Started off today with a trip to the tourist information centre for maps and ideas for the next week. Then an excellent 2 hour free walking tour of Lyon. All of these tours we have done so far have been excellent. This one was run by a young woman from Columbia that came here for 6 months university to learn French, that was 3 years ago. She loves Bordeaux, the history, the culture and everything about it and shared her enthusiasm with us. She lived in Toronto for 3 years, her English was very good. There were 3 on the tour with us.
A few great stories, including the Cathedral that took 400 years to finish, and once finished they were so worried that because Bordeaux was built basically on swamp that they built a separate bell tower as they were afraid the bell on top of the church may collapse the church because of the weight of the bell and the swamp that the church was built on. So, now we have seen the separate bell tower, and we also found out that this is a bell tower to climb, so over the next couple of days we will be climbing the 231 steps for the view.
We also heard about 2 mayor of Bordeaux. One that was the mayor for 48 years after ww2. The other more recent and did tons for the city. Tram system, rail service improvement, and put in a programs to clean the facades of the building which were are dirty from over the years because they are all made of limestone as it absorbs everything. Before him most of the squares were parking lots. He also returned them to squares and this city has lots. One abandoned church was actually a parking lot inside. It is now a bar and a movie theatre. The alter is where you go buy your ticket.
After the Germans invaded Paris, Bordeaux became France's capitol for 2 months.
We also learned that during the French revolution, Bordeaux wanted a more conservative approached than the Paris. Paris invited the leaders from Bordeaux to Paris and when they got there, they executed them. Some places that sell Pain au Chocolat will charge more if you say that because it's a Paris thing. You should order Chocolatine. In a picture we saw it was 5Euro for pain au chocolate, and 1.50Euro for Chocolatine, they were beside each other in the display and the exact same thing!
We stopped at a few squares and she had lots of information at each one going back many years. England had control of the region until they lost it in the 100 years war.
Bordeaux also has the longest pedestrian street in Europe at 1.2 KM called St Catherine street. One end is pretty high end, this is where we spent some time this morning, the other end is much more affordable and a little rougher around the edges, guess where we are staying, yes the other end of the 1.2 KM street.
There is a beautiful water mirror here, but like the ones we have seen in other cities this trip no water, here is is being filled on May 1, we will just miss it. Also there is a beautiful fountain that reminds us of Rome, but again the water will only be turned on on May 1.
Back to the apartment for some lunch and a rest before we head out again. It is so cold, winter jackets are out again, plus a couple of quick rain showers have not made it the most pleasant day for walking around, but we still prefer this to the heat we had in Lyon on the weekend. We have picked up some Canales for dessert, which Bordeaux is famous for. Gossip has it that nuns made them using the egg yolks that were left over from the egg whites that were used to clarify the wine. Once trading started Rum and Vanilla were also added to the mix. They are quite yummy, crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside, it won't be my last Canale.
We decided to follow a trail on the maps that brings you to interesting points. We did about half and got information about them on the map and on placards on the building. This city is so amazing. Most of the city was torn down in the 1700 & 1800 during the boom years to build what you see now. Now that the city is on the UNESCO list, there are strict control on the architecture and most of it has to stay as it is. On the other side of the river, pretty much anything goes. We were told that there are only 5 medieval building/houses left in the city. The guide took us to one. We think we saw 2 more on our walk by ourselves. The city dates back to the Roman times but nothing is left from back them. There are a few gates from when the city was a walled city.
For supper tonight we have decided to go out. We had asked our guide today what Bordeaux is know for, and she showed us a restaurant that served her favourite Duck Confit. So off we go. Andre ordered duck breast and I had duck confit. Both were delicious, but I think I won with the duck confit. It was so tender and tasty. Andre grabbed the bottle of sparkling bottle that was on the table thinking that it was house water (carafe d'eau) and opened it. Whoops, it cost us a few euros, oh well, lesson learned, will not happen again.
A busy day and we will call it an early night. We stopped by the tourist info center again before supper and purchased city passes that include a bunch of things we want to do, so a couple of busy days ahead of us. Then we are hoping to get out of the city for a couple of days before we move on again. Lots of fun coming up again, most of all those 231 steps to climb (urgh) but the views of the city are supposed to be great. Will see if it is worthwhile.
Steps today 25,000 or 15.7 km
Walking to the information center
Walked thru an antique market but not much antiques mostly used stuff.
Not the CIBC at home
The Camino starts here
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