Getting to Know Bordeaux Better

October 3, 2021:

On October 3^rd, our morning started with a panoramic tour around Bordeaux. Luckily for us, it was a bus tour, because it was pouring rain. Suffice it to say, none of the pictures I took showed anything but rainy windows on the bus. Nonetheless, it was a good introduction to this charming city, and gave Jim and me some good ideas for areas we wanted to explore on foot later.

La Cité du Vin

The main event for that morning’s excursion was a visit to la Cité du Vin, Bordeaux’s huge museum dedicated to winemaking all over the world. The building itself is very unique as it kind of looks like a huge, glass covered boot. We saw it on the cruise into town yesterday and wondered what was housed by its odd shape. In reality, the structure is supposed to represent the shape of an ancient wine bag (who knew?!).

I think the museum has a total of five storeys, and was very interesting. Everyone who visits the museum is issued an audio device, which can be used independently to trigger descriptions of various exhibits and to que video presentations to begin through Bluetooth connections. Pleasantly, unlike many French museums which only label exhibits in French, the audio devices came in a variety of languages including English.  The first area we ventured into was devoted to exhibits about winemaking all over the world. For each country you “visited”, you could listen to short talks from noted experts in that region’s wine industry (and again, the talks were translated into English). Some examples of the speakers included vineyard owners, great winemakers, and world-class sommeliers.  In this part of the museum, there were also some good videos about the Bordeaux wine-growing region specifically, and some wooden models of the Grand Cru chateaux.

Various countries in the World of Wine area

Replicas of the great Chateaux of Bordeaux

Map of just one floor of the museum

On another floor of the museum, there was a great exhibit about all the aromas present in wines. You could sample those aromas yourself by puffing a little atomizer for each scent. Another exhibit demonstrated all the colors to be found in different varietals of grapes. Jim and I really enjoyed wandering around all these exhibits for a couple of hours. Then our tickets included a glass of wine to sample at the wine bar near the top of the museum. You could pick among fourteen different wines from all over the world, and the selection changes frequently.  From the wine bar, you could look out over the city, including the huge moving bridge under which we sailed yesterday. Sadly, it was still raining, but the views were still pretty incredible.  Right next to the museum is a huge food hall, les Halles de Bacalan.  As we returned to the bus, Jim and I peeked inside, and it looked pretty amazing.

Smelling the various aromas

Wine colors

The Tasting Area

The whole center section of this bridge lifts up to allow really big ships to pass.

The wine shop in the museum

The building housing the food halls

Jay: This photo of saucisson is for you!

We returned to the ship for lunch, and finally our patience was rewarded when the rain finally stopped. From the ship, it was very easy for us to walk directly into the old part of town (the Vieux Bordeaux), to go see some of the sights we passed in the rain this morning.

Our first stop was at the Place de la Bourse, which were designed by famed architect to King Louis XIV, Jacques Gabriel. These 18^th Century buildings replaced the old medieval city walls in an attempt to open up the heart of the city to the River Garonne running beside it. In the 21^st Century, the city decided to remove all but a handful of the old warehouses which ran along the river to create a riverside park running most of the length of the city center. As part of that project, a huge reflecting pool was constructed which perfectly reflects the 18^th Century buildings in the Place de la Bourse. The reflecting pool is called Miroir d’Eau (mirror of water), and the conditions were perfect when we walked up to it.

Skimboarding on the pond

We then walked into the old city through one of the only two remaining medieval gates, the Porte Cailhau. Just about a block in, there was a relief map of the center city cast in bronze. It was a helpful way to get oriented.  We walked first to see St. Andrews Cathedral with its glorious medieval architecture.  Right across the square on which it is located is the Hotel de Ville (the city hall of Bordeaux).  

the Porte Cailhau

The relief map of the city center

Looking back at the Porte Cailhau.

Cathedral St. André, begun in the 11th Century.

Hôtel de Ville

Because it is Sunday, most of the shops in town are closed, although there were a few chain-type shops along Catherine Streeet, which is the longest pedestrian shopping street in France. We did stop at a bakery selling the iconic sweet of Bordeaux, caneles. These wicked little treats originated several centuries ago, when the winemakers were using a huge amount of egg whites to clarify their wines, leaving the problem of too many egg yolks left over. Legend has it that a group of nuns started collecting the yolks, and making them into these sweet cakes using the yolks, butter, run, and spices and sugar, all of which was in good supply because of the amount of trading Bordeaux did with the New World.

This shop sells the canelés in three sizes.

Thus fortified, Jim and walked further down St. Catherine street to the Palais Royale, Bordeaux’s beautiful Belle Epoch opera house, which sits on a plaza called the “golden triangle”.  We located the wine shop recommended by this morning’s tour guide, L’Intendant Grands Vins de Bordeaux. Of course, it was closed, but we planned to return tomorrow to buy some Bordeaux wines to take home.

Triumph of the Republic

We finished our walk by strolling down the Allees de Tourny to pass the winged statue called Triumph of the Republic. We returned to the ship to escape the return of the rain. Tomorrow we venture back out into the wine country of Bordeaux.