Bordeaux Day 2
After an early breakfast we gathered our luggage and headed to our hotel which was a short distance from the cruise ship. Carting 2 suitcase a small soft sided bad and 2 backpacks over cobblestone streets, even for a short distance proved to be quite an endeavor. We were thrilled to arrive at the hotel and hand our bags over to the hotel staff.
The Hotel de Seze is a small hotel located in a great location in the old part of Bordeaux near lots of shops and restaurants. .Our room wasn’t ready so we waited in the lobby for a short while until it was time to head out to meet our tour guide for the tour I booked to the sand dunes of Arcachon Bay with lunch at an oyster restaurant. We had been to many wineries in the Bordeaux region between our last visit and yesterday so we decided to do something totally different. I had done some reading about the sand dunes and was really interested in seeing them. When I booked the tour I had no idea it was going to include actually climbing the sand dunes. More on hat later. Our meeting place was a 2 minute walk from the hotel in front of the beautiful Monument aux Girondins which sits in a large square.
Shortly after we arrived a young woman arrived who was also on our tour, followed by our tour guide, Fabien. We were thrilled once again to find we had another small group, this time there were only the 3 of us. When Fabien started to speak I got this huge smile on my face, His voice and use of English were practically identical to our good friend Sebastien who is also from France. Fabien’s voice was also low and strong, just like Sebastien’s. Later in the day we learned that Fabien is from Saint Malo which is about an hour’s drive from Sebastien’s home town.
We boarded a mini-van and Fabien provided us with some Bordeaux history as he drove by a number of different landmarks leaving Bordeaux. Our travels to the Dune du Pilat in Arcachon took about an hour. We passed by the largest forest of fir trees in France. The forrest was planned to help keep the sand dunes from blowing inland, After parking Fabien took out a backpack and a carrier with wine glasses, and said we would have a toast at the top of the dunes. As we approached the dunes we had to walk in the soft sand which you sink into with each step making walking on a horizontal surface a challenge. When we arrived at the dunes I could not believe their massiveness , nor could I believe that I could ever reach the top with built in steps (over 100). I never thought I could make it, and maybe it was the promise of a wine toast at the top, but we all did it. I couldn’t believe there were people making it to the top walking directly in the sand and then taking hikes way out into the dunes. Groups of school children were having a great time digging in the sand and rolling in it. A number of dogs accompanied people and the dogs had as much fun as the children. The pictures tell the whole story of our treck in the dunes. I’m glad I did it. the views were spectacular but I am suffering for it tonight.
After returning to the parking area and emptying about a cup of sand from each shoe, we got back in the van and traveled further south though an area with beautiful large homes. The area was not built up until the 19th century so unlike much of France we have visited, much of the construction is fairly new. Fabien told us that many of the super-rich people in France, and wealthy people from other countries own homes here. An interesting and somewhat morbid fact, the Spanish people who built homes here used blood from bulls used in bullfights as paint for the red trim.
We traveled further south to an area well known for oyster farming and fishing. We parked at the beginning of a pier that is lined with small shacks and a number of small oyster restaurants. The shacks are used by the oyster fishermen to store tools and equipment used to plant oyster beds and harvest them. Fabien explained that each day the fishermen bring thousands of oysters into the small inlet. Most of the oysters eaten in France come from this area and another up near Brittany.
We sat outside at one of the restaurants and enjoyed oysters, bread, pate and white wine. The oysters were medium size and not salty. They were delicious, As we sat down we could see that the tide was high and all of the boats were floating. By the time we finished eating the tide and totally gone out and all of the boats were sitting in sand.
After our lunch we took a walk down to the end of the pier and got to see the tools used in oyster farming and harvesting.. At the end of the pier we could see how far out the tide had gone.
I took a much needed nap on our trip back to Bordeaux. When we arrived back at our starting point Fabien offered to help us find shops to purchase some wonderful soft French cheese, a baguette and some wine to go with the cheese. He walked us to each of the shops and explained what we were looking for to each proprietor. He really went above what we expected but we were most grateful. This was our dinner for the evening. We were ready to just stay in our room and enjoy a quiet evening. On the way back to the hotel we passed by a cannelé shop where I picked up a few to have while we waited for our wine to chill. Cannelé is a pastry I really love and there is only one place I know of to purchase them at home.
Today was an excellent one, and the weather certainly cooperated. We heard it had been raining for a few weeks so we were quite fortunate,
Tomorrow will be our last day of vacation before heading back home.