We had a full day in Bordeaux between our travel day and when we were to pick up the rental car and start touring Gascony. Diane and I spent that day doing one of the things we both enjoy: walking around a city.
In the morning we breakfasted at our hotel, put on some walking shoes, and headed generally south through the old heart of the city. We stopped in at Librarie Mollat, the biggest bookstore in Bordeaux*, and passed by the old cathedral (but were unable to find our way in due to restoration work).
From there we hiked south through the raffish former University section (the University has mostly decamped to modern campuses outside the city) to the Marche des Capuchins, the city's big modern food market. By the time we reached it most of the fish and produce vendors were cleaning up and shutting down, but the oyster bar was still open so we had the lunch special. For six Euros you can get half a dozen oysters on the half shell. For seven-fifty you get half a dozen raw and a glass of white wine. For eight Euros you can even pick the wine you get.
I went with the generic white and it was fine. Refueled with oysters, bread and butter, we turned north again, passed the basilica of St. Michel and its gothic detached bell tower, then along the riverfront by the old custom house and the Place de la Bourse, before finally looping back to our hotel for a rest.
In the evening we wandered over to the Place des Quinconces, where the city had put up a huge screen so that soccer fans could watch Poland play Portugal. Security was heavy and ubiquitous: not just private guards, but plenty of police and squads of soldiers in no-kidding combat gear. We admired the monument to the Girondins (the Revolutionary faction who got massacred for not being properly psychopathic like the Jacobins), had dinner across the street from the Opera House and watched the crowds — including people wearing Portugese or Polish flags as capes.
Then back to our room for a sound sleep.
Things I learned about Bordeaux:
- Wine really is a big deal in that town. I think there's a fancy wine store or wholesale wine merchant office in every block. Even our hotel had a tasting room.
- The architecture of the city is very uniform, at least in the old section. Central Bordeaux looks like it was all built one week in 1690 with stone from the same quarry.
- It's a little confusing to remember that you're on the west coast of France, but the city fronts on the river, which is to the east.
- The oysters are very salty, much more so than in Louisiana, New England, or Brittany. Don't know why.
- Don't bother looking for dinner before 8 p.m. or so.
Next time: Gascony!
*Which does not carry any of my books, alas. All I needed to do was sign one title page and this whole vacation could have become a deductible business trip.
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