A taste of Bordeaux ('The DSM')

Visiting Bordeaux, the city of wine, during sober October was foolhardy, to say the least. We usually head north when leaping in the car with a bag packed, so turning right on to the D938 was a novelty. The weather forcast was terrible, but we were determined to make the best of it. 

The two and a half hours in the car flew by compared with the usual six hours to the Tunnel sous la Manche. 

I was feeling guilty that I had twisted Anna's arm into booking a rather 'basic' hotel, which was a lot cheaper than her booking of choice. So was apprehensive. The hotel was marketed as an environmentally friendly establishment, which meant their was a communal pot of apricot jam at breakfast, the toilet paper was an off white colour, you only got one pillow and the room resembled a rather nice prison cell. I embraced the marmalade and loo paper, but one pillow! 

After much apologising it was time to do some exploring. Our hotel/hostel was on the east bank, opposite the main part of the city, so we had a fantastic panoramic view of the city across the swollen Garonne. We set off across the beautiful Pont de Pierre avoiding the trams that glided by as well as people on motorised scooters, and eventually reached the other side.

We love to wander about a place and see where we end up and historic Bordeaux was perfect for such a meander with so many interesting places and people to intrigue. 

Passing the Grand Théâtre we reached the Esplanade des Quinconces (considered to be the largest square in Europe), with its monumental fountain. Half term coincided with our visit and the funfair was in town. The esplanade was full of candy floss and flashing lights. Everything seems to be billed as 'the biggest in Europe' in Bordeaux and this funfair was no exception; it took us half an hour to walk from one side to the other, watching teenagers being hurled about on various rides. 

We passed the Grosse Cloche (built in the 15th century), with its twin conical roofs and...big clock, the magnificent Porte Cailhau (similar to the Grosse Cloche, but without the clock). We marvelled at the Cathédrale Saint-André before walking up the Rue Sainte-Catherine (a 1.2km shoppers' paradise, billed as the longest pedestrian street in Europe).

On our way back to 'the scrubs' as we affectionately called our hotel, we passed the Place de la Bourse (formerly the Stock Exchange) with the Miroir d'Eau, an outdoor artistic installation created in 2006. It is the world's largest reflecting pool (see), made of granite slabs covered by 2cm of water, covering 3,450 square metres. Unfortunately, the magic was lost as the plug had been pulled and the thing was empty, but we tried to imagine the effect.

For day two a trip to the Dordogne was mooted, but then dismissed when we realised it wasn't as close as we thought. So, instead we headed west to the coast and the Arcachon Bay (an hour and a quarter in the car). The weather forecast was not favourable, but when we arrived the sun was shining on the beautiful sandy beeches and seaside resort. 

Arcachon is a beautiful seaside town known for oyster harvesting. Its four districts are named after the seasons: the Ville d'Été quarter is home to shopping streets, bustling market, the town’s sandy main beach and a casino, Ville d’Hiver has extravagant 19th-century villas, all of which we wandered around, ending up in the town park on the top of the hill, looking out across the bay whilst enjoying our packed lunch.

In the afternoon, back in Bordeaux, our hips were feeling the strain so we plucked up courage and hired two of the city's 'Boris' bikes to continue our exploration of this magnificent place. Although we weren't drinking we were keen to visit the Cité du Vin (the mecca of all things wine, opened in 2016). To get there we cycled along the garden banks on the Garrone and crossed the The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a vertical-lift bridge. Inaugurated on 2013 by President François Hollande its main span is 110m long, it is the longest vertical-lift bridge in Europe (here we go again). Like a space age four poster bed, the middle section can rise into the air to allow shipping under, a quite incredible piece of engineering.

From one amazing piece of engineering to another the Cité du Vin sits like a giant goiter in the north of Bordeaux, wrapping itself around a slatted viewing tower and restaurant. When we had worked out how to return our bikes to the nearby docking port, we ventured inside. It costs nothing to go in and have a nose about, but for guided tours and demonstrations tickets can be purchased. The building had a serene feel to it, maybe it was all the fumes from the booze, but after a quick look around the shop we came to the nerve centre of the place. A dark, circular room, full of hundreds of bottles of wine from across the region. Wherever you looked there was a glimmering bottle enticing, inviting, tempting. It was like something out of a Harry Potter film. I don't know if it was the bike ride over or being surrounded by so much wine, but Anna was looking a bit off colour, so after a cup of tea and a canelé at the café, we left. We would have liked to have seen more of this incredible place, but time was agin us.

We wandered back into town along the river passing people enjoying the autumn sunshine. We stopped and marvelled at the teenagers in the skateboard park doing tricks on their bikes, skates, and scooters; risking life and limb as they propelled themselves into the air from various ramps.

It was then a toss up between the Museum of Contemporary Art or the public gardens and we opted for the park, which was beautiful. I was running on empty so after a quick game of 'I wonder how far we've walked today' it was time to find somewhere to eat and back to 'the scrubs'. We were tempted to hire a motorised scooter, which everyone in Bordeaux seems to zip about on, to get us back to our lodgings, but instead walked.

We had a fantastic couple of days in the 'big' city of Bordeaux. There was so much to see and do, and our whistle-stop tour gave us a wonderful taste of the place, if not the wine.