Anyone been to Bordeaux?

BRISTOL86

Planning a short break in September with the fiancée - has anyone been? Happy to hear any recommendations!

Thanks

Axe_meister

I've been to the bottom of many a bottle of Bordeaux.
Great part of the country great wine.
Hope you speak French as very few speak English in that part of France

octatonic

Axe_meister said:

I've been to the bottom of many a bottle of Bordeaux.
Great part of the country great wine.
Hope you speak French as very few speak English in that part of France

... and even if they do, they won't.

EricTheWeary

No. Hopefully we will be just north of there this summer. I've been to places that don't look that far away on the map but are probably 4 hours drive.
How are you getting there? 

victorludorum

BRISTOL86 said:

Planning a short break in September with the fiancée - has anyone been? Happy to hear any recommendations!

Thanks

Yes, it's a great place that I'm sure you'll love. The only thing I will say is that if you're expecting sun, sun, sun, because it's in the 'south of France', you might be disappointed as it rains quite a bit. That's why the wine is so good! You should be ok in September though as that is still summer territory, which tends to be dry and hot.

Moe_Zambeek

I've passed through - St Emillion isn't too far from Bordeaux and worth a visit.

BRISTOL86

Thanks all! Don't speak French aside from absolute basics from GCSE days, but not sure how much use 'my brother Claude lives by the mountains' will be in a real world scenario.

I'll just point at things and grunt. Seems to work for the French so maybe they'll think I'm a local!

We'll be pretty much just eating, drinking and mooching round so chilled about how the weather will be though of course dry is always a bonus!

@erictheweary we are flying there. 

FX_Munkee

BRISTOL86 said:

Thanks all! Don't speak French aside from absolute basics from GCSE days, but not sure how much use 'my brother Claude lives by the mountains' will be in a real world scenario.

I'll just point at things and grunt. Seems to work for the French so maybe they'll think I'm a local!

We'll be pretty much just eating, drinking and mooching round so chilled about how the weather will be though of course dry is always a bonus!

@erictheweary we are flying there. 

just point and - "l'un de ces, s'il vous plait".
Bordeaux is nice, good eating and drinking. Also pretty compact.
Another bonus is the tiny airport, much quicker to get in and out of.

victorludorum

BRISTOL86 said:

Thanks all! Don't speak French aside from absolute basics from GCSE days, but not sure how much use 'my brother Claude lives by the mountains' will be in a real world scenario.

I'll just point at things and grunt. Seems to work for the French so maybe they'll think I'm a local!

We'll be pretty much just eating, drinking and mooching round so chilled about how the weather will be though of course dry is always a bonus!

@erictheweary we are flying there. 

Plenty of people speak English in Bordeaux. You'll have no problems in restaurants and bars.

exocet

I went there twice - once on a Rugby "tour", the other time was 2 years ago with the family. Enjoyed both times.
Can't remember exactly what we did or where we went though......especially "on tour"!

EricTheWeary

BRISTOL86 said:

Thanks all! Don't speak French aside from absolute basics from GCSE days, but not sure how much use 'my brother Claude lives by the mountains' will be in a real world scenario.

I'll just point at things and grunt. Seems to work for the French so maybe they'll think I'm a local!

We'll be pretty much just eating, drinking and mooching round so chilled about how the weather will be though of course dry is always a bonus!

@erictheweary we are flying there. 

Ahh, I've always driven into France and Bordeaux is a long way down. 
Eating out is expensive now but look out for plat d'jour or prix fixe. 
When you've had enough amazing classic French architecture the weird bridge at Pont Jacques Chaban Delmas is something different to look at and just up the road from the German submarine base which, apparently, is an arts centre these days. I don't know if I'd be able to sell that to MrsTheWeary as a day out though. 

https://bobblepic.com/images/2017/03/21/IMG_1138.jpg

Nitefly

"Le singe est dans l'arbre" - Eddie Izzard.

Nitefly

Also, "Ou est la plume de ma tante?" - my French grammar book c. 1961.

FazTheWookie

Moe_Zambeek said:

I've passed through - St Emillion isn't too far from Bordeaux and worth a visit.

Wonderful winery - had lunch on long, trestle tables next to the vines in glorious sunshine, sipping their gorgeous, syrupy dessert wine.

revsorg

We went on our honeymoon to a friend's cottage near Bergerac 25 years ago - it's in the Bordeaux region.  That was the second time we visited so it was obviously worth returning to.  I suppose some things will have changed since then but this is what I remember:

Wine related - obviously it's a great place to go if you like wine, which I do. We visited a lot of vineyards. We went on a tour of a grand one in St Emilion which was very memorable. But we also visited tiny vineyards and bought just a couple of bottles.  A bit like touring distilleries in Scotland, you tend to end up a bit pissed, and there's usually a long way to drive.

Armagnac related - before going we learnt about the relationship between brandy and Armagnac, and found it interesting.  We visited a vineyard, asked about the damage to one of their buildings and they explained it was from the war because they colluded with the Germans.

Visiting the seaside - we didn't do this enough - travelling straight out West from the city of Bordeaux you reach what turned out at the time to be a nudist beach.  Not my cup of tea, and it was a bit embarrassing all the naked people frolicking around us.  I felt very British.

Bordeaux - the city - it was alright - I remember a fountain and some shops.  I may have been a bit drunk.

Getting there by car - the first time we went we drove down from Calais through Paris and taking the seemingly obvious direct way.  It took bloody hours with an infinite number of villages with traffic lights.  We returned via the seemingly indirect autoroute and it was brilliant.  The next time we went via Cherbourg and used autoroutes which was great.  If I was doing it again I'd drive maybe a BMW or Mercedes.  Something that cruises fast.

Other things I remember include farmers markets where you can buy local produce like cured meats and stuff.  And in the dark back bedroom of our cottage lived a terrifying centipede thing so we locked the door and didn't go in there.  Still, that was 25 years ago, it's either mated with other centipedes and the whole region has been taken over, or there has been some kind of battle between humans and centipedes and the whole region is some kind of post-centipede-battle wasteland which is safe for tourists to visit.

I just asked my wife and she said "lizards, we made melon icecream, discovered that eating artichoke isn't worth the effort, and I was horrified that you'd never gutted a fish before".

Richardj

It's a nice part of the world. We live an hour and a bit East and South of Bordeaux, although my partner's family had a house near Bergerac before moving down here.

It is busy like any other city and if you are contemplating driving anywhere avoid the periphique (ring road) at all costs at morning, lunchtime and evening rush hours. It's mental!

Moe_Zambeek

Richardj said

It is busy like any other city and if you are contemplating driving anywhere avoid the periphique (ring road) at all costs at morning, lunchtime and evening rush hours. It's mental!

Yes...I found the ring road mildly terrifying when we ventured onto it....and that was mid-morning!

dogload

revsorg said:

We went on our honeymoon to a friend's cottage near Bergerac 25 years ago - it's in the Bordeaux region.  That was the second time we visited so it was obviously worth returning to.  I suppose some things will have changed since then but this is what I remember:

Actually, it's in The Dordogne. Sorry*


*Pedantry ed.

revsorg

dogload said:

*Pedantry ed.

Actually I'd describe it more as an exacting scrupulousness.

dogload

revsorg said:

dogload said:

*Pedantry ed.

Actually I'd describe it more as an exacting scrupulousness.

That has always been my undoing!

BRISTOL86

Thanks for the pointers guys