Bordeaux on the Viking Forseti, Spring 2018

The April 14-21, 2018 

France’s Bordeaux Region 

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Sauternes Vineyard (From start to finish. In April, only the stumps on the left)

(How the wine ends up on your lips: //www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/negociants-courtiers-en-primeur-bordeaux-wine-system/)

Dripping with wine (https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-topics/bordeaux-wine-history-description-wines/) and history--twice serving as France’s capital( http://southweststory.com/bordeaux-short-history)--Bordeaux, the medieval port city in southwestern France, along River Garonne that curves to form a half-moon, with a population of a mere quarter million people, is seductive in a way very few cities are. The busiest trading post during colonial times (think 300 years of English rule and later in the 18-19^th centuries, the presence of the Dutch traders--famously clever at draining them, who likes swamps more than them Dutch?), it has a unique charm and quiet liveliness that is more organic than the rah-rah nightlife of bigger cities that try hard to entice tourists.

   

The Place de la Bourse

Bordeaux’s majestic, shapely riverfront--home to its Gothic, Dutch and neoclassical 18th, 19th century architecture (https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/bordeaux-architecture-marvels-slideshow/all), a grand sentry-like tree-lined garden, the Place de la Bourse with its famous year 2006 engineering marvel the shallow (2 centimeters”deep”) Miroir d'eau (Water Mirror; https://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/Discover-Bordeaux/What-do-you-feel-like/A-holiday-with-kids/The-Miroir-d-Eau; by design the water periodically recedes underground and returns in the form of a cloud of mist)--the world's largest reflecting pool, covering 37,100 sq. ft.-- and the riverside, buzzing-with- activity promenade--is a feast to the senses.
  

       

Miroir d’eau

The sentry-like trees garden that too contains tram tracks that are used regularly 

Later, upon my return home to New York, on Travel Channel’s Curioustravelertv program on Bordeaux, which I come across perchance, I learn that much of the Paris architecture is lifted straight from Bordeaux. Of course, the Parisians don’t like to hear this.

The 190 passengers on Viking’s Long Ship Forseti were forced to stay a day longer in Bordeaux due to the water level being high which would have prevented our ship from passing through the low-lying Pont de Pierre or "Stone Bridge" with its seventeen arches representing the seventeen letters in Napoleon Bonaparte's name. Commissioned by the emperor himself whose one of many derisive nicknames was, lo and behold, God Hanuman, was built only after his deposition.

                     Pont de Pierre (Photo)                                              The ubiquitous tram on the Pont de Pierre(Photo)

Though our sailing was delayed we still made it to our next scheduled destination Cadillac (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac,_Gironde; the American Cadillac automobile is named after this place) by bus and did our included walking tour of this river front town and went on the Sauternes wine tasting tour where we visited the elegant, 16the century chateau de MyRat where lives the family that makes the MyRat brand wine (http://chateaudemyrat.fr/index.php/en/).

                           

 The Chateau                                     The barrels                        The shop with the owner             The 16^th century original beams

The property also sports turkeys, pheasants, peacocks and deer. At the end of the tour where we learned all about how rotten grapes that are harvested in October from vine that begin to bear fruit in May end up in the market as bottled wine after a minimum of 18 months of fermentation--first in oak barrels and then in stainless steel vats--we sampled their white wine. Normally, not particularly fond of very sweet wine, I loved the 2014 one though not the 2011 batch which was too sweet. Apparently, this region produces the world’s best dessert wines. Whew knew?:)

Later, on the sixth day of our eight-day cruise we went on another included wine tasting tour in the Medoc region at the Chateau Kirwan. I just didn't care for the very dry (bitter) wine here which probably tastes better with some food to go with it. By now, I was all wined out though the magnificent chateaux dotting the Pauillac landscape were like temples to Bacchus built by barons like the Rothschild’s. The wine aficionados among us kept going to more and more wine tasting including at the famous Cite du vin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_du_Vin) in Bordeaux and to bars to drink even more not to mention the ship’s silver packages they had bought that offered unlimited liquor consumption on the ship on top of the complimentary liquor. Well, to each his/her own.

But it was fun to learn about the wine making process—from ground up to market and our lips and its elaborate classification system introduced in 1855 and followed to this day. How the sun, the kind of soil determined by the river’s direction and its right or left side, the watering schedule, and the process itself made all the difference in the quality and taste of the wine. The vines were kept low to the ground to soak in the heat that the soil itself retained and shared. Apparently, grapes take longer to ripen in this heat-stressed environment, which is considered good. It’s no secret that after all, even for us humans, a little stress is beneficial in the long run.

Way back I had read that the more the vine struggled better the quality of the wine (http://www.wineanorak.com/struggle.htm). A fine metaphor for life itself if you will.

A cavernous archway next to a bar in Bordeaux. Was Bordeaux nothing but a giant cellar at one time?

Bordeaux's mayor (among other titles, France’s Prime Minister during President Chirac’s term and re-elected as Bordeaux’s mayor in 2006), Alain Juppe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Jupp%C3%A) is credited with the reason for Bordeaux's return to its past glory, which had lost its shine for many decades. Our local guides who were mostly British and American informed us that Bordeaux’s real estate market was hot right now. Many Parisians were buying their second home in Bordeaux and there was even a vibrant American expat community in town.

Among the many improvements that Juppe made, two stand out. One was getting the grime off the neoclassical buildings thus restoring the facades back to its beige glory from the blackened fronts.

See contrast between dirty right (not a shadow) and the clean left side of the Church St. Louis Chartrons

Another one is, reintroducing its tram network, which is a sight unto itself to behold with the ubiquitous trams snaking through town right next to all other activity.

I have seen drawbridges before but being moored right next to a vertical bridge was a first. The Pont Jacaues Chaban Delmas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Jacques_Chaban-Delmas) opened in 2013 is yet another engineering marvel.

To let tall ships sail through(photo)                                                   When being used by land vehicles (photo)

The famous shopping street Rue Sainte Catherine is where you can obviously shop which I did very little of.

Our next stop was Bourg. We overnighted here. Had just a few minutes the next morning to take a few photos before boarding bus for Libourne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libourne).

Bourg 

        

Most tours were part of Viking’s package deal and the only overpriced, paid optional we chose was the truffle hunting one which B went on. I took the included walking tour of Libourne and after enjoying a tour of its Tuesday open market, the town hall, a small art museum in there, the yummy, free chocolate from the famous chocolatier Maison Georges Larnicol - MOF - Biscuiterie Chocolaterie crossed the Bridge over the Dordogne and returned to the ship.

The chocolate creations on seasonal themes in MOF’s window

  

           Viking Forseti  on Isle River         The 13^th century covered walk           The Tuesday Market                              The Market

                                                                   way  lined with shops                                        

The women shoppers at the market were so trim and stylishly dressed. Ooh, la la, so tres French! Even a woman who was asking for handouts was so well dressed.

                       

         The Shops in the Walkway                         The Covered Produce Market                          The 13^th Century Buildings

Buildings

                           

Remaining part of the                                     The Town hall                                                           A Libourne street

fortification

In the afternoon, by bus I went to the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site Saint-Émilion which is about twenty-two miles from Bordeaux (http://www.northofthedordogne.com/saint-emilion.php)

Saint-Émilion's history goes back to prehistoric times. It sports fascinating  Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets. The town was named after the monk Émilion, a travelling confessor, who settled in a hermitage carved into the rock there in the 8th century. The monks who followed him started up the commercial wine production in the area.

St. Emilion shots

        

            

           

Something sweet happened when I was at the end of my free time. I had just finished touring the underground caves (cellars from the medieval times) holding tons of wine bottles and barrels in deep dark spaces with fading art frescos on the walls depicting various aspects of the wine trade.  

   

When I came out, I ran into two friends of mine from the ship, wine aficionados traveling from Dallas, TX. They too were on the truffle hunting tour like B. It was a total surprise to me that B too was in the vicinity somewhere. I had missed him and had even mistaken someone else for him. Eventually, I tracked him down (his reaction suggested that his “me time” had been spoiledJ) and travelled back together in his bus as it left later than mine. It felt was as if we had just met causing in me the same kind of thrill!

Marriage is a funny thing. Sometimes it knocks years off you and other times piles on decades on you.

         

First blush of spring in the St. Emilion        Tourist Train                   Ship’s regular outdoor buffet           Afternoon pastry tasting

Our last stop before returning to Bordeaux was Blaye (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaye) where we actually found some very nice, low-keyed, classy shops and also some nice, reasonably-priced clothing. B’s Lerros cotton T-Shirts were actually German-made! My sleek, slinky, calf-length, hooded, shimmering, black, evening button-less cape with long sleeves was “Made in China.”

In Blaye, we went to the very interesting Blaye Citadel, a magnificent fortress right next to the dock, built by King Louis IV in the 17^th century on the banks of River Gironde to protect Blaye from the British.

         

              Approaching Blaye                                             Blaye dock                                          View from the citadel

Temporary home of a famous prisoner

Just like we do whenever we can, like we did also in Bordeaux, we walked quite a bit in small, little Blaye both in the evening in the company of  BT and her fiancé J, friends we had made on the ship, and the next morning by ourselves which is when we shopped. The restaurants and bars seem to be open 24/7! Blaye left quite an impression on me.

During our evening walk, we saw a, women’s, slinky, evening jacket with shiny bead work on it resting atop an electric box on the side of a store. It was my size—small. BT was bigger-built. I was tempted to help myself to the jacket. But then, I didn’t think this was right.  Next morning, during our walk, I checked to see if the jacket was still there. It was gone! Hope its owner came back for it.

Shots from our morning walk.

           

    A side street        A memorial to          A side street                         A wall mural                   A Vespa scooter in window

                                fallen WW I&II

                                heroes

                               

A memorable aspect of these small cruises is meeting some intersting and nice people. On this trip, I met about forty of them at various times with whom I got to chat and make friends. Sue from California used a pad and pencil for a camera and colored her recreations when she returned to her cabin. I envied her for being so unusual. After returning home, a few of us are still in touch. In fact, we ar still friends with folks we met in 2014. In 2015, when we went on a Holland America crusie to Hawaii, we ended up visitng them in their home in Honololu. Two of the friendliest people we met were a former governor of West Virginia and his fiance when we were on our Russia cruise in Septemebr 2017. Two of the people I saty in touch with.

                   

Marvin and Jean from Manhattan and moi at dinner on the Forseti                                                           David, me and Ann from fall, 2014

                            (We plan to get together soon)

Stay tuned for part 2 which is on the next four days in Bilbao and one day in Madrid en route to New York.