Driving to Bordeaux, it suddenly began to sink in that it this was my penultimate stop before returning home and, having driven through France three times already, I was stopping for the first time for a good look around in Bordeaux. My campsite in the city was Camping Village Du Lac and I got on my bike and rode into the centre, pleased to have well respected cycle lanes once again.
As for the city itself, it is a basically a huge UNESCO listed world heritage site but it didn't strike me as anything that interesting - just a few nice stone buildings, grimy pedestrianised streets and neo-classical architecture sitting on the bank of a vast brown river. There are also numerous little towers which are now overgrown by their surroundings and squashed into narrow alleys which are way too small for them.
The skyline of the city is punctuated with several of these gothic towers - the biggest being the belfry next to the huge Cathedral of St Andre. There seem to be several other big churches and towers though which look like they could almost fit inside each other like Russian Dolls.
Bordeaux is also home to the CAPC Contemporary Art Museum. The building, a former warehouse, now houses a range of modern art currently including a few fabric sandbag forts and a class of children's drawings from the turn of the millennium in Kosovo which mainly feature tanks, blood, buildings on fire, or dismembered bodies - a strong reminder of the influence of the war there.
Right by the art museum is the Jardin Public, a big public garden with one of the river's small tributaries winding through it and surrounded by vast expanses of grass which must be a great escape in the summer months and a prime barbecue space. The neighbouring Girondins water feature/monument is another big landmark and a perfect reference point for navigating the city.
Well to be honest, Bordeaux was actually a little disappointing, grey and monotonous for the most part but now I am off to Paris which I know is anything but.
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