The Chateau in Bordeaux

We left Pamplona in a hurry with no place to go in Bordeaux. We pulled into town and ended up staying in an airport hotel that was awful. By some stroke of luck Bill found on the internet a Chateau just outside the city that was available for the next few days so we moved on quickly.

We drove north of Bordeaux through Bourg into serious wine country and the small town of Plassac. Our first view of the Chateau was from down below, and all we saw was a beautiful white castle. We drove up a narrow road and pulled into the Chateau Bellevue, which was even more immaculate up close.

We met Petra, a German living in France, who has owned and renovated the Chateau for about 8 years. It only opened as a bed and breakfast in April, so we were one of the first visitors. Also staying there was Petra’s daughter Mirja, her boyfriend Sebastian, and Petra’s friends Sabina and Jorg, all of whom were helping take care of the B&B in the first few months of its operation.

After we settled in we drove to nearby Blaye, where there was a weird carnival/festival that was pretty much deserted. Further along is the citadel which was built by one of the Henrys (VIII? XVI? Who knows?) to protect the shores of France, but now serves various purposes, like serving wine and crepes, and providing a beautiful setting for horse-jumping competitions. As you can guess, we drank some wine, ate some crepes, and watched a bit of a horse-jumping competition.

The next day we got a bit more adventurous and drove to St. Emilion, a small town about an hour away. While there we wandered the streets, did a little wine tasting, and watched as the Tour de France raced along. We ended up getting caught in the rain, so we headed back to our little Chateau.

The following day was French Independence Day, and Petra recommended that we follow them to a dune on the beach just south of Cap Ferret. We drove through a redwood forest and made our way to a huge dune (I’ve now seen a total of 1 dune, so I can only guess it was huge). From the top you can see the forest on one side, then straight down the middle it could be the Sahara, and on the other side were the clear blue waters of the Atlantic.

That evening they invited us to join them for a barbecue, and by this point it was just the 7 of us staying at the Chateau and the adjoining house, where Petra lives year-round. We had a fantastic dinner under the stars, and around 11:00 we heard the fireworks begin. We all made our way to the tower, which is the highest point of the Chateau, and could see at least 6 sets of fireworks going off along the horizon. It was a great night, spending French Independence with our new German friends.

The following day we drove back into Bordeaux for a bit of window shopping. There are so many stores there and so much to see, it was a lot like being in a large outdoor mall. The city is beautiful though. Bill and I had thought Bordeaux would be a small village lined with wineries, but the actual city is quite large and has been under renovation for some time, so it’s almost as bustling as Paris.

Wednesday was our final day at the Chateau, so we spent the morning at an outdoor market in Blaye, picking up food for a final barbecue before we left. When we got back we had nothing to do, so we did a whole lot of nothing. Just a bit of reading, sipping gin and tonics, and chatting with the Germans. We had a fantastic last dinner, complete with wine from the Chateau’s vineyard, and stayed up late in the night talking and enjoying what would surely be our last calm night in the country before moving onto Paris...