A Taste of Bordeaux

We took another train from Hendiye to Bordeaux – a 3 1/2 hour ride. The time went reasonable quickly on a very full train. Lots of young people were sitting on the floor in the aisles. Bordeaux turned out to be an interesting city. Once again it had huge amounts of history and lots of myths. Our hotel was just across from the railway station – a relief as we didn’t have to walk for miles with our packs. A loud cheer from the girls!!  

We explored the neighbourhood the evening we arrived, and found a few landmarks. The following morning it was bucketing down and we finally negotiated the tram ticket machine and made it into the city. We took in a few monuments and then found the tourist office.

All the wine tours were booked out for the day – but the helpful lady told us we could visit a chateau ourselves by tram on the outskirts of the city. This option sounded appealing – and suited the budget. We eventually got there and had our own private tour around the vineyard. Very interesting how it all works – lots of regulations governing the wine industry. Only certain grapes are grown in each region, and they make and blend certain percentages of different grapes to produce the wine. We saw the production process and then got to taste – very different to kiwi wines!! Quality control is very big – they check and re-check everything manually. Reds are predominate with a few dry whites – where we visited. It was very interesting – and we even got to keep our glasses.

We also decided to book a walking city tour the following day. It was for two hours and hosted by an older local woman. She shared lots of local history and stories – but was a little drawn out as she spoke first in French and then in English. The French part was always seemed to be longer. The French have some very good designers and the inner city was planned to have lots of green spaces, that were appealing in every season. As Richard said “they have had 4000 years to sort it out and get it right.” We now know why we prefer ‘free walking tours’ the guides are younger and very passionate about their job, as their only income is from tourists tips.

We visited other parts of the city ourselves with map in hand, and the shopping areas. The supermarkets were devine – lots of lovely food displayed. We sampled some great pastries and pate – but I didn’t quite make the cheese counter.

Once again this was a place we would like to return to and explore more. After our two nights there we were once again heading for the airport and a 1 hour 20 flight back to the UK – this time to Bristol.