Bordeaux

Kris at the mirror pool
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With the weather continuing to shower as we worked our way north, we arrived in French wine country and met up with another friend from New Zealand who happened to be working on a vineyard just out of town. We all had wine and cheese sitting in the evening sun on the steps of the Colonnes des Girondins, a large column and fountain of horse statues located at one end of an open square next to the river.

The following day we toured the other main sights of the city centre. The main shopping streets have been restricted to traffic by using remote controlled bollards which retract into the road. A modern inner city tram system similar to that seen in Nice has only recently been installed and is wireless to maintain the aesthetics of the streetscape. Bordeaux was preparing to contest the title of Cultural Capital of Europe 2013, so a lot of the city had been spruced up and cleaned for the judges who arrived in September.

vineyards as far as the eye can see

The Colonnes des Girondins
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Being a historically wealthy city due to its port and exports of wine, the city planners had plenty of fiscal scope to build numerous expensive art features around the town. One of the most eye-catching monuments is the ‘mirror pool’ next to the river. A 50 metre long raised platform has been fitted with a filtered water system that fills and empties every 20 minutes to mimic the tidal surge of the adjacent river. Once empty, the platform reflects the facade of buildings lining the river to magnificent effect. Tiny jets then spray the whole platform with a fine mist which is computer controlled depending on the temperature and wind direction so as not to disrupt traffic or create an ice risk. The mirror pool is a magnet for residents of all ages, especially children in the summer who love to splash and play in the 2cm deep water.

Vineyards and chateau in the Medoc region of Bordeaux
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The 13-15^th century Saint-André Cathedral has an attached tower which affords 360 degree views of the central city. At the core of the city, the Place de la Comedie is bordered by the collonaded Opera House on one side and a historic 5 star hotel on the other. Both buildings and the streets leading into the square have been specifically oriented and designed to reflect good geometry and use of open space. Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping street, Rue Sainte-Catherine also starts here and stretches away to Place de la Victoire 1.2km away. The blocks around this street are packed with shops, bars and brasseries which gave us hours of exploring.

One of the larger chateaus we saw
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The weather turned on some sun for our half day trip out to the wine producing areas for which Bordeaux is so famous. The Romans introduced wine-making and it has been big business here since the 8^th century. There are 8000 chateaus scattered across the region, a lot of which are small family farms. Others are enormous companies that have vast estates as far as the eye can see. We visited just before the start of the September harvest, so the vines were sagging under the weight of the dark grapes. We stopped for a couple of tours and tastings of the rich Bordeaux reds, which for the most part were quite cheap: around €10 for a bottle of 2002 vintage for example. An interesting old winemaking method that we hadn’t heard of was the use of egg whites to remove the sediment from the vats during fermentation.