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Post by whatagain on Dec 8, 2021 15:50:21 GMT
I was not supposed to be in Bordeaux, having my flight back at 7 am.
But had to change it to 6 pm, so took the bus to Bordeaux this morning.
The city is splendid, mostly built from 12th century, with some remnants but most of the building date from 16th to 18th.
The king of France wanted to erzse 300 years of english domination so put some nice monuments and the Bordelais wanted to please him so built statues and such.
Note that the horrible british domination ended in 1453 (same year as the fall of Constantinople).
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Post by whatagain on Dec 8, 2021 17:00:30 GMT
Pocs will have to wait. Wifi is too weak...
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2021 17:07:30 GMT
Looking forward to the pictures, Whatagain. I enjoyed the historical introduction.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 8, 2021 17:27:50 GMT
Pocs will have to wait. Wifi is too weak... you have the pocs? Nasty... |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 8, 2021 23:58:56 GMT
Will have to check what a poc might be. Seems truculent...
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Post by lagatta on Dec 9, 2021 3:48:29 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 7:27:30 GMT
Yes Lagatta, and the trams are splendid.
but i chose to walk.
I 'feel' a city much better walking.
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Post by bjd on Dec 9, 2021 7:49:09 GMT
Yes, Bordeaux is a nice place to walk around and it's the best way to discover a city.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 9, 2021 11:10:39 GMT
I'm sure you would like the Cité du Vin.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 9, 2021 15:26:23 GMT
I suppose that was addressed to all of us?
Yes, of course discovering cities entails walking through them.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 19:15:26 GMT
The bus from the airport dropped me at the trainstation.  Nit unlike a lot of old european bug trainstation.  This is diffetent. Central hall. Art nouveau influence, but not that gifted architect.  Tbe streets. I love to take pics of old streets.  It was raining.   Arriving to main square or at least a large square.  Panorama of the square. Humid.  The other side.  The spire is the largest of Aquitaine. Built just after Birdeaux returned to the kingdom of France.  |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 19:26:23 GMT
Did i say i love old buildings ? All stones in Bordeaux have the same dimensions : 32.4x32.4x62.8. So 3 blocks in height means one meter. There were up to 600 quarries at the end of medieval times.  The basilica, just on the right of the building above.  The organs are just magnificients.  Another street.  A s.all place, combinjng ild and new.  I would say an arc of triumph.  The whole street facing the Gironde is made of hotels particuliers. These are curved to allow access to yhe city.  I liked that bridge.  A view from tbe bridge.  |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 20:59:33 GMT
What those old buildings look like when in need of repair.  The roof of the same building. Note tbe chimneys on thecother side of the street, some old, some repaired, some rebuilt.  The porte du cailhou. Former part of the walls. The Gironde, at high tide would come to its feet.  There used to be a wall there, and soldiers were accessing it via the door.  Second floor of the tower. Or third for americans. Splendud ceiling.  Last floor.  The quais along the stream.  I liked the fox. I also liked this intrusion on the old facades.  |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 21:07:53 GMT
One of those houses with an angle like the prow of a ship.  An old theater. Not too old but not a theater anymore.  The Bordeaux theater. Impressive.  Reconversion into a movie theater.  Main street.  Place des grands hommes. The one mentioned in Bruel's song ?   Did i say i like old streets with old buildings ?  Bell tower. I didn't find the entrance and my feet would not have accepted to climb.  |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 21:13:48 GMT
Going back towards the trainstation, this neighbourhood seemed less attractive.  And the market next to it was not the nice place i expected it to be. From there it went downhill, both geographically and in terms of gentrification.  When there was an old beautiful market one block away. Transformed into social municipal facilities.  Back to the station, i wanted an onion soup in that café. Had to leave 25 min after waiting time or i would have missed my train.  |
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Post by whatagain on Dec 9, 2021 21:21:03 GMT
Bonus track. I spent the night before at Libourne, 50 kms away. This is main square of the town.  It was 6 pm, dark, rainy, wet, but beautiful.  The sides look like a bastide. You can walk all sides protected from the rain. I have seen several similar towns in Provence, but to protect from the sun.  Did i say i love old buildings ?   And an okd tower, overlooking a door. The door would have a 'herse'.  Same from further away.  |
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Post by fumobici on Dec 9, 2021 22:03:45 GMT
Thank you, Bordeaux is on my list. Beauty and grandeur Paris could never hope to match (in photos at least), must be the English influence!  |
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Post by questa on Dec 9, 2021 22:10:01 GMT
Great pics, whatagain. I specially like the ones where the ground is wet and the light bounces back with reflections. Don't mind Mick and his comments, he is just in a mood because England is not doing so well as Oz in the cricket!  |
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 10, 2021 4:26:08 GMT
It's nice to see Bordeaux in the rain. I've always had the misfortune of seeing it on sunny days. And I've eaten at the Café du Levant. It always looks like the place to go when you are next to the train station.
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Post by bjd on Dec 10, 2021 7:06:17 GMT
Nice to see your photos, Whatagain. I recognize quite a few of the streets although one or two of them seem to have been pedestrianized since I was there 2 years ago. In the local paper (SudOuest), I saw that a few old houses in the small streets between the train station and Saint Michel have collapsed in the past year or two. When there is no gentrification, rents are low and landlords don't bother with upkeep.
I think the arcades in Libourne are to protect from sun in summer as well as rain in winter. It gets really hot in the area -- this is becoming a problem for winemakers.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 10, 2021 7:59:43 GMT
Great pics, whatagain. I specially like the ones where the ground is wet and the light bounces back with reflections. Don't mind Mick and his comments, he is just in a mood because England is not doing so well as Oz in the cricket! You might want to review your cricket comment questa...😊 |
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Post by questa on Dec 10, 2021 12:09:53 GMT
ER, ahem...cough cough. Your batsmen have dug right in, haven't they?...and it is not that the bowling has been bad. or fielding, It seems as though your guys are reading the bowling too
easily. It is a funny old game though, as they say.Who knows what Sunday will bring.
Barmy Army in good voice and plenty of them.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 10, 2021 13:39:22 GMT
As a little supplement to whatagain's great report, I should mention something that he could not see. After last year's municipal elections, the Green party won a number of major cities including Bordeaux. The Greens have been around for several decades but were not very successful until recently, so they have less experience with public opinion than the other parties. Anyway, last year the new Green mayor of Bordeaux announced that there would be no municipal Christmas tree because it was out of the question to display a "dead tree" as a holiday symbol. There was not only citywide but also national outrage for a variety of reasons which I doubt that I need to elaborate. But he stuck to his guns, and there was no tree.
This year, the city has come up with a compromise, and Bordeaux is the perfect city to illustrate the traditional French expression "mettre de l'eau dans son vin" (to dilute one's wine) since it is the wine capital of France. The expression does not refer to any sort of alcohol swindle as one might suspect but instead just means to tone down something that one has done that was perceived as excessive.
So Bordeaux will have an artificial Christmas tree this year made out of recycled steel and glass, designed by a local artist. The photo does not look awful, but I must reserve my opinion until the day I see it in person, if I ever do.
As for the other Green cities such as Strasbourg, Lyon, Grenoble, Poitiers, and many smaller ones, they are still using real trees, the biggest one always being Strasbourg ("capital of Christmas" according to their slogan). However, one change that has occurred in a number of these cities is that foie gras is no longer served at municipal receptions. Ha ha, it is still served in Bordeaux because it would be regional heresy not to do so. The Greens have definitely learned to dilute their wine.
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 10, 2021 13:44:33 GMT
It is a funny old game though, as they say. Said about football, not cricket. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2021 19:46:28 GMT
It certainly is and you were certainly inspired by it! I really enjoyed the tour you gave us and your photos are wonderful -- some great angles and shots, including some very atmospheric wet ones. To me even the parts you said were less attractive seemed quite pleasant to me. I guess you were spoiled by all the grander parts. Thanks for the bonus pictures of Libourne, too. It's lovely that you take the time to do these reports when you're working and very beneficial to superficial tourists like me, who probably would never have heard of this town otherwise. |
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 10, 2021 20:22:10 GMT
Perhaps whatagain will reveal the special significance of Libourne in Europe, assuming he is aware of it. Hundreds of thousands of letters will arrive there this month.
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Post by questa on Dec 10, 2021 21:12:12 GMT
Said about football, not cricket. I hear it often in the ABC/BBC commentary on the cricket...like a few days ago, domestic day/night...Team A had it in the box until the last ball of the last over when team B, which had trailed, hit a single and won the game. |
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Post by tod2 on Dec 11, 2021 9:29:12 GMT
Whatagain your photo-essay is terrific. I never knew Bordeaux was so interesting. Thanks for showing us. Sorry about the onion soup but maybe you will make it at home - and it will be excellent!
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Post by whatagain on Dec 20, 2023 14:34:36 GMT
Here i am again in Bordeaux in December. i came by car so had to park close to but not in the pedestrian center. so I walked through nice non touristic blocks  Ok I confess I am always amazed by old towers.  This time I entered the nice church next door. Sober.  Closer to the center and there might have been shops.  I like to take a panoramic view from time to time. due to the symmetry this one looks good I think.  At last in the commercial zone.  The Theater.  Some Bordelais seem to think they are still British !   This church or cathedral or basilica is strange in the sense that the main entrance is actually on the side.  We call this a tympan. This one is superbly decorated.  And the Hotel de Ville.  |
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 20, 2023 17:33:39 GMT
It looks super nice for December rather than "winter dismal." The Green mayor wasn't kidding, though, when he came about against the "waste" of municipal Christmas decorations. He is a bit of a grinch.
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