Dinans on the Road

Saturday through Tuesday, May 18 through 21

We drove from the Medoc into the lovely city of Bordeaux. (We won’t talk about how fun it was to be driving in a city and getting turned around a couple times. ☺️) We dropped off our car at the train station (we won’t talk about how fun it was to find the rental car return and get the car to the 6th floor of a parking garage!) and took a taxi to our hotel in the heart of the city—the area known as the Golden Triangle. We planned to see the city on foot or by tram.

We had visited Bordeaux in 2012, when our river ship berthed here several nights. So we had seen some of the city’s highlights, though briefly.

We made a quick visit to the Grand Theatre, which we had not seen before, except from the outside. It is only open from Wednesday to Saturday. We would be leaving on Wednesday morning, so this was our only window. We arrived too late for an English tour, so our look around was a bit on the minimal side. But at least we got to poke around a bit.

We also stopped in to see Eglise Notre-Dame de Bordeaux, another spot we had missed on our previous visit to the city. It is tucked in to a little square and has an interesting facade.

We then headed back to our hotel, and managed to get lost. This is a disturbing thing for a geographer-by-training, with a map in her hands. There were diagonal streets and circular plazas and streets that weren’t even on my map. We made it back to our hotel, of course, but let’s just say it was more of a scenic tour than we’d planned.

On Sunday, we explored the collection at the Decorative Arts Museum. We always enjoy this kind of museum—what we call a “house museum”—where we can see the decor and furnishings in a house of the period.

We then ambled toward the massive Cathedral St-Andre, which is on a very large square with the Palais Rohan (housing the hotel de ville, or city hall) on one side. An especially pretty spot. The cathedral is a stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, known here as the Way of St. James.

We had been watching some very dark clouds develop, and sure enough the skies opened. The cathedral was closed for lunch, so we took refuge in a nearby brasserie. We found ourselves seated in the midst of a group of musicians, both choral and orchestral, who were eating before they gathered to rehearse for a concert they were performing in a few hours time—Handel’s Messiah—in the cathedral.

When we eventually gained access to the cathedral, we were able to listen to the group doing warm-up exercises, being conducted by the fellow who had been at the table next to us. We got a pretty good idea of the marvelous acoustics.

The cathedral is a very impressive structure. It has parts dating from the 11th to 15th centuries, plus flying buttresses added later. Beautiful, intricate stained glass. In 2012, we had walked around it on the outside, but it was closed to the public because of a large funeral. We were glad to see the beautiful striking interior and the notable stained glass this time around.

We had a very wet and drippy walk back to our hotel, fortunately without unnecessary detours this time. When we arrived, our room had not been “freshened,” nor had a problem to which we’d alerted them in the morning been corrected. After we got their attention about our issue, they decided they would move us to another room—in fact, to a much larger and nicer room. We had to repack our things, which was not exactly what this drowned rat was wanting to do. I’m afraid I was a bit on the cranky side at this point. Nonetheless, off we moved to a room with a separate sitting room and a balcony with furniture overlooking the hotel’s pretty terrace. Also included in this room was a special small room with the biggest, round, jetted tub I have ever seen. An unusual use of space in a city hotel.

Our major plan for Monday was to ride the tram out to the Cite du Vin. This is always cited as one of the highlights of a visit to Bordeaux. It didn’t exist when we were here previously. And, Jerry being a certified “wine guy,” we of course had to make a visit. The rain was coming down in sheets, so we delayed our trek for a bit, but eventually got there. It was an interesting visit, though not something I would feel the need to do again, unless we wanted to take one of their classes or do a special wine tasting.

Our niece Jill and her husband Randy arrived around 7pm Monday evening. We caught up on the details of their trip from Portland (to Seattle to Frankfurt) to Bordeaux and then walked to a local brasserie.

Tuesday would be Jill and Randy’s only day to see Bordeaux. We wanted to introduce them to some the primary sights, then let them explore to their heart’s content. Our first stop was the Bourse, the first image that comes to people’s minds when they think of Bordeaux.

Then we walked to the Porte Cailhou, a triumphal arch built on the foundation of a medieval gate to the city. There are numerous old city gates ringing the old town.

And then we explored the St-Pierre district, the Place St-Pierre, and the St-Pierre church (another pilgrimage stop on St. James Way). Then the Place du Parlement, where we enjoyed some water and cold drinks.

Then Jill and Randy set off at a brisk pace to see numerous other sights around the city. Jerry and I strolled through a number of streets in the old town we hadn’t previously seen and even found a covered shopping arcade we hadn’t discovered on earlier walks.

The weather had been challenging at times, but we were glad that it cooperated for the short time Jill and Randy had for their discoveries. Such a beautiful city. We enjoyed just walking through the streets and along the Garonne River, taking in the pretty neighborhoods and the appealing architecture.

Monday to Friday, May 13 to 17

Yes, we certainly saw wine country while in the Medoc. But we discovered so much more than vineyards and wine chateaus. Much of it caught us by surprise.

On Tuesday, we drove north to the end of the road on the southern side of the huge Gironde estuary. Our first stop was the town of Soulac-sur-Mer. I had read about it in one of Mimi Thorisson’s books (“A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse” and “French Country Cooking: Meals and Moments from a Village in the Vineyards”) and thought it sounded like it would be an interesting visit. (In fact, it was reading these two books that piqued my interest in visiting the Medoc.)

What I hadn’t picked up on was that the town is an old seaside resort. I knew it was at the far end of this area and near the mouth of the estuary, but it hadn’t really registered that it’s on the Atlantic Ocean, with a vast and pristine sandy beach. This beach is actually part of the many miles of sand and dunes on this Cote d’Argent (Silver Coast) stretch of France’s Atlantic Coast, part of which we saw while in Cap Ferret earlier on this trip .

There’s lots of history of the shifting sands, the change of coastline and ports. There is a very old church in Soulac-sur-Mer that was almost completely engulfed by sand in the 1700’s and reclaimed in the 19th century. It is one of the sites on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

Since we were visiting so early in the season, there was hardly a person on the beach. There was a large lifeguard station, but it was all boarded up. There was a snack bar on the beach, but there were only a few brave souls out and about. It was beautiful and sunny, but the wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to maintain a stable stance for taking pictures. And the grit in our eyes and teeth and shoes and socks was evidence of sand on the move. There are also people whose job it is to sweep the sand off the sidewalks of the town. A rather never-ending job it would seem. The whole time we were there, a large earthmover was at work grading the sand on the beach. Not too clear what the ultimate goal was, but it too looked like an installment in some perpetual struggle against natural forces.

Soulac is filled with brick houses from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Most are named houses and have lots of tile details.

I have for some time known of a large lighthouse that is in the Atlantic at the mouth of the Gironde. One can take boat excursions out to it, weather permitting. I didn’t realize we’d be able to see it from Soulac. That was frosting on the cake. Cordouan lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in France. Formerly a part of the Pointe de Grave, it is now 7km off the coast. Construction began in 1584 and was completed in 1611. It is known as the “king of lighthouses” and “Versailles of the sea.” It is being considered for designation as a UNESCO site. So glad we got to see it.

From Soulac, we drove on to the literal end of the road at Pointe de Graves. From here, you can catch a car ferry to Royan on the northern shore at the mouth of the estuary. On this windy day, that looked like a bumpy ride.

Other points of interest on the Pointe de Grave were the lighthouse, a monument to American soldiers in WWI and German bunkers from WWII.

On Wednesday, the weather was supposed to stay nice (in the face of predicted rains coming our way), so we decided we would take a scenic driving route along the Gironde. We got to see a number of the ubiquitous fishing platforms of this area. We had seen them on the Gironde and the Garonne River as we sailed here in 2012, but it was fun to see them again, this time from land. They are all privately owned and can differ greatly, ranging from solid and new to funky.

This was the day we visited Chateau Loudenne (see earlier Medoc post), then drove further north to see a lighthouse. Along our route, we went through Port-de-By, which had a lock and a canal going out to the Gironde, and Port-de-Richard, which had another approach to the estuary.

On the way back to our hotel in Margaux, we stopped off in St-Estephe to see a church. Most we’d seen in the area had been locked up, but this one was open. And what a treat it was. Construction started in 1764, on the foundation of a Romanesque church.

On Thursday, we explored UNESCO World Heritage site, Fort-Medoc, built by Vauban in 1689 to rebuff the English as they tried to sail through the Gironde to get to Bordeaux, 98km inland from the sea. It is a star fort, but instead of being rimmed with walls, it is surrounded by a moat and essentially a dike. Rather unusual.

On Friday, we headed toward the Atlantic once more—this time to see a large freshwater lake with dunes sheltering it from the sea. We had had no notion of a big lake in the area, but could see it on the map. So, in the spirit of discovering a few nooks and crannies of the Medoc, out west we went.

Again, being early in the season, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. It is clearly a resort/vacation community, but most things were pretty shuttered. We walked along the lake and enjoyed the watery vistas and fresh air.

So, you can see we found lots more in the Medoc than vineyards. In fact, we spent the bulk of our time sightseeing not tasting. The area was rich in history and unexpected things and sites to discover. We had purposely given ourselves a fairly long stay here, in the hopes we could relax into it, so to speak. Think we checked that box.

Monday to Friday, May 13 to 17

In 2012, we took a Road Scholar tour of the Dordogne and the Bordeaux wine region. The Bordeaux portion of the trip was a week on a river ship. Each day we cruised to another Bordeaux region—wine classes as we cruised, followed by visits to wineries after we’d reached our destinations. It was an interesting trip and a great introduction to this huge wine region.

The Medoc has over 14,000 acres of vineyards, though it is just 5% of the vast Bordeaux wine region. Some of the finest wines anywhere can claim the titles of the eight appellations in the Medoc, and there are many village wines as well.

In 2012, we spent a total of one afternoon in the Medoc region. Two winery tours and tastings and a bus drive through some of the vineyards. We hoped to get a much better feel for the area during this visit

We drove through and by chateaus with names like Lafite Rothschild and Cos d’Estournel, and the vineyards of Margaux and St-Estephe, Listrac-Medoc and Moulis-en-Medoc, St-Julien and Pauillac. All very heady for wine appreciators. We saw lovely chateau after lovely chateau, and stretches of vineyards as far as the eye could see.

We drove through Pauillac several times. It is a port city on the Gironde estuary and is a major commercial center for the wine industry. In 2012, our river ship berthed here as a base for our Medoc exploration. It felt pretty gritty then, and our drives here confirmed that earlier assessment. But I assure you that it is preferable to visit by ship and on foot than it is to drive through this rabbit warren of narrow streets, even with SatNav on the job. After a few hairy experiences, we started avoiding driving through Pauillac even though it is at the center of the area we were exploring.

We knew we would see many but visit only a few of the legions of wineries. We were giving up our car at the end of our time here, so carting wine around was never in the cards. Nevertheless, we wanted to traipse about and see the area in a bit more depth than our earlier visit.

We saw a number of towers in the midst of vineyards and even came across a rather attractive windmill.

We visited the Chateau Loudenne, which was on a pretty site along the estuary.

Tastings here differ greatly from those we might be used to when we drop into a Willamette Valley winery. These are mostly family businesses, who happen to offer a tasting if you want one. At no place we visited did we share our tasting experience with other people. A person would appear or would be summoned to work with us. Usually someone who could speak English, though not always. Always two wines offered, usually with us selecting the two and no fees involved. Many of the more renowned chateaus are open only by appointment. Some offer guided tours for a fee.

We did a tasting in Listrac-Medoc at Chateau Fourcas Hosten.

Another day, another tasting.

We drove by this pretty chateau, but didn’t stop in. We later tasted their wine and decided this may have been a missed opportunity.

It was a pretty and interesting time of year to visit wine country. The vines are leafing out and showing signs of being quite lush. The vineyards were full of machinery and scores of people pruning unwanted growth. This is really big business here, and we got to see it when it was humming.

Our earlier tiptoe into the Medoc gave us a rough idea of what it was, but this exploration took us a lot further down the road, literally and figuratively.

Friday to Sunday, May 10 to 12

We sadly left the beaches and pines behind us and headed a few hours north. I figure that, if one is always sorry to leave someplace, one has made some good choices about where to spend time. That, at least, would be the half-full-glass interpretation. We have purposely given ourselves at least 3 days in each area we will visit, in the hopes of not having regrets based on not having enough time. In this case, it was regrets simply because the place felt so familiar and attractive, the sea air was so good. So that’s the right kind of regrets on leaving.

We traveled the length of Cap Ferret, skirted the metropolis of Bordeaux, crossed first the Garonne River then the Dordogne River. An hour later we were in Cognac country.

Only a few hours difference, but a world away. Cognac country is rolling hills, all lush and green at this time of year. Deciduous trees, agricultural fields. Vineyards and more vineyards. Old stone villages. Hence the reference to stones and vines. As we drove through the countryside, we kept seeing signs that said, “des Pierres et des Vignes,” of the stones and the vines.

On Saturday, we explored the Cognac region. We had to dodge some heavy rain showers, but the skies lightened up as the day went along.

We combined the more interesting features of a couple recommended drives. As much as we could, we followed the pretty Charente River, which is the backbone of it all.

We visited an old abbey and a couple 12th century churches.

We squeezed our way through some tiny village passageways and luxuriated in broad, open vistas. We saw both urban and country versions of the Charente. We saw bridges and locks (lots of locks!).

We saw miles and miles, hillsides, of vineyards. We saw warehouses and cooperage yards. The making of Cognac is definitely the local business.

We decided to visit the Cognac bar in our hotel at the end of the day, by far the prettiest room in the old chateau. We knew we would regret not experiencing a tasting in that elegant setting. Just to keep ourselves somewhat moderate, we shared a single tasting, which included one VSOP and two XO’s.

On Sunday—a windy but beautiful day—we planned to visit two of the Cognac “houses,” both located in old town Cognac. Martell (opening at noon) and Otard (opening at 2pm) were our choices, after reading multiple sources. The best laid plans….

Martell, it turned out, had opened at 10am—a bit early for Cognac tasting. Though friendly, they were not doing tours because of their renovations. A couple staff people carefully walked us through the many different Cognac products available. They would have happily done a tasting for us, but we decided to go up to the top of the building where they have a panorama bar. There, too, you can have a tasting. We opted to sit out in the sun on the deck, looking at the red tile roofs of the old town while sipping two of the numerous Cognac cocktails offered.

When we arrived at Otard at around 1:40pm, we saw a sign that an English tour had just started at 1:30pm. Obviously, they too had opened earlier than the listed time. The next tour in English was to be at 4pm. Fortunately, they allowed us to catch up to the tour. In truth, we’ve seen enough distilleries that there wasn’t really much new territory to cover—just lots and lots of stairs to various levels of cellars and history. We did learn that only 2% of Cognac production is consumed in France. Think about it. They have all this land and all these producers, warehouses, cooperages, etc., for something that is almost entirely made for foreign markets. That isn’t evident in the region, where a lot of that 2% must be consumed. Because every restaurant and hotel and brasserie is serving Cognac on its own, Cognac-based cocktails, or Cognac-enhanced foods and dishes.

This is amongst the prettiest wine regions we’ve visited—flower-filled stone villages, winding river, gentle hills, and, of course, more vineyards than we could count. A complete contrast to the Atlantic seacoast of our first few days. This is one of the things we’ve always loved about France: Each region is distinct. Here, within a few hours of each other, we’ve visited two unique-to-themselves areas.