Road Travel to Bordeaux, France
Well, this was a big three days for us. We left Aranjuez early and travelled to Valencia towing the caravan. Our destination was to be Bordeaux (France). But before that, we need to get to Ventallo about an hours drive north of Barcelona. This is where we planned to store the caravan for three months and get it cleaned polished and serviced. To get there we planned two stops.
Our first night was just north of Valencia and unremarkable. Then a town called L’estartit which deserves a return visit, just south of Ventallo for the second. After a few wrong turns and rewinds to locate it, we left the caravan at the Caravan-Inn. They were very thorough with the paperwork and inspections so we are hoping to report back positively with the collection results. Then we headed north to Bordeaux and arrived at 5 pm that afternoon minus the caravan. Phew!! Our accommodation at the E-night apartment hotel was close to Bordeaux University on the south side of the city and right next to a Super-U. Easy.
A Day in Bordeaux, France
https://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/
Did you know that Bordeaux is the 9th largest city in France with a population of 250,000? Having been frequently told that if you want directions to travel into the centre of the city and the ‘must-sees’ ask a local. So we did. In our case our amazing friendly and very informative hotel receptionist. We followed her instructions and got a bus just outside the hotel to Peixotto tram station and from there we travelled to Victoire which is the old gate of Bordeaux. The old gate is situated at the end of the Rue Sainte Catherine, a walking street shopping mall.
Enight Apartment Hotel Bordeaux 
A waiting le Bus 
Old gate to Bordeaux 
Rue Sainte Catherine Shopping Mall
From there we visited Bordeaux Cathedral and City Hall (Hotel de Ville). Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best so my pictures are a little dark and as I couldn’t get a good picture of the cathedral I inserted one from the Bordeaux Tourism site. There is tons of history in this city and definitely should be on your itinerary.
Fabian outside City Hall (Hotel de Ville) 
Tram at City Hall (Hotel de Ville) 
Bordeaux Cathedral (courtesy of Bordeaux Tourism) 
The Ultimate Snack Bar 
Looking towards Weekend Markets from the Opera House
Off the Rue Ste Catherine, we cut across to the Cours de L’intendance where we found the very impressive and stately Opera House. Opposite this fancy building is an equally fancy Intercontinental Hotel, which made us think about food (probably because we forgot breakfast in our hurry to see everything). Luckily we spotted a festive market and headed through the security and ordered fish and chips. Yum. Of course, everything is yum when you are hungry. The market was located adjacent to the opera house, and I don’t know if it was just there for Xmas or a regular or even a weekend feature.
Cours de L’Intendance 
An Old Shopping Arcade (Gallerie) 
Typical French Restaurant 
Grand Theatre (Bordeaux Opera House)
From the opera house and weekend markets, we walked to the Monument aux Girondins. From what I understood this monument was erected in memory of the Girondin’s Deputies, a number of whom were executed in this square in 1794. Something to do with the French Revolution.
Monument aux Girondins 
French Architecture with the big head Art 
Cailhau Gate another part of the Original City Wall 
Le Mirroir d’Eau
From the Monument, we walked through a large antique market which took us along the river and up to Le Mirror d’eau. Fabian wanted to see this famous mirror image which has a thin water flow and reflects the local buildings in sunlit detail. Unfortunately, the weather took the view away.
We passed the Cailhau Gate on the way back to the Victoire train station and part of the old city wall and another gateway to Bordeaux. Our translation, which may or may not be entirely accurate said it is part of the Camino network of trails. Our leisurely walk had by then turned into a rush back to the station for the return sequence because the rain decided to come down harder than we wanted it to. We were, however, looking forward to a dinner shop next door at Super-U.
Sadly for us, it was closed, so we headed back out in the rain to forage for dinner and found a completely unmanned grocery store which was a weird experience. For us, it also turned out to be a frustrating one. Lots of abandoned items and unused self-checkouts because the call for help button obviously didn’t work without staff to help and re-set it.
