The world renowned wine capital of France offers more than the excellent, top-notch bottles of your favorite vin. Captivating sceneries. UNESCO World Heritage Sites ( Place dela Bourse, Port of the Moon ). Elegant architecture that goes way back to the 10th century. First rate museums. Superb cuisine with a lot of cafes to choose from and of course, wine bars! And needless to say, the beautiful vineyards of the quaint town of Saint Emilion.
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| Place de la Bourse |
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| Opera National De Bordeaux |
Bordeaux is in the Southwestern part of France and can be found in the Aquitaine region. We took the hi-speed TGV from Paris' Montparnasse station. It took us just 3 hours , a baguette with salmon and a couple of macarons before we reached Bordeaux's Gare Saint Jean.
After checking in our hotel , went straight to Place dela Bourse and Saint Catherine. It's so easy and relaxing to move around the city because of the tram.
Place dela Bourse is the symbol of Bordeaux and is one of their Unesco world heritage sites and it's no surprise why. It's so beautiful specially at night when the lights are on! It's across the Mirror of Water adding drama to the effect of seeing its reflection..
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| Place de la Bourse |
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| Miroir d 'eau des quais ( Mirror of Water) |
Saint Catherine is the commercial area and center of most activities in Bordeaux. Most of the shopping and eating are done here hehe..
One hole in the wall restaurant is Pepperoni .It serves good pizza and pasta for a very good price. Since it's a small place, the tables are so close to each other and without intending to, you will hear the conversation of the customers beside or behind you.
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| Spaghetti Pommodoro and Seafood Pizza | | |
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The pizza and pasta were very, very good, as you can see from my delighted face.
If you're craving for macarons, chocolates and other desserts, Maison Larnicol is the place to go ..
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| she can understand my kindergarten French haha.. | | |
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The macarons were perfect in every bite.
If you're craving for something heavy, there's the elite doner kebab. It was huge and tasted well.
The weather was perfect, you can stroll around the city in your flip flops while enjoying the chill out vibe. It gets cooler at night though with the breeze coming from the Garonne River.
Of course, the highlight of the visit to Bordeaux was the vineyard tour and the degustacion ( wine tasting) . We're wine lovers so it was really a treat to visit an old world vineyard in the town of Saint Emilion. Saint Emilion is a two hour ( or was it just one? ) bus ride from the city.
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| Saint Emilion |
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| an excavated 10th century cathedral |
Saint Emilion is a such a charming quaint town! I love the skinny cobblestoned streets lined with cute stores and confiseries. They even have their own version of the macaron but I still prefer the Parisian version.
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| a risky way to buy macarons, notice how steep it is |
They have an official dessert which is really delicious, its called canele de Bordeaux or simply canele...It's a tiny cake , size of a muffin which is like a butter or vanilla cake but softer and coated with a slightly crunchy caramel shell. It looks dark at first glance but really yummy!
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trying the canele
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The much awaited vineyard tour and wine tasting. It is a sacrilege not to have vin when you're in Bordeaux.
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| Tobias, the Italian sommelier |
Roll out the barrel of fun... the aging process...
The wine tasting begins. We tried a variety , from various appelations and years.. Sigh!!! A la votre!
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| the best we've tasted |
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this is good too
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It was an afternoon of vin, vin and more vin! More at the bar a vin...
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| vin heaven |
Aside from the bar a vin and the cafes, there's a lovely garden perfect for an afternoon chill out wine run..
Whether you're after the wine, the food , the sights, the cultural exchange or the shopping , you will always find something interesting to do in Bordeaux. A vortre sante!
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