Bordeaux....a province or a city or both??

With no research at all I had no idea what to expect when Ewan said  our next stop was Bordeaux.

For future reference -Airbnb - Grand T2 aux Capucins Bordeaux - host is Sonia

As it turns out it's a really beautiful 18th Century city with very consistent and substantial architecture: 99% of the buildings are no more than a few stories high. Most of the city has been classified as a UNESCO heritage city as a perfect example of 18th Century architecture. It is very different to any of the other cities we have visited because it is very open and spacious, rather than small buildings and narrow laneways. The blocks of limestone used in all of the buildings are light and warm in the sunlight.

A huge promenade lines the river with bike paths, very modern trams and pedestrian walkways...and a mirrored pool which is flat stone with water trickling on to it for kids and adults alike to play on.









So far we've:
 - visited the CAPC Museum of Modern Art ( I think we were beginning to overload on ancient castles and chateaus!).

In case you're wondering the rocks are the artwork.

 Unfortunately it was very disappointing as there was so few artworks to actually see. They were in the process of installing two new exhibitions, and the rest of the place had  some permanent work and a special exhibition about an obscure radical French Press in the 1970's which none of us found interesting. The highlight was the building itself as it had been a huge warehouse for coffee, tea, vanilla etc. so very solid and arches everywhere. But check to see if anything is on before going I would suggest!


- spent a few hours at the very swanky Cite du Vin learning all there is to know about every aspect of wine, and then sampling a glass of wine of our choice whilst enjoying a panoramic view of Bordeaux.

the impressive Cite du Vin building

The exhibition was very clever and very informative, and you'll be interested to know that Australia rated a few mentions.

Wine regions of the world display

The wine tasting area: note the amazing lighting
consisting of hundreds of glass bottles
suspended from the ceiling!

Liz and I really enjoyed the history section as it was displayed using all sorts of media. The audio guide responded to sensors and was really helpful (for once!). Our energy started to wane as I think it was supposed to take about 2-3 hours and there were no seats available and suddenly Ewan was texting us from the 'belvedere' and sipping his glass of wine as he was worn out!






- viewed all of the important monuments available and some of them very impressive.

The enormous Opera House

A lovely Opera House with no opera on currently, and no tours in English unfortunately. Some huge stone arches, a clock tower, cathedrals (of course) and some modern street sculpture completed the collection.

We loved this street sculpture as the expression on the face seemed to change as you moved around it

- finally we had success with the shoe shopping!!

We stumbled upon the long shopping street - Rue Saint Catherine by mistake.....really!. Ewan is a bit concerned as we have the same red jackets and new shoes from the same shop and they cost the same price , but are different as you can see. He thinks we're turning into twins or clones or something!!??






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- conquered the public transport system which includes boats as well as buses and very flash trams.And all on the same ticket.

This is the current church tower but the three
 arched windows are actually the high windows
 of the 12 th Century church carved
 out of the hillside underground 

- managed to get out of the city to Saint Emilion, one of the  medieval wine towns nearby. Very steep and rocky cobblestone streets with lots of roman gothic and neoclassical architecture. We did two tours: a catacombs and underground church tour, and a tour of a winery, Chateau Villemaurine.

The entire town is built on limestone which has been quarried since the 9th century for limestone blocks for building, especially the buildings in nearby Bordeaux. There are apparently 200 kilometres of underground quarries in total, and many are used for the ageing of wine in wine barrels: perfect temperature (about 12 degrees) plenty of ventilation and high humidity.
The first tour took us under a church tower where catacombs for burial of the wealthy and stillborn children had been carved out of the rock, and then in the 12th century a local wealthy man sponsored the building of a very large underground church complete with gothic curved roof. It was quite amazing and had some frescoes and carvings but had not been fully excavated. Huge square pillars had required significant metal struts to keep them up, as not only was the church tower above the church but so was a 5 star hotel No photos allowed though!

The second tour was of a winery, but not about the process of creating wine. We had the chance to wander around the caves under the vineyards where the wine is stored. It was really interesting to see the link between the beautiful Bordeaux buildings and the quarries where the rock had been extracted to build them, and the use currently being made of the tunnels from the quarry.
On each tour there was a slightly different version of the story of the life of the original Saint Emilion which was entertaining, as it appears no one actually knows at all!

Our accommodation was the attic of a lovely French couple house. The only problem was that it was three floors up and had lots of beams and angled rooves so after I hit my head three times I requested that for our next accommodation we stay on the ground floor, and in a place that had a flat roof so I wouldn't end up brain damaged. Liz moved her bed in case she sat up suddenly in the middle of the night and hit her head on the roof! It was a really lovely modern apartment but obviously a health risk for us!

On the road to Toulouse (of Lautrec fame) in the morning,

Your slightly brain-damaged correspondent

Dianne

Liz and Ewan outside our door.
Note the winter clothes as it was freezing.
We're hoping for warmer weather as we move south