The advice we’d been given was not to attempt to go into Bordeaux city centre but leave the van at a ‘P & tram’ car park on the outskirts and take the futuristic tram into town. After failing to find a car park that allowed vehicles of more than 2.5 metres high, we gave up and drove into town after all. The main bridge leading to the city was also closed meaning more time wasted being redirected. It was lunchtime by the time we arrived.

Lying at the mouth of the mighty muddy-watered Garonne river, Bordeaux not only evokes ‘grands vins’ but is also an important port. The sight of cruise ships moored alongside the embankment was unexpected and quite striking.

The mouth of the Garonne is in fact big enough to surf in with waves high enough, it is said, to carry you for kilometers.

The Garonne river, on entering Bordeaux.

As we effectively had just the afternoon, we contented ourselves with a stroll in the city centre. I’m not sure what we were expecting – perhaps a bigger version of St Emilion or Bergerac – with much evidence of it being the greatest of all wine cities and with masses of charm and character. Instead, we found an overall rather run down, slightly grimy and characterless place. We make our way to the Place de la Bourse and cross the road the see the ‘Mirroir d’Eau’ (Mirror of Water), essentially an ingenious giant paddling pool which keeps children and adults alike cool and is a great attraction.

Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux, with cruise ship visible in the background.

‘Mirroir d’Eau’, Bordeaux.

‘Marche des puces’ outside the cathedral, Bordeaux.

We then take the tram to the Bassin a Flots, the spruced-up old harbour housing art galleries and other cultural attractions but appears in fact to consist mainly of up-market shops. As for the ‘Mirroir d’Eau’, we find the Bassin a Flots somewhat underwhelming. And the tram was just a tram, with nothing particularly futuristic about it, although we liked the fact that it drove over grass-lined tracks.

Bassin a Flots, regenerated old harbour, Bordeaux.

Tram going over grassy tracks, Bordeaux.

To continue the vintage car theme though, we come across an old Citroen 2CV at the Bassin a Flots. When we ask if we can take a photo, the driver asks us to wait for his wife who drives an old Renault 4 (or a ‘Quatrelle’ as he called it) to arrive so they can both be in the photo.

The classic Citroen 2CV and Renault ‘Quatrelle’, sadly becoming rarer in French cities.

All in all, the afternoon we spent in Bordeaux probably didn’t do it justice and we would have liked to spend more time exploring the area west of Bordeaux, the Gironde, to contrast it with the Dordogne. Very crudely speaking, the soil and climatic conditions in the latter suit the growing of the merlot grape variety while in the former, the more hardy cabernet-sauvignon cepage. Thus while a St Emilion or Lussac will consist of 70% merlot and 30% cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, it will be the other way round with wines from the Gironde such as a Medoc or a Graves. As I’m partial to the more austere cabernet sauvignon wines I regretted not having had time to see the Gironde. But we had to make tracks and so took the toll road down into Les Landes (the scenery was mainly woodlands anyway and didn’t warrant taking the slower scenic route) and we found a small site in a place called St Martin de Seignanx just north of Bayonne and Biarritz for the night.

Old shop in run-down part of town, Bordeaux.

M & Mme Barret who welcomed us at L’Arrayade were very sweet though the place was so small it did feel a bit like camping in their back garden. Their guests were mainly Dutch or English, they said, and mostly people on their way to Spain or stopping on their way back from Spain. The Spanish had also started coming and had even started buying properties but this had stopped since the changes in the tax laws. They had a considerable vegetable garden and were very proud of their sweet pimentos which they used to make the popular local dish ‘piperade’ (a sort of ratatouille with tomatoes and pimentos) or they also put them in omelets or just in salads. As for our supper, we had little else other than a bit of cheese and wine left but it did the trick and we were tired after a longish drive.

Monsieur Barret, lovingly tending his vegetable patch at St Martin des Seignanx.

The left-over cheese and wine from St Emilion for supper.