It has been a fast two days of sightseeing and touring pars of Bordeaux and the surrounding wine country. Temperatures have been anything from windy with a bit of a chill to very hot and humid… and it’s all good considering I could be home in rainy Calgary! Regardless, we are enjoying new places with exotic sights and tastes. I will say though that not everything we have eaten has been great; such as sautéed kidneys that left me with a stomachache for two days. However, just skip a few meals and I am back to normal. Besides, is there anything that a little wine cannot fix? I don’t think so.
Thursday morning found us wandering an area around the corner and up a few streets; a place that brought back a flush of Tunisian memories of foraging and the souk. The shops, butchers, patisseries, little marché’s complete with harissa, it was as if I had stepped back in time. Talk about déjà vu moments! Then after winding our way through narrow streets, we happen upon the grand central market. What a feast for my eyes to behold! If there is one thing I love, it is wandering through a central market and seeing all the fresh foods. This is not from the hothouse; this is right out of the garden and onto your plate. The taste of such freshness…well, I do not even have words for describing it as I just turn into the proverbial Pavlov’s dog upon seeing it all.


Next stop on the tour of Bordeaux are the châteaux and wineries surrounding the area. We visited two of them. One a large facility, Château Gruaud-Larose, and the other, Château Baudan, more or less a family run business yet still managing to bottle 50,000 per year. An interesting fact of the wineries in France concerns the flowers planted beside the grapes. If you see red roses, then the wine will be red, and if you see white roses planted, well then, the wine will be white.



