France & Friends: Bordeaux

Arrived in Paris under cool temperatures, cloudy skies and scattered showers to meet up with warm hugs and tired smiles as I begin our France & Friends time together. 

After a little more than two and a half hours, Tammy, John, Rosie and I made it Bordeaux, our home base for the next week. And we met up with Alice, our wonderful travel buddy and most importantly, John’s wife. Here’s to a delicious seafood dinner at the L’Embarcadère Restaurant as we indulge in the French cuisine and the joy of being with one another…in France, a trip we’ve been planning for months.

Bordeaux may well be the name of a red wine, but it is also a major port city on the Garonne River in southwestern France. Renowned for its beautiful architecture, the inspiration for Paris, a popular tourist destination and a hub of  historical monuments. 

For our first full day in Bordeaux, we took a free morning walking tour of the beautiful architecture and learned a little about the history of the world’s most famous wine region.

Just a bit of history, Bordeaux  was settled by the Celts in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC and became part of Julius Caesar’s Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. The city of Bordeaux was the capital of the Roman region of Aquitania. England ruled over Bordeaux from the 12th century to 15th century. Then after the French victory over the English at Castillon in 1453, the city was united with France.

Come along for a morning walk in Bordeaux. 

After our morning walking tour, we took it easy and spent our first afternoon in Bordeaux learning and enjoying all about wine, its history, where the vines are grown, how it tastes and how this delicious nectar began its roots in the world and in Bordeaux. 

And one of the best places in the world to learn about wine is the Cité du Vin wine museum in Bordeaux. It provides information through a series of exhibitions, videos, projections, shows, audio exhibits and interactive displays.

Most of the Bordeaux region wines are red, typically blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and sometimes other grapes. Bordeaux also produces white wines, including dry and sweet styles, primarily from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes.

Grape vines have crossed lands and seas around the world to grow, harvest, crush, press, ferment, clarify, age and bottle into unique flavors and aromas that come from a multitude of factors, including the grape variety, the soil and the climate where the grapes are grown (terroir). 

Wine has been a part of human history for thousands of years, with evidence suggesting its production and consumption since ancient civilizations. The oldest evidence of ancient wine production was found in the country of Georgia from around 6000 BC. The process of winemaking has been revered and enjoyed across time, cultures and nations for its unique qualities.

Raising a glass of delicious red wine, Santé or cheers, as we learn about this ancient fruity and alcoholic beverage at the Cité du Vin wine museum in Bordeaux.

(A side note: After returning to our hotel from our wine museum tour, Tammy, Rosie and I, along with a very kind Canadian couple and their big suitcases got stuck in our hotel elevator. We were actually hoping to get to our rooms and get some rest before going out to dinner. We hit the alarm button hoping to get the hotel staff to respond, but instead the person who did respond was not at the hotel and spoke French. Thankfully our Canadian couple spoke both French and English and could respond to the caller with information about our location and interpret that information to us. Our phones also worked so we could let Alice and John know we were stuck. Alice sprang to action by both alerting the hotel staff and inquiring about getting help. We were in there for about 45 minutes or so before maintenance arrived and quickly moved the elevator to the second floor. It could have been much longer but it was not. Needless to say, we were all grateful to be released from that small elevator with limited circulating air. This was my first and hopefully last time ever being stuck in an elevator.)

We shopped at the market, leisurely ate our picnic lunch and enjoyed the company of our local market guide in her Bordeaux apartment. 

Alice met Kim Freeman during her last trip to Bordeaux some three years ago and suggested our group do Kim’s “Market to Table” food tour. I love food tours, but this one had a twist to it, we go to the market, buy a variety of goodies, at Kim’s suggestion, then we take the food tour her place and we all enjoy the tasty selections together at Kim’s Bordeaux apartment. 

Kim, a former New Yorker, had lived in France in her younger years before coming back some six years ago to make Bordeaux her home. And, we’re so glad she did. 

The market we shopped was the  shopped at the Marché des Capucins or Capuchins Market in the Saint-Michel district of Bordeaux where more than 60 unique merchants provide baked goods, fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, meats, cheeses, spices and international cuisines.

Although we didn’t stop at the Basilique Saint-Michel or Basilica of St. Michael, just down the street from the Marché des Capucins, we did make our way back to it after our lunch at Kim’s apartment. 

Come picnic-style shop and dine with us in Bordeaux.

 

A day like today is the reason why I love slow-travel, when we’re not in a rush to do everything in a day and can take our time to just hang out in Bordeaux. We did get in one activity, a tour of the Palais Rohan or City Hall of Bordeaux. But the only way to do the tour was to join a Spanish speaking tour group. At least we got to see the inside of this Louis XIV neoclassical style building. 

After the short tour, we walked around the back to the garden and then out to a relaxing and amazing lunch. 

Come join our perfectly slow day in Bordeaux.

We’ve had a couple of rainy, chilly days in Bordeaux and today turned out to be one of the worst so that basically meant spending the morning indoors at the Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts. Afterwards, we stopped for a light lunch during a heavy rainfall. And, for the remainder of the day, I did some writing back at the hotel before going out to dinner at a Japanese Noodle Bar and a nice group walk in the drizzling rain to the Place de la Bourse an Miroir d’Eau. 

 

Happy Easter Sunday from Bordeaux, France.

If you don’t celebrate Easter, let me explain, it’s a Christian cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary circa 30 AD.

We celebrated our Easter Sunday at the majestic Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux. I am not a church goer at home, but for some reason, when I’m in Europe, going to mass in these historical churches and cathedrals feels like I am a part of a legacy of Catholics who have prayed and traversed through the halls of the church for hundreds, if not, thousands of years as in the case of this Cathedral. 

The Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux or Bordeaux Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Andrew. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. Although the original church was built around the 11th century, little or that church remains. What we see now is the Gothic style Cathedral built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Although the mass was completely in French, the music and the atmosphere were emotionally stirring and it was truly a blessing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with so many others in such an incredible place.

Easter Sunday continued as a chilly, rainy day which meant it was a good day to also see the “Egyptian Pharoh’s” digital exhibit at the Bassins de Lumières, considered the world’s largest digital art center. It is housed in a former World War II submarine base and features immersive exhibitions projected onto the walls and water basins of the historic base.

Come share Easter Sunday in Bordeaux with us.

It was a day of wines and countryside vineyards during an afternoon Saint-Émilion medieval village wine tour in the Libournais district of Bordeaux. 

It was also our last full day in the Bordeaux so sampling the delicious red wines, even under cloudy skies and raindrops, was sheer perfection. is primarily known for its prestigious red wines, particularly those dominated by Merlot, and its historic medieval town and surrounding vineyards,

It was actually the Romans, as early as the 2nd century AD,  who planted vineyards in what has become Saint-Émilion. It is primarily known for its prestigious red wines, particularly those dominated by Merlot and its surrounding vineyards. Saint-Émilion was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, owing to its long living history of wine-making, Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.

Let’s sip some world-class wine in the medieval Bordeaux town of Saintt-Émilion.

I love moving slowly through a city and getting to know it on a bit more of an in depth level. I was in Bordeaux for a couple of days in 2022 before a tour of the Basque Country, but this trip turned out to be even better because of friends and being able to slowly enjoy and unravel Bourdeaux. 

Here’s to saying good-bye to Bourdeau as we embark on our next stop, Sarlat-la-Canéda and the Dordogne.