public. All the wines were from St. Emilion and St. Georges (2 appellations) and predominantly Merlot blends with small percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. We met and spoke with some French men while Shannon played wingman for Mary Anne, and we drank and snacked, and spat wine. After a good hour at least, we decided we needed to eat. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed in another new direction and found a quaint restaurant. A friendly British couple encouraged us to eat there and told us what they liked. Sounded good to us. We ordered water and 3 3-course meals. We shared escargot, chevre salad and foie gras for the first course, and then duck and steak for the 2nd courses. Dessert was also delicious, as have been all the pastries we have tried since we arrived. We finished dinner a little before midnight. It was getting quite chilly sitting outside and the walk was a little farther away than we expected. It was a cold walk, but we finally made it home and went straight to bed. What a good sport Mary Anne is for being up for a late night after a long day of travel! Lucky for all of us - what a great night!

Monday April 2nd - We knew there would be a chance that we would arrive in Medoc and not be able to see much. So we chose Margaux, because it was the closest city in the Medoc region. It was Premiere Week - when all the professionals come to the chateaux for private tastings. We had some luck scheduling tours for our future trip to St. Emilion, but not Margaux. During the week that we were in Bordeaux many chateaux shut down to the public completely. In our case, the whole town of Margaux was basically closed. It sucked. That morning, we hoofed it to the train station and underestimated our walk, totally missing the train we wanted to catch. Since we had about an hour, Shannon and Mary arranged the bike rentals for the rest of our trip and Brian went and bought one way tickets to Margaux. One-way, just in case we wanted to keep going north to the other wine towns in the region. Before the train arrived, we grabbed some gyro meat sandwiches and ate our lunches on the train. At the train station in Margaux, we immediately found that there would be nobody to sell us our return-trip tickets. Well, we’ll worry about that later. We walked around for a couple of hours and found that nobody was available for anything. No tours and a lot of dry paved road. The sun was out and the only place offering shade and a glass of wine denied us. We headed back to the train station to see what luck we would have. The ticket office was still closed. While we waited we chatted with a chap from Britain who was in town to “shoot” a piece for CNBC about the woman who buys wine for Costco. Brian wanted to follow them and watch how news was made but we had to make sure we could get back to town. Well, when the train came, we were lucky and able to buy a ticket on the train. Without much in our bellies, we arrived in Bordeaux and stopped in Place de Victoire for a much-anticipated glass of wine and a bathroom break. We dropped the bikes off near a supermarket and picked up some groceries for a late snack. We had been invited to another wine tasting event for the night, so we came home, chilled and took in some sustenance of cecina from Leon (brought from Spain to share with our new travel companions), bread, wine and cheese. After a little recuperation, we biked to the wine tasting, getting a little lost on the way while we tried to find the certain square they told us to go to. But we found the square with a dog playing in the fountain and a beautiful hall that we would soon be entering for the best wine tasting night in Bordeaux. This night they were asking for names so they could check us off a list. We said we had been invited the night before and that our friend’s name was Laurent. All true. They let us in. The room was filled with winemakers and booths making circles around the perimeter and in the middle of the room. Tonight was both white and red wine. And they were passing around appetizers! Shannon felt right at home. The appetizers were fabulous - taste and presentation. All the servers were wearing tuxes too. We spent a good two hours there, trying to drink slowly to savour the luxury. With no good reason to leave, we biked home anyways and made foie gras for a late snack before calling it a night.

Tuesday April 3rd - Surprisingly with no hangovers, we woke up and had a leisurely morning. We left for our bikes around 11am and went to the market for another round of oysters and wine for breakfast. The market was less “happening” since it was a Tuesday. Since we were unsure about closing time we walked the market briefly before going to eat. There were only half as many vendors as there were on the weekend but we found some treats to share while we took a quick tour. It wasn’t the full experience Shannon wanted to show her mom, but it was something. Next, oysters. The bartender at The Oyster Bar spoke English pretty well and had a great sense of humor. We all ordered half a dozen oysters each and a glass of white. Mary tried an oyster after being guilted into it and Brian ate the remaining 5 on her plate. It had started to rain while we were eating oysters, but by the time we were finished, the rain had stopped. We luckily found some bikes with dry seats and headed for the waterfront. We took a nice ride up to the shops and then went inland toward the fountain. Today, the fountain was flowing. The weather had cleared up and we took some great photos. It was beautiful. Afterwards we checked out the area and went into a wine bar. We entered and realized it led to the same bar we were in for our first wine tasting. We took a cozy seat and were the only ones in the place. We each ordered a glass of wine and shared a meat and cheese plate. Originally we would have been expecting Monica to arrive soon, but her first flight was cancelled due to an Air Traffic Control strike. Now we just needed to be home later around 8:30pm. So since we had the cheese cellar tour and another wine tasting event, we headed home to relax for a bit before our evening’s events. Later, we had a great tour of the Fromagerie and sampled an array of cheeses. One with a Sauternes flavor, one mild and another with more age. We bought some cheese to show our gratitude and Brian stuffed it in his coat pocket for the time during the wine tasting event. That night’s wine tasting was at the Regent Grand Hotel and all red wine from the Sauternes region. We were definitely grateful to be at these events, but this was our least favorite. We saw our friend there, but we were anticipating Sauternes’ sweet white wines and we got red instead. Also it was a small room and very crowded. And just bread for a snack. We sipped and spat and chatted with some winemakers, but eventually we grew impatient and went to the patio for some air. After some time had passed we knew we needed to head back to the house to greet Monica after her long day. So we biked home and prepared some snacks like foie gras with caramelized apples, sauteed asparagus, the cheeses we’d bought, cecina, jam, bread/crackers and wine. We ended the night relaxing in the living room and planning our next couple days of excursions.

Wednesday April 4th - Everybody slept great that night and got up refreshed and anxious to tackle the day. We got up around 8:30, took turns in the one bathroom and we were out the door by 10:30. There were 4 bikes when we got to the docking station nearest our apartment but one of the bikes had a chain that wouldn’t catch, so we had to hurry and find a new docking station. We managed to find one and took a new route to the bus station and got there just in time to grab tickets and get on the train to Arcachon. We arrived around in the beautiful coastal city around 50 minutes later. The city was beautiful. It was very touristy but had miles and miles of amazing beaches with beautiful views. We had only nibbled on some fruit and brioche for breakfast before we’d left the house and everybody was already hungry for lunch. We wandered the streets a bit on the boardwalk looking for food but every table with a view of the water was crazy expensive so we kept on walking back into town. We finally found a tiny restaurant with seating for no more than a dozen people that looked appealing and had several reasonably priced specialities including local foods. Everybody loved their meal there and at 95 euros for the four of us it was a steal compared to the other places. Brian started out with half a dozen oysters and then got a nice piece of foie gras with toast, lettuce and some sauces. Very tasty. Shannon and Monica’s first plates were 9 oysters with a great plate of pasta for their second plates. Mary Anne got a delicate raw fish for her first plate and second dish that was very breakfast-like with several type of sausages/hams and an over easy egg. We each had two glasses of great wine and really enjoyed the meal despite not completely knowing what we were ordering. After we ate, we walked back to the beach again and then came to a dead end and curved inland again. We were looking for this pretty villa area that the tourist office guy told us about and en route we found the Notre Dame church of the city. It was very beautiful, not unlike all the churches we’ve seen in Spain, and we spent twenty minutes wandering around inside and snapping photos of the surrounding area. We kept on in the same direction looking for villa but we weren’t sure what we were looking for but we knew we were in the general vicinity. We abandoned our search after wandering for a bit and kept on walking in the direction of the Dune du Pilat in the hopes of finding a bus stop to take us there. Full bladders stopped us at a bar near a bus stop and we each had a very good glass of wine delivered by a less than friendly French woman. We put away the wine quickly as the bus was due shortly and got back with a couple of minutes to spare. We each paid a euro and took a 15 minute ride through construction-filled streets and arrived at the Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe. We hiked up the monstrous sand hill for some amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean and Arcachon Bay. We watched a boy with his wind spinner play in the sand, enjoyed the breeze while sitting in the sand and watched several parachuters trying to catch the wind. Getting back down the sand dune was much easier than getting up! We both jumped off the side of the sand dune in a couple of leaps and were back at the bottom in a manner of seconds. We made it to the bus with perfect timing and soon arrived back to the town of Arcachon. We walked around a bit more enjoying the sun and snacking on gelato before getting back on the train towards Bordeaux. In Bordeaux it was raining. With determination of getting home to relax, we hopped on our bikes and rode as fast as we could while we got pelted with rain. We were all soaked and freezing by the time we got to our docking station to drop off the bikes. We quickly bought some groceries before going home to dry off and warm up with a bottle or two of wine. Monica made a great dinner of chicken stir-fry with vegetables that we all devoured before hitting the sack. Another great day!

Thursday April 5th - We got up, had a light breakfast and were out the door for our last excursion in Bordeaux - the much anticipated Saint-Emilion. To get to the train station, we again went to find our bikes. There was only 1 bike at the docking station when we arrived so we had to quickly walk to the next closest one where there were plenty of bikes to chose from. Luckily we still made it to the train station with time to spare. In the train station, we bought some pastries at Paul, a franchise of bread and pastries, and had a quick French breakfast before our 40 minute train ride. We were dropped off in Libourne and then took a 20 minute bus ride to St. Emilion since the morning commuter train didn’t stop in St. Emilion. We had scheduled two winery tours for the day, so as soon as we arrived, we started walking. The first winery was called Fonplegade. It was a 10 minute walk from the bus and train station where we were dropped off. It wasn’t lost on any of us that we were walking in France on country roads filled with vineyards heading towards a magnificent château on a glorious day. St. Emilion was breathtaking. We arrived and were greeted by our tour guide, a bubbly french girl who spoke great English albeit with a strong French accent. The tour was great and the facilities were gorgeous. Actually, it was recently purchased by an American couple who have been introducing American concepts into their winemaking process and marketing. They were the first chateau in St. Emilion to start a wine club and they also host wine tastings and dinner parties where they take advice from their guests regarding their preferences in the wine. Monica ended up joining the wine club and will receive some great bottles every quarter. Per the family perks of the wine club, we didn’t have to pay 15 euros each for the tour and tastings. Thanks Monica! Once we were on our way, we headed toward the direction of town. We stopped at the tourism office for directions and found that our next tour was quite a walk away. We had to immediately head a bit out of the town in the opposite direction from where we came to go to our next tour and tasting. We were running late and we’d walked around 15 minutes on a country road leaving civilization when we finally saw the long driveway for Chateau Franc Mayne. We rushed up the long driveway and joined our tour about 10 minutes late. The tour guide was a nice woman from California who came to St. Emilion for an internship and ended up falling in love and getting married to a Frenchman whose family was deeply rooted into the local wine business. Her father in law, and soon her husband, will be a part of the very elite Jurade de St. Emilion. She was very informative and her dry sense of humor made the tour a pleasant one. We saw a bit of the grounds, the winemaking rooms, above ground storage rooms and the awesome caves. The ground is rich in limestone and much of the city has caves from the extraction of limestone many years ago. All of the buildings and homes were made of this limestone and still remain standing. We learned that the winery is only allowed to produce so many barrels of wine per year so although the caves are a great storage area for the wine very little of the winery’s cave space is used for this purpose. There are only a handful of chateaux that have caves, or underground quarries, that are safe for use. The one we visited is currently in the process of creating an underground museum with the history of St. Emilion, including mining, wine production and local historical celebrities and figures. Along the tour we were shown wine roots hanging from the ceiling that had made its way through 10 feet of limestone! We finished the tour in the tasting room where we tried two of their wines and chatted with the tour guide. We were given an easier route back to town and took it through some vineyards and stone walls, where it led us right back to the tourism office and church. We’d put a good number of miles on our feet and hadn’t eaten so were famished. We returned to the main plaza and sat to eat at the foot of the old limestone church. It started to rain a bit while we were eating but luckily we had parked ourselves under a clump of umbrellas so we enjoyed our savory crepes and enjoyed the scenery. Before leaving town, we made sure to hit the famous macaroon store/factory where we each got some of the gooey AND crunchy local sweets before the long hike back to the train station. We were a bit early for the train we intended to catch, but as we were approaching the station an earlier train was pulling in and we jumped on just as the “all aboard” whistle was being blown by the conductor. After a quiet and relaxing ride back to Bordeaux, we biked home and all went to bed early from exhaustion.

Friday April 6th - Our last day in Bordeaux was spent cleaning and saying good-byes. We woke up early, cleaned the apartment and checked out with our hosts. While Mary Anne and Monica were heading for Paris for 4 more days of fun, we were on our way back to Spain. Another successful and enjoyable vacation was over and it was time to get back to work. Stay tuned to hear about our adventures in Rome, Florence and Venice in early June!

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