Bordeaux - le vin

Obviously there is Bordeaux - the wine, no surprise here, but what was a surprise was the beautiful little town of Saint Emillion. Great wines come from St Emillion, but instead of enjoying the wines wherever you are, rather go enjoy the town. Lurking on the side of a hill you get a great view over the vineyards. With such charm, comes the inevitable; touristy and commercial, but it didn't detract.

Apart from the wine, take a chance to sample a Bordelais special; the cannelés.

Food and wine always tastes better in the right ambience, a bottle of red in St Emillion must be hard to beat.

Bordeaux - les plages

I said Bordeaux was more than just good wines, but I never really imagined that it was beaches. Yes, just a little drive away, or a slightly longer drive if your sister-in-law is navigating, are lovely beaches, big dunes and a calm bay... and in the bay, live oysters. So there are cute little towns all over the place that seem to live off oysters... I mean tourists... who like oysters and, yes, we're back to... crisp white wine.

On the way to Cap Ferret, one of those little oyster towns, small wood houses with serious charm.


































Lunch near Cap Ferret, and of course we had oysters.




































The beach at Arcachon as the rain clouds briefly threatened.

When my backside was small enough to still fit on the cardboard pallet, from two dozen beers, I remember using said cardboard as a antipodean equivalent of the toboggan. Heading down white sand dunes at what seems to the small backside as serious speed. It is a pity that they don't make six packs bigger nowadays, because a beer box would have come in handy for the highest dune in Europe, the great dune of Pyla on the bay of Arcachon, just a long drive from Bordeaux.

Wishing you sand in your jocks.

Bordeaux - la ville

What a great little city! Bordeaux is charmingingly cute, just about all the buildings are of the old stone type, and the mayor seem to be doing his best to add to the friendliness by adding trams and pedestrian streets.

There's a student town feel about it; lots of little cafés and pubs and some very trendy I-want-to-eat-out-here 'quartiers'. Much to the distress of many a Bordelais, especially the boyfriend or husband variety, Bordeaux is home to what is said to be one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe; Rue Sainte Catherine.

The Garonne river, that skirts 'centre ville', is wide and less personal than the Seine, so you don't feel like 'over there' is still part of Bordeaux, in fact we never did make it to the other side.

I guess it best that I explain that Bordeaux isn't in some warped space time where gravity works at 30 degrees to the earth... in fact it is the new street photography shoot from the hip style.

There is so much more to Bordeaux than great red wines.