We had heard
little good about the city of Bordeaux, population about a quarter-million, so
we were pleasantly surprised to find a sunny, low-rise city with a lot of its 19th century (and
older) buildings intact and in use, a modern light-rail system, and one of
the liveliest restaurant and bar scenes anywhere.
The Port de Burgundy near the Garonne River. |
We arrived on a
Sunday, but just a little too late for the Sunday morning market along the
Garonne River. We found a spot in an underground garage for the car and walked
a few blocks from the river and stumbled upon La Mere Michel at 22
Place Meynard, just across Place Saint-Michel from an ancient-looking stone
church. This decidedly unchic café served
Katy and me perfectly cooked confit de carnard. Jane said her salad with duck
meat was excellent. Perhaps our best lunch in France.
Modern mass transit contrasts with Bordeaux's stately buildings. |
One must-do for
warm-weather visitors should be the long strip of outdoor restaurants on the
edge of the city center, where we found ourselves our first night. It was
during the early days of the World Cup in Brazil when France was still in
contention, and giant TVs were everywhere showing the game to cheering and
drinking locals. Most of the cafes –
think of pop-up brasseries – served rather simple fare, such as the oversize
hamburger I had. But they had fairly extensive wine lists and lots of beers on
tap.
Weather permitting, it seems almost everyone eats outdoors in Bordeaux. |
Pauillac is on the Gironde, the estruary of the Garonne and Isle rivers. |
The view from our window at L'Arene in Bordeaux. |
This being the Bordeaux wine region,
there is a citywide focus on wine. We found two great spots for enjoying wines. The first is simply named the Wine Bar,
located in Le Boutique Hotel. Click HERE for its website. The waiter, who may well have been the
owner, spoke with us at some length about what kinds of wines we liked before
choosing wines for us without telling us what
Again, our window at L'Arene, a very pleasant place to stay in Bordeaux. |
Our second
place for wine was Aux Quatre Coins du Vin. Click HERE for its website. It
has dispensing machines that siphon wines from their bottles and serves you a
tasting, a small pour or a full serving.
About 40 wines are available in this format, You get an electronic card
from the bartender and insert it into the machine for each serving. It records
how much you’re spending so you can pay up at the end of the evening. It’s like
Disneyland for wine lovers. Aux Quatre Coins du Vin also serves tapas, which
could serve as a light dinner.
Bordeaux, the
three of us agreed, is an extremely pleasant city.