Today's post is a "guest" post from South-West France. I flew to Bordeaux for a short weekend break, aiming to land in a quiet and nice city with good food, good wine and lots of beautiful architecture.
I’ve got what I wanted, and more.
It’s funny, how trip to the airport to fly to continental Europe is twice as long as the flight to continental Europe itself. I took 2 buses to central London, then an intercity bus to Gatwick and only then did I actually fly to France.
Taking a train feels more like traveling from London to Bordeaux, but 6-8 hours is too much even for an introverted travel lover like me.
In Bordeaux it’s easy. Airport is small and deserted, so deserted in fact that it felt creepy for the first minutes, after London, packed with people.
But then the beauty of small city descends upon you - starting with the vineyards outside the airport walls, that you can touch and feel, to the bus, stopping at the airport door and taking you to the very heart of Bordeaux in mere 40 minutes!
(In Tallinn it is 10-15 minutes - noone can beat that!)
A bus ride from the airport gave me a glimpse of suburban life - clean, quiet, green and spacey. 2-3 floor apartment houses, areas of detached housing, flooded with greenery, blooming apple trees and evergreens. Wide roads, little traffic, parks, even forests here and there - very calming and nice. 15 minutes into the ride I suddenly realized - they drive on the right side of the road! My instincts are happy, my mind can relax.
So, I arrived happily to the Old Town of Bordeaux where we had an apartment rented for the weekend, just 100 m from the main shopping street, Rue de Sainte-Catherine. The apartment was very modest, but had everything in it needed for a 3 day stay. Hotels in France are said to be very expensive, or, if the price is OK, they are tiny. Apartments are a good tradeoff if you want something more comfortable and spacey, and is ready to exchange hotel breakfast for a morning coffee in the closest Patisserie or Brasserie (which feels like a very wise idea in France).
Central part of Bordeaux is beautiful to say the least. The city was called a "Sleeping Beauty" and "Pearl of Aquitaine" in the past. It has seen various stages of its life, but by now it is largely renovated and is elegantly nice.
Compensating the narrow streets between the 18th century architecture masterpieces, the riverside walk is very broad and majestic.
Wide road with 2 lanes in both directions, spacious tram lines with trams running right on the green grass, wide walkway with flowerbeds and colorful lights and even more walkway right next to the river.
The river Garonne itself is also wide in this area. The two bridges in sight crossing it look magnificent.
By the way one of the 4 bridges inside the city is known to be the longest span vertical-lift bridge where the whole middle section of it slides up on the four giant pillars. This looks mighty even when the bridge is down, I imagine the look is even better when the bridge is open.
The area around it, looking like docks in the past are being rebuilt - construction is going on everywhere around it and this is where the promenade starts (or ends).
The most famous landmark of Bordeaux (aside from it being one of the wine capitals of the world) is Place de la Bourse and its famous Mirror of Bordeaux - a small square covered with thin layer of water, that reflects the beautiful Place de la Bourse. Unfortunately, it is only functioning in summer, at the moment it is just a nice spot for rollers and bikers to do their tricks.
The city itself is very clean. Even on the meandering narrow backstreets, where historical buildings are not so much renovated any more, there is not much litter on the streets. I imagine this is conditioned by the relatively small number of people living here - just under 300,000 inhabitants without suburbs. Also, right now is not a tourist season, in summer the population of Bordeaux significantly increases. There are not so much cars, 3 tram lines, 18 bus lines, buses are hybrid, running on fuel and electricity, lots of bikes around.
It is easy to bike here, I imagine, since there’s a lot of space and it’s not crowded, so people bike a lot. There are bikes as public transport, similar to London Barclay bikes in the center of the city, and people use them extensively. We also saw electric cars, parked here and there, which also seemed “rentable”. However, the center is so small, that walking is the best way of getting around if you are a tourist.
To say that Bordeaux architecture is beautiful is to say nothing. It is rich in details, yet not overwhelming or tasteless. Buildings are made from the sandstone, which is carefully cleaned regularly (at least on the frontline of the riverside), which makes them look bright and nice especially in the morning spring sun.
But not only in daylight...
Bordeaux is also beautiful at night.
There are lots of trees in the city, which were not that obvious now, that it’s still early spring, but in summer, I imagine, the city is becoming very green and colorful. In Jardin Publique with its beautiful flowerbeds and an original sculpture made from the old tree, I found a blooming magnolia with no leaves at all just huge white and rose flowers.
Jardin Publique was a place where I had one of the most enjoyable cafe experiences - extremely green, with blooming magnolias and great tea that I enjoyed outside, covered in warm blanket on a cosy sofa.
Cafes and restaurants in Bordeaux are open from 8-11 AM until 2 PM and then from 7 to 11 PM, which is illogical for a person like me, having lunch around 2-3PM on weekend, but besides traditional french places with a french schedule there are also numerous coffee places and international eating spots that serve food and drinks all day long.
Personnel do not speak English. Or maybe they do not want to. In any case knowing only “Bonjour”, “Merci” and “Au revoir” and guessing words on the menu (English menu is non-existent, English translations on a French menu are rare, and Google Translate failed me completely without internet connection :( ), I still managed to eat and drink what I wanted and get smiles from baristas for my obviously very funny accent.
Tea is good, coffee is even better, wines are pleasant, food is delicious. The only negative aspect I noticed is that everybody smokes. Women, men, teenagers - everybody is smoking everywhere.
On the other hand I saw lots of people with e-cigarettes around. I also noticed that people … look at each other and talk to each other, they are no so much immersed in their phones and tablets as you can see people in London (or any big city for that matter). Teenagers sitting in cafes chat, not message, people riding the bus look out the window, not into the phone. This makes the city feel very alive.
Living next to Rue de Sainte-Catherine, we walked down this street alot. Shopping aside, there are lots of fun stuff to be found. Like this guy...
... and macaroons paradise ...
To sum it all up, I loved Bordeaux and I have it now on my to-go list some weekend in summer, to indulge myself in greenery, take a wine tasting tour and a riverboat ride.
For more information on visiting Bordeaux, there is a detailed wikitravel article for more thorough dive into the city.
