Bordeaux on a Friday

April 26.

Today is our big CITY PASS Day! After a frenetic breakfast at the hotel we headed out in our ever-present drizzle for tram stop B and the nearby Hotel de Ville. From there we rode it to La Cité du Vin, which took about 15-20 minutes. Located near the bassin a Flot and within shooting distance of the WWII German submarine pens, The City of Wine is truly an incredible experience. The building's architecture is fantastic, as you can see from the photo. And once inside, the arrangement of the exhibitions and incredible creativity applied to what one might think of as just a simple fermented beverage is nothing short of remarkable.

There are 18 stations - each of us sort of drifted at our speeds through them, listening to the accompanying narrative in our audio guides. I am unable to do justice to what we experienced but it was tremendous fun and very informative. Everything from wonderfully arranged videos on enormous screens talking about wine around the world, through a sensory exhibition where one can actually smell the wide array of aromas that are found in most wines produced today and the experience of laying back and watching a surround video of a year in the life of a winemaker. Worth the money and the time.

tram stop

committee at work

La Cité du Vin

all the smells

the wine store

From the extensive wine shop we slid into the museum's brasserie for lunch. Then it was on to the 8th/ top floor for our free glass of wine which accompanied the wonderful views of the city. (I opted for a Bordeaux clairet, a deep-colored rosé from La Freynelle.)

 

looking toward the WW2 German Uboat pens in the far distance

the Delmas Bridge across the Garonne

bassin a Flot and the canal that connects to the Garonne

School of Tourism and Hospitality

Our City Pass allowed us to hop on and off the tram as much as we needed over a 24 hour period so we took advantage and rode to the end of one line then back to switch to another for a change of scenery. We thought it a cool way to take a city tour from the above ground rails.

The B line tram took us south of the city center past the huge complex of the University of Bordeaux. On returning to the city center we changed to line A at Hotel de Ville, taking it across the Garonne for a couple of stops to get a sense of that side of the river. By then the tram was getting pretty crowded so back we went, alighting at Hotel de Ville for an afternoon coffee at a quintessential brasserie, Le Café Français, on the main cathedral square. 

checking out the route

We returned to the hotel for a short respite while I attempted to locate a restaurant for dinner. In a remarkably short time I found one that was literally around the corner, L'Univerre, another classic provincial Bordelais restaurant. The service was superb, the food outstanding, prices very reasonable, and the wine list something to behold in a space that was really quite small. 

L'Univerre

starter cheese plate

 oeufs mayonnaise

broccoli frite

Next: It's off to the Gers and Mouchan!