Bordeaux—September 26-29, 2018

The TGV to Bordeaux was 2.5 hours and the coaches were new and really comfortable.

The journey here was uneventful—finding our apartment was a bit of an adventure. It's only two minutes from the train station, but it took us 30 to find it, because the Google Map I printed at home directed us to turn left instead of right.

We couldn't find our street, so I asked a guy in a store and he told me to continue going the wrong way so we did. At the end of that block Marie stopped a woman and asked for directions. She pulled out her iPhone, typed in our address and viola; we only had to walk one block back, turn left and look for the building number. And we found it, but it had a security gate and the AirBnB host hadn't given me the code, but luckily a resident arrived so we followed her inside.

Once in the lobby we looked for Mel's name on the mailboxes. Nope, no Mel and he only gave me his first name. A minute later another woman stepped out of the elevator so Marie asked if she could call Rony, a friend of Mel's who was meeting us. Thankfully, Mel did give us Rony's cell number. I spoke with him on her phone and he came down and it all went pretty smoothly until we tried to log on to wifi. The password didn't work.

But undaunted Rony texted Mel, got the password, and we were online. When email is our only means of communication, it's a little unsettling when we can't access wifi. I'm thinking Mel's AirBnB guest review won't be sterling.

The apartment is modern and nicely
appointed, a trendy place.

The sofa bed is queen size.

Really cool faucet design. This is the most modern place
we've stayed in and this studio is all ours.

Doing a bit of laundry.

A light dinner we picked up at the Carrefour market just 

down the street.

We even have a balcony garden.

September 27, 2018

This morning we walked over to the train station to the Big i to find out how to use the tram, get tickets, and find out how and where we could purchase Flixbus tickets to Bilbao. Within 20 minutes we had everything we needed and a really informative walking tour map of Bordeaux's old town.

We started our walk along the La Garonne River up to St. Michel's Basilica and then up to the Great Clock, beginning our walking tour at site #10 of 15 on the map. By 3PM we'd walked 7 miles and seen all the major sites in Bordeaux's ancient quarter.

This map shows the route we walked. St. Michel's Basilica is
at the bottom righthand side of the map and the Great Clock
is near the bottom center of this picture. We walked the yellow
highlighted area going counterclockwise toward the river
on the map as you see it here. Click on pic to enlarge.

St. Michel's Basilica built 14th-16th century

is in the heart of the ancient quarter.

I forgot to put the camera in my day pack, so

all of the pictures in this section were taken

with my cell phone. they're not bad, but I 

couldn't get wide angle or telephoto shots.

     The 114 meter bell tower (342 feet)

     was built in the 15th century. I could 

     not get far enough away in Place 

     Maynard get the entire tower.

An enormous flea market was taking place on Canteloup Place
adjacent to St. Michel's.

The Great Clock is what remains of
the 13th century defensive gate. The
bell was cast in 1775 and weighs a
little over 17,000 pounds.

The Great Clock, of course.

The gold lion weathervane
at the top of the belfry
symbolizes the kings of
England. Remember,
Eleanor of Aquitaine
(1122-1204), mother of
Richard the Lion-heart,
wealthy and powerful in
her own right, is the
connection.

We walked through the old wall gate under the Great clock

into even more spectacular architecture. It reached 88F (31C)

today, but the narrow streets served us well, shading us from

direct sunlight. 

Saint-Pierre is one of the hippest
neighborhoods in Bordeaux. An
organic vegetable shop.

Port Cailhau (1493-1496) is another
city defensive gate.

Reminds me of Disneyland.

Took this for our friend Fred M.

This is the entire bistro. It faces Port Cailhau. It seems every
narrow street in this district empties into an intimate square.

Lots of these passageways serve
as shortcuts to the next block.

St. Pierre (14th & 15th centuries)
was built on the Roman Port on
La Garonne River. It's on another
lovely little square.

Check out this shop.

Place du Parlement was created in 1754; it has an Italian vibe.

Your basic 18th century covered

shopping arcade.

Place de la Comedie is a huge square where the Grand
Theatre is situated. In the background is Monument Aux
Girondins (130 feet tall) honoring the municipal inhabitants
who lost their lives during the French Revolution. At the
top a winged Lady Liberty breaks the chains of bondage.

Need a new iPhone? AnApple Store faces this square. It's in
the building on the left facing the Grand Theatre.

We walked up St. Catherine's
Promenade to Place de la Comedie.
These folks are doing some pretty
intense shopping along this street.

We, however, ducked down a side street and had a fabulous
salad with warm chicken at a little cafe called The French
Coffee Shop.

                                                        

Porte Dijeaux, another defensive gate (1493-1496) leads to Place Gambetta, an18th century park just outside the ancient city walls. During the French Revolution the guillotine was used here. Today it's a tree-lined park in a busy city center.

I kid you not. This kid is googling
a map for his delivery at Porte
Dijeaux. What's ironic is that there
must be 60 cafes/restaurants within
spitting distance. Whoever called in
this order apparently didn't like the
neighborhood options.  

Back of St. Andre Cathedral. Love the flying
buttress. Pope Urban II consecrated the cathedral
in 1096 and in 1137, at 15 years old, Eleanor of
Aquitaine married the future Louis VII a few
months before and then became queen.

St. Andre Cathedral.

Cathedral entrance.

The 150 foot Pay-Berland
Bell Tower was built in
the 15th century.

Palais Rohan, built for Archbishop Meriadac de Rohan, was
turned into a hotel during the French Revolution and became
the town hall in 1887.

I stepped just inside the main gate
to have a gander. Because it's a
municipal building you need an
appointment to visit or ID if you
work here. It's heavily guarded
to keep the riff-raff out; you know,
Americans and the like.

Palais Rohan taken from Saint Andre Cathedral entrance.

Typical street light attached to
buildings in this district.

 

Some cool street art down a side street.

And that wraps up today's tour of Bordeaux's ancient quarter.

September 28, 2018

While in La Rochelle Marie was looking at our Bordeaux AirBnB reservation and noticed the webpage offered experiences from locals and she signed us up for a culinary outing with Kim Freeman, a former culinary editor from NYC. Kim lived in Paris for ten years (1980-1990) and 15 months ago moved to Bordeaux to live full time. 

We met her at the St. Michel tram stop and spent three hours with her shopping for picnic lunch items at her favorite market (think Pike Place Market) and then eating what we purchased at her home. We had a really good time visiting with Kim, meeting her favorite fish and cheese mongers, the best bread man, dessert person, where she buys duck, veggies, and her favorite purveyor of all kinds of cured ham.

Let's just say it was a drooling good morning and we recommend spending three hours with Kim. Here's the front and back of her business card so you can contact her.

And now some pics of our shopping and eating experience.

We met Kim at the St. Michel tram

stop on the quai skirting the river

and walked up into Saint-Michel,

the district we visited yesterday.

I was able to get the entire bell 

tower this time.

Five minutes later we're at the

Capuchins Market.

Local news crew doing a story
about the latest herbs that just
arrived. Bordeaux is serious
about its food.

Duck anyone? These are perfect for pan searing in a bit of butter.

How do you feel about cured ham?

We'll take a petit amount of the 24 month cured ham.

Ya gotta try the snails. They were

cooked and so fresh.

We purchased 10 snails for our
picnic lunch at Kim's house.

And the shrimp was amazing

 

This fish caught 100 miles away.

Kim also has a favorite bread guy.

Caught the tram to Kim's place at

at Porte Aquitaine.

Kim's apartment is in an 18th century building, and as you
can see is lovely. She has two bedrooms, living room, kitchen,
and bathroom—a good sized place.

Love the exposed beam.

And lunch is served. Bread, three different cheeses, shrimp,
snails, and ham laced with truffles, 24 month cured ham, and
thinly sliced cured duck.

Here's how you pry out a snail from its shell.

Ya, best lunch in a long time.

Looking up from Kim's stairwell.

Looking down and to the outside door.

Thanked Kim for the experience
and headed up Rue Notre Dame
on our way back to our apartment.

Walked by Esplanade des Quinconces along the river on our
way to pick up a tram at Place de la Bourse.

 

Place de la Bourse was clearly influenced by Versailles. The
square is enormous and faces the Garonne River. It's easy to
get caught up in walking and gawking in the narrow streets,
the orderly parks, and massive plaza's. Before you realize it
you've walked miles. (Today we logged 8.7.)