Bordeaux

We took a quick, 3-day trip to check out Bordeaux, France. Bordeaux is a very pretty city that resembles a mini-Paris. In the distant past, it was a walled city, but now only a couple of former city gates remain. Porte Caihau (1494) is perhaps the most impressive:

Interestingly, Bordeaux, and the rest of southwestern France was ruled by England for three centuries during the middle ages (basically 1150-1450). The ruler of the area was Eleanor of Aquitaine. She first married the King of France, Louis VII, but after 15 years of marriage had failed to produce a male heir (as expected for the time, their two daughters were irrelevant), the marriage was annulled and Eleanor subsequently married the Duke of Normandy, who would become King Henry II of England in 1154, making all of her lands part of England.

One of Bordeaux's main tourist attractions is the Miroir d'Eau (Water Mirror, 2006), which sits opposite the Place Royale (1775). Definitely a confluence of old and new! The water mirror changes from having about 1 inch of water, creating the mirror effect, to a mist effect every few minutes. Both are really cool, but only the former provides amazing night views like this:

Even during the day, the water mirror is really impressive as it is the largest in the world:

We did not get a good picture of the mist effect, but it is really neat with a shroud of mist covering such a large area up to about two feet off the ground. And, as you can see, there is nothing to stop you from strolling through it. The number of people walking through and enjoying this water feature at all hours is incredible.

Bordeaux also contains one of the largest public squares in Europe, Place des Quinconces, measuring about 31 acres or the size of 23.5 football fields. In the square is a series of statues dedicated to the Girondists who fell victim to the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The Girondists were against the Monarchy, but were later purged by their "partners" the Montagnards, which marked the beginning of the Reign of Terror. The local soccer team is named for them -- FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

So, Bordeaux the city was great, but really we were there for the wine. Bordeaux is one of the main wine regions of France and is made up of about 30 areas (or appellations). We took a tour that took us to a couple of these appellations, primarily Saint Emilion, which is a beautiful, little town that is now a center for wine tourism:

Fewer than 200 people actually live in the city, and practically every store is either a restaurant or a wine bar. 

We learned a lot on this wine tour because wine production in France is very different than in the US. Oh, the process of making wine is basically the same, but we learned that in France there are an incredible number of rules for each area that have to be followed in order to put the appellation name on the label (everything from the type of grape, to the height and spacing of vines, and about 100 other things). In addition, each winery basically produces two wines: their primary wine and a secondary wine, using essentially the same grapes (mostly merlot and cabernet franc in Saint Emilion). Other appellations in Bordeaux have a similarly long list of rules. For those of us who know a bit about wines in California and Washington, this was particularly strange.

Finally, we very much enjoyed the food in Bordeaux. With the help of a local's suggestions that Shana found online we went to three wonderful dinners at very good, but  non-pretentious restaurants. Most memorable, was dinner on our final night where we ate on the restaurant's patio, which was against the outside wall of the Church of Saint Pierre (14th/15th C). Very cool!

We hope to return to Bordeaux for more wine tours and French food in the near future.

Adieu,

Jeff and Shana