It’s the last of the long weekends in London before Christmas, so we take the opportunity to jump over to France and visit a place we haven’t been to previously.

The long weekend starts with travelling by Eurostar to Paris on Friday evening, arriving late in the night. After a quick catchup with Nic, its lights out as we need to be up early to catch the Metro from Place de Clichy to Paris Montparnasse station in the morning. This is the starting point for the second train leg to Bordeaux which leaves at 7am. 

We take a two hour, high speed, double decker train ride to Bordeaux Saint-Jean station averaging 300kmph. These high-speed trains are a revelation for us and make covering a lot of distance easy. We are travelling first class this time due to a cheap upgrade and enjoy the extra comfort as we speed towards our destination.  

As we arrive into Bordeaux the sun has completely burnt through the morning mists, presenting us with a warm and clear, late summer’s day. It’s mid morning making the need for a good coffee and breakfast clear targets to achieve, and quickly. None of us are good travellers when we are hungry. A local cafe named Peter provides us exceptional service, quality coffee and the best scrambled eggs to solve the hunger issue. It was so good we found ourselves back there several times over the course of the weekend.

Breakfast over, we head to our accommodation in the heart of Bordeaux. Stacey has found a two bedroom loft apartment in what looks to be an old hotel. It’s clean, modern and quirky in a way that only the French and Italians seem to achieve. We are up in the rafters and needing to be careful as the low sloping roofline can be a real headache. All of us bump our heads at some stage on the first day, but we quickly learn to move around while being wary of each beam as they are not soft.

Unpacked and settled in, it’s time to hits the streets of Bordeaux and start ticking off the sites that we want to see and photograph. Our first impressions give us a good feeling. It’s clean, easy to walk around, has loads of architecture to marvel at and feels safe. It’s time to head toward the river Garonne and the waterfront area. It’s never a direct route for us though as we seem to meander and spend more time looking down side streets then taking a conventional straight line. There seems to be a height limit for buildings in the city which helps keep the facades at a good eye height and doesn’t make even the smallest alleyway feel dark or over powered. Below is a gallery of shots taken during the walk.

We can’t forget the food and wine in Bordeaux as there are many local treats. One outstanding item is the Canelés de Bordeaux which are little fluted cakes with a rich rum and vanilla flavour and are cooked in a way where the outer layer is a caramelised shell.

The beer is also a treat as it takes a brave person to set up a craft distillery in a wine region, so it has to be good enough to hold its own against stiff competition. Space Odyssey is that place and yes, they have succeeded at producing nine very clean and crisp beers and partnered for an equally as good apple cider.

The wine, the wine, the wine. Exceptional. Plus, Bordeaux has a place named La Cite du Vin which is a modern museum experience telling the story of wine making in the area. I normally don’t go for the touristy items, but this has to be the most interactive and well thought out range of experiences I’ve seen. There is a blend of sight, sound, smell, and taste displays that lead you through the full history and processes to create a remarkable wine. You can easily spend several hours here and once you have had your senses picqued, you can then make your way to the top observation deck and bar and enjoy one of the many wines from the region, all for the admission price.

Then of course there are the parks and the churches. No French city is complete without an architectural wonder of a church and parks that provide respite from the heat and crowds. Bordeaux doesn’t disappoint on either.

Bordeaux’s city streets are best seen before 8am as there are far fewer crowds to deal with making the sights stand out. The architecture is amazing and the long shadows make the scene look like something out of the movies. Here’s a gallery of shots from early Sunday morning starting with a few from the apartment balcony the a walk through the heart of the city.

Bordeaux’s street art is varied, with images that have a quality about them. A few examples are in the gallery below.

As you can see by the number of photos we were captivated by Bordeaux as we didn’t even make it out to any of the wineries. Looks like we will be travelling back to the area in the near future to visit the vineyards and maybe, just maybe, sample some wine.

Can’t wait!