Last-minute host in Bordeaux

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The last weekend before leaving Rochefort I used for visiting Bordeaux. It was good timing because it was also a long weekend (don’t know why though).

Bordeaux, the world's major wine capital is one of France's oldest and largest cities (its history can be traced as far back as 300BC). It's a port city on the Garonne river.

Anik (my host in Rochefort) put me in touch with a friend of hers (Sabine) that was driving to Bordeaux on Saturday, so I didn't even have to buy the train ticket to get there.

As far as places to stay go, during the week I wrote to about 5 people in Bordeaux to see if they could host me through Couchsurfing. I usually never write more than 5 requests and always do it one at a time and based on the profiles. All responses were negative.

So, as that didn't work out I booked a hostel and sent a general message on the website saying that I was going to be in Bordeaux during the weekend and see if anyone wanted to hang out.

The day before leaving from Rochefort I got a message from a French girl called Tifenn who said she would be able to meet me and show me around. And Saturday morning I received a message from a Dutch girl (Anne-Ruth) who had seen on the website that I was looking for a place and offered to host me. So far, so good. I had no idea what to expect though because she was new to Couchsurfing and her profile was blank.

I cancelled my hostel reservation, got Anne-Ruth’s phone number and address and waited for Sabine to pick me up at the house in Rochefort.

It was a very pleasant 2 hour drive to Bordeaux with Sabine. She had lived in England for several years and spoke very good English, so it was great to be able to have a conversation. She was on her way to visit her sister and father who live in the city.

When we arrived in the city she left the car in the right bank of the River Garonne and we walked from there to the city center on the other side of the river.

I had to borrow Sabine’s phone (as I've been traveling without one) to call Anne-Ruth and see where to meet up (over the day my times of arrival had changed). She told me she would be at a wine bar (the "Bar à Vin") with some friends in front of the tourist office in the Place Quinconces (the largest square in Europe, as I was told).

I walked with Sabine to a place near my meeting point, she gave me some directions and then we went our separate ways.

It wasn't hard to find the wine bar and when I got in she waved and I headed over to the table. The wine bar belongs to the city and is a really nice place. Because Bordeaux is so wine-culture influenced, the city built this place in which people can have good wines for a cheap price. There’s also a “wine school” there. I was feeling a bit out of place with hiking clothes and my backpack, but I've gotten used to these situations.

Anyway, the group of people that was with Anne-Ruth was very international (no French people) and they all spoke good English, which was a relief. Eleonora from Italy, who was finishing a PhD in neuroscience, Carlos from Spain who was working (I think for an engineering office in Bordeaux), Etienne from Switzerland who was studying mechanical engineering and Anne-Ruth who had just finished her PhD in neuroscience.

They were all very friendly and welcoming and it really easy to fit in. Most of them knew each other because were attending French courses together. So, even though they usually tried to speak French with each other, they switched to English.

After having a glass of wine there (my first activity in Bordeaux was having a glass of wine, so already a good start) I went with Anne-Ruth to her flat to drop my bag and change. I left my stuff in the living room and had a big, comfortable couch to sleep in (I could stretch out completely). Then we went out again to meet the others for dinner.

We grabbed two bikes to get to the city center (Anne-Ruth’s and her flat mate’s bike that was out of the city for the weekend). I got to ride Anne-Ruth’s pink bike with a basket which I thought was quite amusing and made a few jokes about it (“I’m so happy riding my pretty pink bike” and things of the sort).

We dropped the biked in the center and waited to rendezvous with the others in the "Place de la Victoire, near the statue of a big turtle that they have there.

From there we all went to a restaurant nearby and had a really good dinner with wine and sangria.

And from there we spent the rest of the night (at until about 2am) in two bars; the first one (which I can't remember the name) that had good live music (rock from the 70’s) and a good selection of Belgian beers. There we also played table football.

The Second bar we went to was “The house of Parliament” (English bar, of course) where we spent the rest of the night having more beers and talking (this place was pretty full).

The next morning I woke up with a slight headache (I haven’t been going out much these past months). I woke up at around 10 and had breakfast with Anne-Ruth. Then we grabbed the bikes and rode towards the St. Michel Quartier to the "Capucins Market" (a Sunday market). There we met with Eleonora who joined us for the rest of the day. We spent a few hours in the market looking around and taking photos. Eleonora’s pretty much like a paparazzi because her favorite subject to photograph are people (and she took some really good ones that I borrowed to put in this post). At the market I tried the "cannelé", Which are typical French sweets.

From the market we went to walk around the old city which is really good to just wonder around and “get lost”. We did that for about an hour or so while also looking for a place to have lunch.

That day was raining on and off, but overall it was a good day for walking. We went past Ste. Catherine’s St (from what I was told was "the longest shopping street in a straight line" of Europe).

Then we found a good place called "L'Ombrére" at the Place du Parlement. I really liked the food of that place.

While we were having lunch we were met by Tifenn (the French girl that had contacted me before arriving in Bordeaux) and she also spent the rest of the day with us.

Tifenn is in her second year of studying Japanese in University. Even though she has never lived out of France her English was very good. So as the readers of this post here can see, during my stay I surrounded myself with a very interesting, smart and diverse group of people.

In the evening we did some more walking around the old part of the city and we went to a place to which none of the girls had been to before. It was the ruins of an old Roman Amphitheater (the "Bordeaux Amphitheater", also known as "Palais Gallien"), somewhere in the center of the city.

In between, while walking, we grabbed some coffee and we ended afterwards at the "Grand Castan Bar", where we had more coffee and it was a nice place to sit down and relax for a while.

In the evening we all went to Anne-Ruth’s flat to get something to eat. On the way there we bought a couple of baguettes, ham, cheese, a bottle of wine and some other stuff.

At the flat we had a really good time, eating, drinking and I had time to share some photos, videos and travel experiences and anecdotes with them.

Now that Anne-Ruth was done with her studies she was preparing a long term solo-travel. She had a one way ticket to Bangkok and she was going to see where to go from there. And no time limit. So a bit similar to what I've been doing. So over the days I stayed there I took the time to answer all her questions, give recommendations, etc.

The next day I went to walk around the city by myself for about 3 hours (mainly in the areas near the "Jardin Publique" and the Place Quinconces and then along the river bank which is really nice, with a lot of people walking around, doing sports, etc. In between I grabbed something for lunch and had it while walking around.

Then I met Anne-Ruth again at the Hotel de Ville (near the St. André cathedral) and we spent a few hours walking around the old part of the city from there, same as the previous days. We went past the Quartier St. Michel, we went to see a cinema that was built inside an old church, etc.

In the evening, while it rained, we went into a “Salon de thé” to have a hot chocolate and I had a lemon pie as well which was excellent. There we were met by Lisa, Anne-Ruth’s German flat mate who's studying political science. She was very friendly as well and talkative.

After the hot chocolate we decided to go back to the house. We did the same thing as the previous day and got some stuff to eat at a supermarket to take back to the flat.

At night we had dinner and I took the time to show them a selection of dive videos that I've made and we talked some more about travels and all that.

And on Tuesday morning it was already time to leave. Initially I was going to stay until Monday morning, but I had a such a good time there that I extended my stay for one day. After packing up my backpack and having a coffee I said goodbye to Anne-Ruth, took a bus to the station, got my ticket and on the train back to Rochefort.

I’ve got to say this has been one of the best Couchsurfing experiences I've had so far. It was very well balanced between socializing and sightseeing and everyone I met I got along with really well. So, thanks to everyone who took the time to meet me and a special thanks to Anne-Ruth for being such an awesome host!

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Photos

Night out
Carlos, myself, Etienne, Eleonora, Anne-Ruth and random guy

Capucins Market
Eleonora, myself, Anne-Ruth

Grabbing a coffee
Anne-Ruth, Eleonora and Tifenn

Capucins Market
Eleonora & Anne-Ruth