Bordeaux: Better than Before

The Gallo Roman amphitheatre - Bordeaux

In 2002 I took my first bike trip with Minas. We started from Bordeaux and travelled west and south down the coast to the Pyrenees and back up through the wine country of Entre Deux Mers to Bordeaux.

 In those days we found Bordeaux quite depressing. There was no access to the riverfront; the houses of the historic old town were dark and dreary; and there didn’t seem to be much life there at all. One cyclist I met said that when she and her husband first arrived in Bordeaux twenty years ago it was a city that had been abandoned. 

 

Bordeaux on the River Garonne today

 I was not terribly keen about returning to Bordeaux to start our bike trip this year but what a pleasant surprise was in store for me.

Catedrale St. Andre

 

all cleaned up - Monument aux Girondins - people who were guillotined

Thanks to a very enterprising and forward thinking mayor Alain Juppe the city has become quite beautiful. The old stone buildings blackened over the years have been cleaned;  new stores and restaurants line the tiny streets of the old town and the apartments on the upper floors are  occupied by a healthy mix of young people families and retirees.

 


 Needless to say the tourist trade is thriving. We enjoyed our walks around the city our meals and our wine.  








There are walkways and cycle paths along the Garonne River and a new tramway system (some of whose cars have been built in Canada by Bombardier) connects the various parts of the city.
 

One of the “pieces de resistance” is the new Cite du Vin an ultra modern showcase for anything you wanted to know about wine. It is a bit of an overload of information: but all presented with the latest of technology and a teeny tiny sample of a Bordeaux wine of your choosing to round off the visit.

Pont St Pierre

Our  practice run to get out of the city

 The exit from the historic centre by bike was as easy as crossing the bridge and cycling the bike path for 27Km to the smaller roads of the wine area of the Dordogne.

the grapes of St Emilion

But more about that next time.
Cheers
Minas and Catherine