This is the first of two days we will be spending here in Bordeaux. What is really cool is that because our ship is “small (750 passengers)” compared to most (2000-4000 passengers) cruise ships we are able to sail 36 miles up the river and dock right in downtown Bordeaux. Larger cruise ships must dock near the mouth of the river where it meets the ocean. As a result the only other ship in downtown Bordeaux was a riverboat. We had the city to ourselves.

Bordeaux is another example of a city that has reinvented itself in the past 25 years. Until then the area where we are docked was dominated by old warehouses and parking lots. The city decided to focus on tourism and wine and converted the riverfront to what it is today-a promenade for walkers, runners and bikers, grassy areas where one can picnic and enjoy the outdoors, restaurants and shops. They have done a beautiful job! Bordeaux has more than 350 historic monuments, making it, after Paris, the city with the most listed or registered monuments in France

I had signed us up for a 5 hour afternoon tour that would take us to the village of Saint-Emilion to see their underground churches and visit a local chateau for wine tasting. Unfortunately the temperature was expected to reach near 90 today and Yvonne thought it would be a lovely day to simply sit in her lounge chair on our balcony and read her latest book.  She had not started it yet because we have been too busy taking tours! I must admit it has been a hectic schedule with all the ports we have been visiting so I could not fault her decision.

 

On my tour I learned a lot about the wine industry here in the Bordeaux region. I had envisioned the “chateaus” we would visit would be immense homes and estates. Not so. A chateau here is simply a family home with 2-5 acres of vineyards. In fact laws require that the wines made by a chateau must come directly from its vineyards. I also learned that Saint-Emilion only produces merlot and cab franc based wines. Other regions in the area, such as Medoc, focus on Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Saint-Emilion is about 35 km east of Bordeaux and located on the right bank of the Gironde River. It is a small village with a population of about 1900 people. It is named after an 8th century monk who lived here. The wine making skills of the monks date back to that era and were famous by the 11-12th centuries! Our tour to the village was brief with a major focus on a visit to the remains of the 12th century monolithic underground church that had evolved from 9th century catacombs. It is the largest underground church in Europe.

From there we went to a nearby small family owned chateau (Chateau Cantenac) where the group had a wonderful tutorial on grape growing and wine making in the Bordeaux region. Their “chateau” (in which they live), is 150 years old and it is surrounded with their own vineyards.  Our American born hostess is the daughter-in-law of one of the owner’s sons. What made it unusual is her story of how she “acquired” that position. Turns out she came to the chateau as an intern as part her studies of vinology at UC-Davis. You can imagine the rest of the story. She gave us a quick study course on how they maintain their vineyards, a detailed story I had never heard before in any of my visits to wineries. She focused on telling us how the grow the grapes rather than how they make the wine. It was an excellent presentation. They are indeed a small winery, bottling only about 110,000 bottles/year, 75% of which is exported. We tasted their two merlots before returning to Bordeaux.

Because we were spending the night in port I had convinced our group that it would be fun to dine at a local French bistro rather than eati nag on the ship. I had researched good options months ago and made reservation at a small bistro called “Arcada”, which was highly rated by previous customers (it was listed as the #3 or 4 best restaurant in Bordeaux). We had reservations at 7PM (when they open). We are Americans and eating at 9:30 did not appeal to us.

Unfortunately because of the late arrival of their tour Dave & Gael Romoser were unable to join the 4 of us. After a hilarious (?) detour and $35 cab ride where we had to walk the last few blocks (because the building adjacent to the restaurant had started to collapse) we safely arrived at the very small (seating for 28) cafe where we enjoyed a marvelous 3 course French meal prepared with locally sourced ingredients. The limited item menu (3 appetizers, 3 main entrees, 3 desserts) was in French. Our waiter did speak a little English and part of the experience was trying to understand what he was trying to tell us about the dishes. We ordered a variety of items simply to see what we were getting. The presentation was artistic and needless to say, the food magnificent. Even more surprising was the meal with wine came to $60/person. Try that in Seattle or Austin we said. Rather than trying to navigate another cab ride we chose to walk back to the ship along the waterfront park that was crowded with late night revelers. It was a memorable evening.

Tomorrow is another day of sightseeing in Bourdeaux.

Steps today: 9319.