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Not so long ago I was reading a Reddit thread in /r/France along the lines of “things that you learned later than you should have” and the highest rated comment was Bordeaux = Bord de l’eau (literally “edge of the water”) followed by a large number of French people having a “mind = blown” moment. I feel I have to mention this fact as it is both obvious and subtle, not to mention interesting.

May had rolled around and in 2014, this resulted in three public holidays falling on a Thursday. In France, this is equivalent to a four day weekend – it is a given that the Friday is also a day off, even though it is not an official holiday; on doit faire le pont. The first holiday was the first day of the month, and the Labour Day weekend was as good a candidate as any for a trip to Bordeaux. East-west train travel is somewhat problematic, so from Geneva, Mia would fly to Bordeaux and I would catch the first train of the day from Paris. This would provide sufficient time to see Bordeaux and the surrounding sights of Saint-Émilion and le dune du Pilat.

You beauty

As I mentioned once before, I usually do not point out the puns in my titles; however the above title comes from the advanced pun manual. The city of Bordeaux is known colloquially as "La Belle Endormie” which translates as “the sleeping beauty”. Armed with this knowledge, you do not have an excuse to not be entertained.

My train left Paris at the crack of dawn and put me in Bordeaux before 1000. As it was a public holiday, it was clear that there had been some celebrations the night before, with everything looking well-used, and there was little activity on the streets. I made my way from the station to the waterfront, landing at the Parc des Sports Saint-Michel, which is one of the recently completed upgrades to the waterfront area. There is not much to see here other than a pretty decent view over the city and Pont de Pierre. Continuing up the river one passes a remnant of the only town walls, La Porte Cailhau which is now encased in buildings, but still has its charm.

A little further along is the main square of the city, la place de la Bourse which also plays host to le miroir d’eau, another recent instalment in the city. Ultimately it is a fountain, but it has a few modes of operation. The sequence starts with the area being flooded with water from below so as to fill the pool and make a mirror pool. This hangs around for a while, before draining and then spraying a fine water mist which everyone runs through. Should you want to take a photo of the area, bank on a cycle duration of 10-15 minutes. During my photo taking, I was positioned next to a tour group and the guide mentioned some interesting facts, one of which was that the city is the 6th biggest France, of which I was unaware. From here I spotted a market running in the nearby Place de Quinconces, which was a real homewares/antiques market, which was interesting but simultaneously prohibitive in terms of buying anything – I am not sure I really need a stuffed boar.

The Monument aux Girondins is situated at the western end of the park and is a rather impressive fountain with a somewhat interesting history. It was entirely dismantled during the course of World War II to be melted down and used, however the war ended and the statue was saved. It was later put back into commission and due to the link with the war, it now serves an additional purpose as a monument to the war.

From here, the rest of the afternoon would see me wandering the streets of Bordeaux aimlessly. The entire city is a UNESCO world heritage site, indeed it is the world’s largest single metropolitan site, which is due to the city being “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble”. To this end, it is fun just to wander the streets and get lost. I found that the city did not have any of the grand, mind-blowingly beautiful buildings that some other cities are known for, but the entire city does form quite an impressive item. Some of the more notable buildings I passed were the Opéra National de Bordeaux, Cour Mably, Centre Commercial Les Grands Hommes and of course the stunning Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux, but I was avoiding checking out the major sights until the following day once Mia had arrived.

In the late afternoon I set out to find our accommodation, which took me via Place de la Victoire which was evidently the place to sit outside and get drunk, which everyone there had clearly spent their day doing. Our accommodation was on the stretch between there and the station, meaning it was quite a special area, but for the price it was a bargain.

Once I had recharged a little, my plan for the evening was to go and check out the area to the north of the city, along the Garonne. As the weather was clearing and the light was really pretty, my visit to the Eglise St Louis des Chartrons was well worth it. There were no tourists and I had the place to myself, which given the calibre of the building was amazing. So pretty was the building that I set up my tripod out the front to take a long exposure photo of the cathedral with the clouds flying by. It was during this time that a local woman, mid-30s and very well dressed walked past me and proceeded to yell (translated obviously):
“We don’t like photos here in Bordeaux!”
“But why? You have such a beautiful city!”
“We don’t like photos, videos or whatever it is you are doing. You are not welcome.”
All I could do was stare in a stunned manner at her as she walked off with her shopping. This was the most hostile treatment I had ever received in France, and even though I think she had a bee in her bonnet, the way she so venomously spat her words at me did make me feel uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I continued to take my photo.

Continuing along the river I arrived at my ultimate destination, the Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a newly opened (2013) vertical-lift bridge, which with a span of 110 metres is the longest in Europe. I found it quite interesting, but I am somewhat partial to bridges; I probably would not put it on the list of things that are “must see” unless you like bridges. On the way back into town, I stumbled across some decent street art, which was also littered elsewhere throughout the city. Bordeaux is home to many students and has a thriving youth culture, meaning that similar decent sights are not hard to find.

With the sun beginning to set, I made my way back to the Place de la Bourse. The sky was filled with deep colours as it so often is after a day of bad weather that clears in the late afternoon, so I was busy taking photos when once again, some strangeness started to occur: a guy of approximately 20 years of age wearing only a bed sheet, accompanied by two women of the same age who were filming him, wandered out into the water. He proceeded to cover himself with the sheet in more and more suggestive ways until he just ditched it completely and was running around the fountain naked. I should point out that it was freezing by this point, probably not much above 10 degrees with water of roughly the same temperature. Crazy dude…

I finished my photos before hauling ass to the station to meet Mia who had just arrived from the airport. We ditched our stuff back at the hotel and then grabbed some dinner as I had forgotten to eat. We also enjoyed our first taste of the decent quantity of wine we were to sample during the weekend.

A pearla

Continuing in our study of advanced puns, there exists a second name by which Bordeaux is colloquially known: “La perle d'Aquitaine”. Are you entertained?

The organ inside cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux

Our plan for the day was to leisurely check out the city. As I had had the day before to explore and take the photos that I wanted, it meant that we really could just relax and enjoy the city. The only flaw in this plan was the weather; it was absolutely miserable. We made our way from the hotel to the major sights in the old town, most of which I have already mentioned above, before we ended up at the cathedral. Consecrated in 1096, the cathedral is one of the older buildings going around and was a UNESCO world heritage site prior to the induction of the entire town. The cathedral is absolutely enormous, with a towering façade which had just been renovated; one of the walls was also undergoing restoration at the time of our visit. The interior was equally spectacular, with both the stained glass windows and the organ being the highlights. Upon exiting, we made a strategic bee-line to the nearby Musée d´Aquitaine to both escape the rain and continue touristing.

The museum sounded easily the most interesting of the city’s museums, focussing on the history of the local area, from prehistoric times to near modern day. The prehistoric section was particularly interesting; as the region is home to some of the oldest man-made relics around, there is a lot to work with. After our time here, the weather had cleared up somewhat which made walking the streets much more pleasant. We picked up some lunch in the centre and then headed out to find the ancient Roman ruins of the amphithéâtre de Bordeaux dit Palais Gallien. It is a 15 or so minute walk from the centre of town to the north, and there is only a small section left, but it is pretty well preserved. Somewhat oddly, it is surrounded by houses and is basically a courtyard for the surrounding buildings. Still, it was pretty and rather interesting. Nearby is the Jardin Public which houses the city’s botanical gardens. This sounded more interesting that it actually was, as it was somewhat rigorously categorised plants in small segments, with essentially no effort at attractive presentation. The fact it was still early spring and so nothing was flowering probably did not help either.

It was then the mid-afternoon and we decided that it was time to find a nice wine bar, which are sprinkled throughout the town, but the most interesting we found were all around Paroisse Sainte Croix St Michel St Pierre and we finally ended up at La Remise, which was really nice. After some wine to ready us for dinner, we ended up sitying down at a restaurant in Place du Parlement (Le Bistrot d'Edouard) which was okay, but I would not rush to recommend it. By the time we had wrapped up there it was time to retire back to our hotel, so that we would be primed for some day-tripping on the days following.

A great vintage point

One of the most renowned villages near Bordeaux is Saint-Émilion. The town is named after a monk who settled into a hermitage carved into rock during the 8th century. The history of the town is much older; having been settled by the Romans who cultivated grapes for the production of wine during the 2nd century, meaning the area has been producing wine for nearly 2000 years. Saint-Émilion is connected to Bordeaux with a half-hour TER trip every two hours (6.90/4.60 € [peak/off-peak] one way). Due to the touristique nature of the town, the train can be pretty full so I would not be expecting a seat during peak periods.

Wanting to get a decent start, we took the train at 1005 and after a small delay and a lovely 1.6 kilometre walk through vineyards from the station into town, we were in the town centre a little after 1100. Having read a little of what to expect in town, we knew that there was a guided tour of the city – including the privately owned underground sections – which left at 1115, which we just missed. In any case, they had decided that they were going to do it in Spanish that day as the majority of people were Spanish. So instead we booked into the after-lunch English tour of the underground and put ourselves to work exploring the city. The first step was to get the key to climb the clock tower, which was also obtained from the tourist office. It is an odd system and poorly advertised, which means that you get to climb the tower, have a great view over the area and no one else is there to disturb you. It was great! Returning the key afterward left us in the tourist office, where one can sneak out to the cloisters of the Romanesque cathedral, which was seriously beautiful. Much like the city of Bordeaux, the entire area of Saint-Émilion is a UNESCO world heritage site, but prior to the induction of the city, many of the town’s monuments were listed in their own right. The cathedral was well worn, but still very pretty. We then just wandered the tight, hilly, winding cobbled streets with no real destination in mind. The town is stunningly pretty and while exploring the streets, one is treated to the smells of freshly baked macaroons (of a local variety), cheese and wine. We eventually ended up at Cordelier’s cloister, a ruin from the 12th century, with the neighbouring church ruins playing host to an apiary.

Our tour was just after lunch so we walked around town looking for somewhere to grab some something to eat. Saint-Émilion is quite a gourmet town, so one can not simply find a bakery and have some sandwiches - seriously, we tried. Instead we returned to a restaurant (‘Chez Pascal’) that we had passed when leaving the cloisters, when it was just opening and hence entirely empty. However in the 10 minutes of looking for a sandwich, it had become absolutely packed except for the table of two by the entrance. This was no problem though, we snatched that up and enjoyed some delicious duck and wine. Once we were stuffed, it was time for the tour of the town’s underground.

Apart from wine, the town’s most famous monument is a giant subterranean church, the so-called monolithic church, carved into a outcrop of limestone, above which the town sits. The church was built during the 12th century; its construction was facilitated by the city’s place on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route, allowing it to amass the wealth required to undertake such a task. The church, along with other monuments, is privately owned so can only be seen on tours and is also subject to copyright so no photos are allowed. The tour starts by visiting the grotto of Émilion, before passing to the church which is built above the underground site. It then continues to the monolithic church, which was just incredible. The size of the cavity is enormous and it is just unlike anything else I have ever seen. The guide was very knowledgable and provided some good anecdotes and interesting tidbits, of which my favourite was that all the limestone they cut out was used to build the cathedral above the church.
“For what purpose should we use all of this rock that we have left over from excavating the church?”
“How about another church?”

Once the tour had finished, we made our way to the donjon, or king’s tower, where one can climb up and get a great view back over the city as well as the surrounding vineyards. All this climbing was thirsty work, so we headed back to the Cordelier’s cloister which is also home to winemakers (big surprise) who are very well known for their sparkling white, Crémant de Bordeaux. We grabbed some glasses, sat amongst the cloisters under the sun and just soaked it up; it was a pretty nice moment. The time was approaching to head back to the station so we could return to Bordeaux, but not without a quick stop at a wine bar on the way as we were making good time. We caught the poorly planned 1718 train back to Bordeaux which was of course packed with people doing the same thing.

Once back in town, we headed back into the city and once again landed at La Remise as we wanted to sample the most delectable-looking cheese platter that we had seen the day before. It was indeed very delectable. After we had finished up at the wine bar it was necessary to find some ice cream and I had had my eye on some amazing-looking gelato from ô sorbet d’amour. Let me be perfectly clear: this is some of the best ice cream I have ever had, if not the best. It was certainly not a bad way to end a great day.

Getting high on the beach

For our final day, we were to visit another of the great attractions in the area, le dune du Pilat, Europe’s tallest sand dune. Now sand dunes are not something I think of when I think of France and it really is a testament to the amazing diversity of landscapes one finds in France. The dune is situated on the Atlantic coast, at the mouth of le Bassin d'Arcachon. From Bordeaux, one can take a train to Arcachon (50 minutes, 5.60€ each way) and then a bus connecting to the dune, which is approximately 9 kilometres from the town. Unfortunately for us, this was not an option; outside of the summer months, the bus does not run on Sundays. Initially we had planned to hire bikes and ride there, which is the standard way to do it, with a dedicated bike path connecting the two locations. The problem however was that it was a Sunday during the off-season. I researched as much as I could online but to no avail, as every shop said closed on Sunday. Even still, we had decided we were going to suck it up and just walk. However, arriving in the pretty beachfront town of Arcachon, we were delighted to find the locabeach located directly opposite the station which was open with available bikes. Within 2 or so minutes, we had exchanged 20€ for bikes for the day. They were solid and hence a little heavy, but we did not have far to go. The route follows the sea front for the majority of the way before a quick tour into the suburbs just before arriving at the dune.

The main issue we encountered upon arriving at the dune was finding somewhere to secure our bikes due to the huge number of bikes already there. Eventually we just secured them to each other and then wandered down to the dune. Unsurprisingly, this thing is large! Not only is it tall, but long as well; it almost 3 kilometres. At the entry point, there were many people, along with a huge number of people at the second entry at the top of the dune. It appeared as though there was some kind of kite flying gathering going on, but we did not investigate. Instead, we walked along the base until there was no one else and started to climb, vaguely heading for the summit of 110 metres.

The contrasting colours of the forest and the dune is pretty swell

We were very lucky with the weather as there was not a cloud in the sky and it was a very warm day for the season, meaning that we were roasting as we slugged our way up. Upon reaching the top of the ridge, one is treated to probably the most special aspect of the dune, namely the contrast between the dune and the dense forest behind which exists everywhere the dune does not. The transition is extremely abrupt, especially as the back side of the dune is significantly steeper than the front side – 3 or 4 times on average – resulting in cliff-like structures descending into the forest. This is perfect for jumping/surfing/skiing down and is exactly what people were doing. We edged our way to the summit where the wind was ruthless, so we stayed for mere seconds before finding a much nicer place to relax.

Once it was time to leave, we had no choice but to run down the dune, jumping and rolling where appropriate. We were back at the base in no time, and then back on our bikes. By this time it was getting towards the mid/late-afternoon and we needed to find some lunch. We had planned on eating somewhere along the waterfront, but as we had left it a little late, everywhere had finished serving lunch. This was devastating as we had placed the idea of a meal with a beer on a pedestal all day, so then because we could not get anything until we were all the way back in Arcachon, we were pretty over the whole thing. We eventually ended up at a pub (Au Gambetta) which promised a tasty lunch. As we had a time budget to get back for our train, I went in to order and once again had my dreams shattered when I was informed that lunch was done; we had misread the sign which did say service from 1000 onwards; however it was pub food only after 1500. By this point we did not care so I had some pizza, which was actually delicious. We headed back to the foreshore where we had left our bikes but not before picking up another round of ô sorbet d’amour ice cream, which further cemented it as the tastiest ice cream I had ever had.
The bikes we returned, we took a rather dilapidated train back to Bordeaux and then said our goodbyes as Mia went off to the airport and I boarded my train back to Paris. It was an action-packed weekend in what was an action-packed month of travelling.

La place de la bourse: Only a few hours apart

Adventures

You beauty

A pearla

A great vintage point

Getting high on the beach