4-8
We arrived at Hotel Valance, which, is actually a hotel management centre, so there are trainees to be aware of and the service is of a very high standard. The room is ultra modern and they are eco friendly here for the most part. Breakfast needs to be chosen from a list and the card put on the door handle outside your room before 4am each night. We dashed off to an amazing Moroccan restaurant, which was very cheap and the food was fabulous - a rare find. We both savoured the lamb tajine served as it should be and I tried some Moroccan red wine (despite advertising Bordeaux red, they didn't have any, which was no big deal - I'd get another chance to try it tomorrow).
5-8
My impromptu walking tour of Bordeaux largely came about due to the fact that I learned of the UNESCO world heritage status that the city has as the largest in France; it encompasses a great many 19th century classical buildings. We began at the Halles des Chartrons (1869) - currently being used as a COVID testing centre, this place was formerly used as for selling wine, which should come as no big surprise, the 18th century Customs museum at Hotel des Fermes du Roi in Place de la Bourse, which was disappointing; the outside courtyard area was moderately interesting, but I got told off by a museum guard for being in a restricted area. By the looks of things, my French was at least good enough to get me into trouble. Her colleague, who is a Customs officer/ museum guard, wore a hat that looks distinctly like one worn by the foreign legion. Then there is the fairy-tale like gate Porte Cailhou (1495), where they used to have a prison, the 15th century Grosse Cloche belfry, the Cathedral St Andre (built in the 12th-14th centuries), and the Grand Theatre (1870), which is opposite the Intercontinental hotel (alas the marble room that can be seen normally was off limits). Oh and we stopped for a bite to eat at the very reasonable organic fast food placed called Bio Burger.
We had a time out from the architectural tour at the Musée Beaux Artes (1881), where we gawped at Renoir, Delacroix, Picasso and others at the rear of Palais Rohan (1784). There was a slight misunderstanding with regards to our many tickets we bought - a driver had added up how many we needed for two people without making it clear - so we bought twice the amount we needed (We ended up giving the excess ones to a receptionist at our hotel). We took a bus to Cité du Vin, a modern mecca for wine lovers, who wish to learn more and sample the delights the city is famous for. We didn't fancy the audio guide and felt that the 20 Euro admission price was rather steep, but of course, we enjoyed sampling the vino upstairs - I had a claret and babe tried a white wine, both from the area. There are lots of displays and videos if you have the patience for it, though without the audio guide its nothing special. Back in town, dinner was at La Belle Epoque at the docks and the service, run by students it seemed, was abysmal; as a redeeming feature, at least the duck was well cooked.