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| Old Town Bordeaux |
After being charmed by four days in historic and charming
Paris, eating and drinking really well in the process, Elaine and I we were off to the Bordeaux
region of Southern France for a week long stay in a Timeshare there. But first we had to get our rental car for
the week, soon picking it up and negotiating, for the first time, the hectic
traffic at Charles deGaulle Airport (CDG) just outside the City, and heading
out on our new adventure. Amazingly,
given the congestion at CDG, and in the Paris vicinity in general, we escaped
with no dings or dents whatsoever on the rental.
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| At the Entrance to the Palace at Versailles |
First stop was the Palace at Versailles, a short distance
away from the Paris Metro area. This is
a must-see for many folks visiting France, including us; and we were not
disappointed. We took a bunch of pics of
the Palace inside and out. The much heralded
gardens were immense, if not yet in bloom that early in the Spring Season. A
month later, perhaps, they would undoubtedly be spectacular.
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| Royal Opulence at Versailles |
We spent just a little bit of time at Versailles before
heading South on the French freeways for a long day trip to Bordeaux. First thing I can say about the freeways
there is they were quite impressive; good road surface, rest and service areas
every 20-30 Kilometers or so, respectful drivers, whether they were in private
vehicles or commercial trucks. All in
all, it was a very modern and efficient highway system.
We arrived in Bordeaux in the late afternoon (Saturday, April 14th) and settled
into our Timeshare hotel/apartment on the outskirts of Old Town Bordeaux. The
desk lady, who was very helpful throughout our week-long stay, filled us in on
visiting the Old Town. Basically, she
said something like, “Take the Tram, don’t drive there; the streets are very
narrow; they’re trying to limit private auto traffic”. I
hadn’t really planned on NOT driving the rental car; but took a night to ponder
the possibilities as we “walked” a couple blocks to a nice Sicilian styled
restaurant for dinner. Sicilian, you say? Hey, we were just tuning up for a visit there
later in our Europe trip; and the food was really good (I had grilled swordfish); so a win-win situation
all-around.
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| When in Bordeaux, Eat Sicilian?... Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? |
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Next day, A Sunday, we set off to explore Old Town Bordeaux.
And we took the desk lady’s advice, walking a short block to the Tram
station. There it got a bit complicated
trying to figure out instructions for which Tram train to take, and where to
get off, and how to pay for the whole thing… all of it in French, of
course. To our rescue came a couple
Guardian Angels, two young local women, both of whom spoke English very well,
who helped us figure everything out.
Turns out the Trams were a marvelous way to get around Bordeaux… modern,
quiet, extremely efficient trains that served the greater Bordeaux area, coming
into and out of the Central City from various points on the spoke of a
wheel. We were quite impressed and used
the Trams a couple of times during our weeklong stay. We spent most of the day in the charming old
town, taking another On/Off Bus Tour, and dining and sipping at more street
side cafes, a French tradition for sure; and quite naturally, now ours as well.
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| Modern electric trams in Bordeaux were top notch! |
On Monday, we headed out for the Bordeaux wine country,
which consisted of several different regions.
We chose to drive out along the Garonne River from the town of Bordeaux
to an area renowned for Cabernet Sauvignon.
There were vineyards and wineries everywhere; however, we went out at
mid-morning, and we soon found that most of the wineries were closed between
Noon and 2 PM. So amazingly we didn’t
even stop for any wine tasting on this day. I mean we were in Bordeaux for
gawds sake, world famous for its wineries and wine; what was wrong with us… or
rather… the blankety blank driver? Don’t
answer that! But we did make the most of
the rest of that day with a lovely drive out to the Atlantic Coast near
Bordeaux, stopping at a nice café right across the road from the beach at the
oceanside town of Arcachon.
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| Raw Oysters? Yes! |
There, in addition to some fine Bordeaux wine that Elaine
and I enjoyed, I tried, for the first time ever, raw oysters. I love oysters, but had always before had
them baked or grilled; never… perish the thought (or so I once thought)… RAW! Well, I quickly threw that “NEVER” out the
door with a delicious offering of the raw stuff, albeit “sugar” coated in some
cheese and herbs; but RAW nevertheless!
And that was just the starter on an all seafood day for me; since I
followed up the oysters with some equally delicious steamed Mussels. Did I mention I really love shellfish… well
all kinds of seafood actually?
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| Cider was poured directly from these wooden casks at Petritegi Cider House |
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Next day (Tuesday) we had pre-arranged a visit to Spanish
Basque Country to sample a unique tradition in that region, Cider tasting
direct from wooden casks. We went to a
town called Astigirraga for a lunch appointment at the Petritegi Cider
House. It was our first visit ever to
Spain, and certainly a first ever experience with the Basque region. Many in the Basque regions of both NW Spain
and SW France speak a whole different language called Euskara; not just a
dialect slightly different from the Romance languages of French and Spanish,
but something entirely unique with somewhat mysterious origins. We only sampled a small portion of the spoken
language; but enough to know we were in a totally different and unique
environment. And the cider tasting and
lunch was fantastic. It was kind of like
a 3 or 4 course lunch, highlighted by a delicious fried Cod dish, and washed
down with the crisp (hard) Apple Cider that we obtained by holding our glasses
under an open spigot on
one of the huge wooden casks.
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| Locals at Petritegi, no doubt speaking a language few could understand! |
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| Cod and Cider go well together! |
We left Astigirraga after lunch and worked our way over the
Western Pyrenees, meandering soon enough through the Pays Basque region of
Southern France before arriving at our destination for the night in the quaint
little town of St. Jean Pied de Port. We
stayed in a B&B inside the stone walls of a 13th century
fortress that kind of lorded over the whole town. We had to park a couple blocks away from the
B&B, since it was located on a narrow, pedestrian only, cobblestone
street. Dinner was another half block
down at a Basque restaurant. I had
seafood, again, grilled squid this time… and Elaine and I enjoyed…yes, no
surprise really… a good bottle of French wine with dinner.
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| Inside the Fortress at St Jean Pied de Port |
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| Our breakfast guest at our B&B! |
Wednesday morning we were off again, a brief return to
Spanish Basque country over the Pyrenees, steeper here than our first trip the
day before, on a circular, meandering trip, passing by a still operating ski
area; and driving through snow banks, though on clear roads, back into
France and on to Bordeaux for a last night staying in our timeshare there. We enjoyed yet another tram ride, and dinner in
Old Town at a charming little restaurant previously recommended by the hotel
clerk. This was our 2nd visit
to the same restaurant; it was that good!
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| Leaving Bordeaux on a sugary high! |
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| the long & winding road thru beautiful Basque Country |
We were done with a very nice visit to the Bordeaux region,
but not done with Southern France, leaving on Thursday, April 19, for a short
drive SE of Bordeaux to the Cahors wine region.
We had scheduled an overnight stay in the medieval town of Puy L’
Eveque, which sat along the Dordogne River.
Our B&B, Le Presbytere, was an absolutely charming place run by an
equally charming couple, Sally & Paul, from Manchester, England. Their home/inn was on a rise overlooking the
medieval old town and the River.
Shameless plug here; I would highly recommend this place to anybody
thinking of visiting the area.
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| View from the terrace at our B&B in Puy L'Eveque |
This was
the Cahors wine region, named for its main town not far away from where we
stayed. It is renowned for its Old Vine
Malbec grapes and wine.The next day, a Friday, we visited a local vineyard and
winery, Gadout, for a tasting of some delicious Cahors Malbec Wine. I like the Argentine Malbec’s, deep purple in
color, and rich enough; but these wines far exceeded the Argentine varietals. These
were so much richer and complex, simply wonderful!
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| Old Growth Malbec vines, Cahors Wine Region |
Then we were off on an overnight journey back to CDG for a
Saturday afternoon departure for Munich.
We stayed the night in yet another B&B in Chateauroux, a town just
off the freeway and halfway between the Cahors wine region and Paris. There we enjoyed our last street side café in
France, and I, of course, ended our France stay with yet another seafood
offering, this one a delicious serving of steamed mussels... again!. My doctor had told me, in a visit shortly
before we left for Europe, that a “European” diet was good for my general
health. To me, that meant seafood and
vegetables and fruits… in a pinch red wine would do for the “fruit” part. So I had tried hard, for 11 wonderful days, to
heed my doctor’s advice.
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| Doctor's orders - seafood (mussels) fruit (red wine) and veggies, sort of (French Fries) |
Reluctantly, we would bid adieu to France (Vive le France!) the next day; but
more adventures lay directly ahead on our European vacation.
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