Day 3, Down to the Iberian Peninsular (Bordeaux)

Bordeaux 

We arrived at Bordeaux, with no problems, well if you are using the French Motorways that goes without saying, they are well maintained and the rest areas frequent and clean. The campsite is situated near the Expo site, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing (the SATNAV was trying to take us in a different direction, but we followed the signs, I suppose the locals know where they have plonked their campsites.

Linda with her Salami

My cool beer

This is a 4 star campsite, very plush around a lake with its own ponds full with wildlife, Frogs, ducks and Muskrats (an introduced species from the new world). The bird life in the trees was amazing, not only at dawn and dusk but also through the night (Nightjars and owls) .

We had decided to stay 2 nights and spend the next day sight-seeing. The rest of the day was to be spent setting up the camper and seeing what was on the campsite.

 Next day we got up early as I had found a camper repair workshop, we had an early breakfast and got around to the workshop for 09:00, alas shut and barred, it does not open on Mondays, in fact a lot of places don’t open on Mondays.

So it was back to the campsite, set up the camper again and hot foot it down to the bus stop, to catch the number 73 bus to the Expo tram station and jumped on the €3,000,000 tram this is printed very large inside and also that the fine for not paying the €1,70 fare is €300, fair (fare) enough.

Monument aux Girondines

The Tram dropped us off at Quinconces, a large tree lined expanse right in the centre of Town. Very conveniently right next to the Tourist Information Office, we went inside and inquired about a open topped Red Bus tour, it started right outside the office and was leaving in 10 minutes, so it was outside and all aboard for the 10:15 bus tour with ear plugged English commentary, you  could have chosen from a dozen languages but we made do with our mother tongue. It was a very interesting and informative tour and well worth the €13,50. It took about and hour or so, taking in all of the major sights crossing the Garonne river twice.

A lot of the turbulent history was explained (a lot of it English) and the reason for the growth of the port (now no longer as this has been moved to the mouth of the river).

We alighted much better equipped with knowledge of one of the major wine growing regions of France. There was an antique fair set up on the Esplanade de Quinconces, rows and rows of antique , replica and modern furniture also a lot of bric-a-brac and tat. There was also a plant market which was much better but it would be a long trip for a few bedding plants as pretty as they were.

But our peckishness now took hold and we searched out a nice bistro,  and informed that it would be about 15 minutes, but take a table outside in the warming sun. We ordered a glass of very nice cold Rosé and along came the bottle of cold water (free). We ordered a mixed seafood and ham salad, when this came it was enormous, consisting of Pâté de foi gras, Slices of smoked ducks breast, Bayonne ham, Prawns, Whelks and a mixed Greenleaf salad with a mustard and honey dressing. It was all fantastic, Linda doesn’t like Whelks, all I can say is more for those that do, I ate hers. The wonderful thing about French Restaurants, they do not hurry you, there is no hovering waiter trying to get more bums on seats, the French would not put up with it!

Meal finished, we decided to visit some of the sights that we had seen that morning on foot as they required a closer inspection. First off, we walked to the large, new and closed shopping centre at the Grande Hommes. But we did have a nice ice (not ice cream) sitting in the sun outside.

The small one was mine

We then headed down to the Cathedral dedicated to St-Andre (Andrew), interestingly it like the other large Bordeaux church Basilique St-Michel has the bell towers not attached to the churches, it would seem that when they were built in the 15^th century the master masons thought it was too dangerous to attached it to the Cathedral as the thought it could pull the rest of the structure down if it fell (poor static engineers that’s all I can say).

The Cathedral of St-Andre saw two Royal Weddings, that of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Louis VII and that of Anne of Austria and Louis XIII. Our own Richard Coeur de Lion, spent quite a bit of time in the city, I think not as much as in the Holy Land but a bit more than he spent in London.

Next we went to one of the remaining original City gates, Porte Cailhau, this was a former defensive gate built between 1493 and 1496 in dedication to King Charles VIII of France for his victory over the Italians at Fornovo.

We then walked along what would have been the old quayside with its ware houses and merchants houses, all built in a similar style and all from a beige coloured stone and their small wrought iron balconies, very impressive. Passing the Place de la Bourse with its fountain displaying three naked muses and one corner of the crescent shaped  building that was the First American Embassy in the world, built shortly after the Americans had declared independence from GB.

By this time we were hot, bothered and foot weary so decided it was time to get a cold drink and catch the Tram and Bus back to the Campsite. We had a glass of Rosé and some cheese and hams and settled down for the night. Tomorrow we are off across the border to Spain and San Sebastian.

Day 2, Down to the Iberian Peninsular (Tours)

The Loir and Tours

We stopped at a very nice campsite in a small village not far from Tours, as you come off the Motorway and travel along the bank of the Loire you get a magnificent view of the Cathedral of Tours with its two massive towers and of as would be expected the Palaces.

The campsite was a very short distance out of Tours a very nice location and because it isn’t school holidays, quite empty. We didn’t do a lot just lazed around a bit, went and sat in the sun on the veranda of the restaurant and had a beer. Yes, this is holidays for us, I do the normal nowt and Linda doesn’t have to work!

We had done a shop on the way into the campsite so had plenty of fresh food, we put up the chairs and tables and Linda rustled up very nice salad and we ate a lot of very nice cheeses with crackers and crisp bread (we are on a health trip and cutting down on carbs).

No Sat Dish

Catastrophe! I went to put up the sat dish and it wouldn’t go up, it did move but then locked out after a few seconds, try as I might it just would not go up, was this to be the end of TV watching for 6 weeks?

Next morning was Sunday, what do you do when you get up on a Sunday, cook a healthy English Breakfast without the sausages and hash browns (they don’t belong on an English breakfast in any case).

Linda looking forward to a spot of Brekkie

We packed our external goods and chattels together (tables, chairs, power connections, etc), as we were running low on fuel, I put the 20ltr reserve canister into the fuel tank. Went to the sanitary installations, done what one has to do and then headed off in the direction of Bordeaux.   

The Palace of Amboise

Day 1 down to the Iberian Peninsular (Verdun)

A tour of the Iberian Wine Areas

This year we are off to Portugal, we regularly visit a wine merchant in Kiel and just prior to us setting off to the South, he held a wine tasting. This gave us some very good tips and ideas of the areas and the cities we would like to visit. I also wanted to go to some of the more out of the way Nature Reserves, these suited us very well as we would be coming from the North traveling South but not planning any thing South of Lisbon (Linda was flying home as she had to work, silly girl).

We set off on Thursday at about midday, this for two reason, the first being Linda had to work for a few hours and I had a clinic appointment for a scan on my shoulder. We headed off on the A1 in the direction of Bonn, arriving there just in time for dinner (good planning). Marga had made a wonderful meal, the boys had a few beers and the girls a few wines and then we hit the hay.

Morning arrived, as it does most mornings, we were up good and early as we are most mornings, up to the shower, down for the breakfast and then we hit the road in the direction of Luxemburg, for two reasons, one to fill up with cheap(ish) diesel and two it is the shortest route to the first real stop, Verdun.

Entrance to one of the underground galleries.

I have visited this City of Mayhem caused by man, the First World War, not with standing who was at fault, it was the start of the greatest bloody conflict known to man.

The Walls of the citadel

We first drove a short way into Verdun to visit the Underground Citadel, it has an interesting history, whilst playing a big part in the battle of Verdun it was built for a conflict long before that. The construction of the citadel began in 1623. The Kingdom of France was at had been at war with the Prussian Empire for many years which eventually lead to the defeat of France, they lost two of their states (Alsace and Loraine), making Verdun a front-line garrison city. Underground galleries were then dug under 16 meters of rock to store arms and men as a sudden reaction force if they were ever had need in a new conflict with there neighbours. The fortifications showed there worth in when in 1916 they became the Logistical Headquarters of the French Army.

In 1920 The French Unknown Soldier was chosen there in 1920 and remains of the soldier taken and buried under the Arch de Triumph in Paris.

We took a few photographs and then headed out of town via the Sacred Way, this is a road that led from the front line in Verdun out to the rear replenishment depots and barracks. Along this road came the ammunition and stores and troops in one direction and the dead, maimed and injured in the other. Today it is marked with white kilometre stones topped with a band vermillion and adorned by a small replica of the French Soldiers helmet.

Then it was onto the Motorway and through Orléans and onto our next stop near the City of Toures.