We leave Porto behind to catch a flight to Bordeaux, France. The arrival at the airport in Porto is different than when we left North America. No masks are required in the airport nor on the plane. 

It has been the normal for our trip so far. Evidence of COVID restrictions are mainly gone in Portugal and in France except for the faded “keep your distance” warning stickers that still exist on the ground and a funny poster reminding how to wear your mask.

Our driver awaits for us as we step in to the even warmer air than Porto and whisks us to our next Airbnb in the neighbourhood of Chartrons in Bordeaux.

It is still sunny and warm on our late afternoon walk along the large Quai de Chartrons, a pedestrian boulevard on the river shared with bicyclists, skateboarders and scooters.

Both a city and famous as a wine region, Bordeaux is also a port city on the café-au-lait coloured Garonne river. There, we find many popular river cruise boat docked as well as the huge 98 metre yacht owned by UK billionaire Joe Lewis. 

Bordeaux is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and has the 6th largest population in France. It’s a world capital of wine and gastronomie. It’s twinned with many cities of the world, one of which is Québec City. The word Aquitaine may sound familiar. Anyone who has seen the movie The Lion in Winter with Katherine Hepburn will know she played Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Queen of France, Queen of England and mother of Richard the Lionheart (she figures also in Robin Hood movies) 

Later in the evening, we walk just up the street to take in a meal at a small restaurant called Simple. The menu is simple, catering to meat lover, vegetarians and vegans, but is executed to perfection. Our treat of the day is not just our meals but playing with its resident dog, Pickles. Pickles adores playing tug-of-war with you and his ball. Once, he is tired, he just plunks himself wherever he feels either at our feet or near the kitchen where his owner spends her evening managing her restaurant.

As with most of our dinners, we each select a different item so we can all share of taste. The cod with aîoli sauce is served cold but delicious. The Black Angus flank and jasmine rice melts in your mouth. The moussaka on basmati rice and roasted feta would be awesome to recreate at home. And finally, the tortiglioni pasta with tomato sauce and roasted peanut, a surprising refreshing combination to the palate.

The wine of course flows well and is bought to take back with us to the apartment.

Our planned walking food tour for Sunday, starts with a 20 minute walk to meet our guide Chloé. The sun shines brightly in the clear blue sky. A mother and daughter from Colorado joins our foursome and we begin our first wine tasting at 11:30 am at Cousin & Compagnie, one of the oldest wine sellers dedicated to the promotion of organic, biodynamic and natural wines within and outside of France. 

Through the shop window, our sommelier explains each wine that we are tasting from various areas of the Bordeaux region. Two red, two whites and a rosé.

As we leave our wine tasting behind, Chloé points out various interesting places on our walk. For example, how some streets have undergone many name changes throughout the centuries because of political interventions. Or how people revolted recently when the mayor decided not to use real Christmas trees in the name of being eco-friendly and opted for artist designed glass bottle tree illuminated with lights. People in Bordeaux can take advantage of a free bicycle for one year.

Bordeaux boasts more than 350 historic monuments, the second city after France with the most listed monuments. Its Port de la Lune area, which encompasses the port and about 40% of the city (and includes the Chartrons district), is on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its architecture.

You can also find the scalloped shell emblem of the Camino de Santiago. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have followed various routes to make their way to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. One of such routes, comes through Bordeaux.

Many of the facades are being cleaned and restored to their bright beige colours instead of the black sooted dirty colours caused by man-made pollution over the last century.

Lunch is up next on our walk. The forest green exterior of Berthus, would not leave you to believe that a restaurant exists upstairs. Through a narrow staircase and even narrower corridor, we enter our small private room for our meal. Just outside our room, an open air courtyard exists.

Italian beef tartare with potatoes and salad, pork filet mignon with creamy polenta and black cod with a red cabbage mousse fill our bellies with wine of course to balance the meals.

For dessert, we continue our walk to rue Sainte-Catherine where we try Canelés, a small French pastry flavoured with rum and vanilla with a dark thick caramelized crust. It reminds one of a tiny old fashioned Bundt cake. It is very sweet and sticky!

We walk further and pass by one of the many portes or arches and gothic cathedrals until Chloé brings us to another dessert place and we taste Dunes Blanches, a small puff pastry with a mouth watering cream filling on the inside and sprinkled with icing sugar. 

The sugar high is done quite yet done as Chloé has one final surprise for us. A little bag of various chocolates from the Maison Georges Larnicol. The store is a chocolate and candy lover paradise. Macarons, chocolate art, fudge candy. Not for the diabetics for sure!

As we say goodbye to Chloé, we continue our own walking tour towards our apartment. Along the way, we discover an old-fashioned merry-go-round.

A few blocks later, we come across the majestic Monument aux Girondins in the Place des Quinconces, one of the most popular and photographed areas in the city.

The fountains parenthesizing the column dedicating to the Girondins (a political faction of the French Revolution) are grand and spectacular. But the esplanade is more than the fountains and monument—it’s also a large square where gathering crowds can take place and carefully placed rows of sycamore trees line the green space.

On our way to dinner, we come across the Jardin Public in the heart of the city. An 11 hectares oasis of a lake, trees, flowers and grass for everyone seeking a relaxed setting. We watch as a children’s birthday party unfolds where a piñata is involved and a mad dash occurs once it is finally broken apart.

Our other meals in Bordeaux range from family style, seafood at Le Petit Commerce, tapas style in Symbiose and à la Gordon Ramsey style (without the accompanying price) in the Quatrième Mur next to the Opéra National de Bordeaux.

Bordeaux has 6 portes (or gates). La Grosse Cloche and La Porte Cailhou are the most impressive, resembling mini French châteaux. 

The Cathedrals are impressive as well. We visit the grand Cathédrale Saint-André and its detached Tour Pey-Berland built in the 15th century. The tower consists of 233 very narrow spiraling steps made for one way traffic. We manage the climb up for a panoramic view. The climb down though leaves two of us with cramped and stretched quads from trying to slow our descent!

The cathedral is stunning with its massive organ, stained glass and romanesque ceilings. It is here that 13 year old Eleanor married her first husband, Louis II the future King of France. 

The Musée du vin et du Négoce is almost next door to us so we take a few hours to have a visit through the wine history of Bordeaux and a wine tasting before our St-Émilion wine tour the next day (see other blog).

It’s been very hot in Bordeaux.

Hovering in the low to mid-thirties throughout the day and evening. The stone walls of our Airbnb keeps it somewhat cool, however, we have learned to never leave the patio door open as bats can enter. I’m sure our host upstairs heard me screaming ”Bat! Bat! Get it out!!!”. No photos to share on that one!

It will be sad to leave Bordeaux. There is so much more to see and do. Perhaps next time!