Bordeaux to “The Barge”

The city of Bordeaux is experiencing a heat wave.

We are the beneficiaries. Under the direction of a young tour guide from Germany by way of university in Bordeaux with a year in New York city to learn English we walked for two hours learning the history of the city while seeing many major landmarks.

The city has undergone a dramatic change in the past thirty years. The civic government took bold steps to have landlords clean the exterior of buildings which produced a dramatic improvement.

The next step was to create a pedestrian only section of the city to encourage tourist related services.

It worked beyond expectations. Now the city centre is full of tourists, restaurants and retailers. It was hopping early on a Saturday morning!

The history of the city is interesting and based in large part as a hub of the slave trade in centuries past.

Neo classic architecture abounds.

Centuries old buildings and monuments abound.

One final meal on the square.

The second part of our adventure began with a 45 minute ride south east to the start of the locks on the Garonne River.

The Saint Louis Barge is a luxurious hotel on the water. It accommodates up to six people in three bedrooms so we are the guest list (you must charter the entire vessel). A crew of four (pilot, hostess, chef and sommelier) are here to address any and all requests.

We will be onboard for the next week travelling along the canal as well as overland side trips to various wineries and local sites.

It’s going to be a tough week. After a champagne welcome (3 bottles) we were treated to an extraordinary four course gourmet dinner.

All in all a fabulous introduction to this phase of the holiday. Tomorrow we will travel overland to Saint-Emilion for a full day of visiting wineries and enjoying different tastings of their celebrated vintages. Thank goodness we are being chauffeured!