A Great City Stop – Bordeaux

14/08/18 – 15/08/18 – Bordeaux, Aquitaine Region

Before visiting Bordeaux neither of us had any idea what it would be like, we only really knew about its association with wine production, so we didnt have any expectations of the city. We were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.

We stayed approximately 3 miles from the historical centre, at the marina. Not being a big fan of McDonalds, the fast food chain, I was disappointed to see Dan’s slightly restrained excitement on noticing one right next door to us. However, I have to admit that when he bought me an egg McMuffin for breakfast the following day, I was pretty happy. The area we stayed was a bit run down and dirty, but during our stay we felt safe amongst the other motorhomes. It was free and there was a good view of the marina from our window so we certainly didn’t complain. There were no services, but we’re always prepared for that. (GPS. 44.8694306,-0.5641556)

Modern Area

On our first night we explored the local area on foot as it was relatively late when we arrived. We noticed the fantastically modern architecture surrounding the marina, and the hip, and up and coming feel to the area. The only downside was the amount of broken glass everywhere which let it down a bit, as not good if you have a dog or children. There were a couple of very busy trendy boat bars nearby, and we stopped in one of them for a delicious, but expensive beer to watch the sun go down.

From this area you could see the big shiny building that is the Bordeaux wine museum (La Cite du Vin). It is said to hold 800 different wines from around the world, 200 of which are from France. The following day we checked it out, and both agreed it looked far more impressive from a distance, as up close it was a bit like a huge shiny shoe or as Dan put it “a shiny turd”.

Historical centre:

On our bike ride along the waterfront n the morning, we passed by lots of modern restaurants and bars, and not much further along, we arrived at the historical centre.

We set off on foot from there passing by the Notre Dam church which seemed humungus aside the residential buildings, as they were in such close proximity to it. We took a stroll around the beautiful Bordeaux public gardens (Jardin Public de Bordeaux) which was just around the corner. Just enough time to see a lady casually taking all the free dog poo bags available, how cheeky is that! We then continued our own tour of the old city, passing by some very grand and well preserved old buildings, some pretty squares, lots of monuments, and some very nice, but expensive looking shops. We had thought the Notre Dame church was large, so we pretty impressed with the huge scale of the Bordeaux Cathedral.

After our mornings tour, we had lunch and then moved onto our next destination, very excited to what awaited us….two nights in a chateau for a belated birthday present for Dan. Of course, having been in our small home for almost 4 months now, it also felt like a treat to me.

So, Bordeaux was quite an unexpected surprise, we hadn’t imagined that it would be such a vibrant city, and we both agreed that it would a great romantic city break at some point in the near future. Sorry Marley you will have to stay with grandma and grandpa then.