We arrived in Bordeaux starving, and in need of some good food, per usual, so we got maps from the hotel and walked until we found the city center. On our walk we found cute gardens, tons of cafés, and rows of wonderful shops. With Cara being the foodie that she is, we read about 10 different menus before finally settled on Le Brasserie Bordelaise, an amazing wine bar and restaurant. Luckily, Cara's dad had done some research before the trip and had list of the top sites to see in the city. With the help of our map and talking to some very nice locals, we got to see The Place de la Bourse, the Notre-Dame church, and The Grand Theatre.
After a long day of exploring the city of Bordeaux, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and enjoy a glass of Israeli wine for "Shabbat" with Rabbi Greenstein. Dinner, of course, was one of the few things we actually had planned before coming on the trip. We ate at L' Oiseau Bleu, a fancy little boutique restaurant that presented us with works of art rather than food. Each course was so gorgeous and so delicious, and we would have never guessed what ingredients were in each dish if we hasn't known before hand.
Saturday morning we had some some girl time to drink coffee at a cafe and shop. These massive French sales are really killing us. If you are unfamiliar with these sales, they happen every year at the end of June and go on for a month. Every store has a sale (including all the designers) and most things go from 30% to 70% off. I promise I did not know about these sales when I chose to spend my summer in Paris! Needless to say we each left with a little "souvenir" from Bordeaux. For lunch we grabbed a cheese plate and cold gazpacho from Le Brasserie Bordelaise (yes, it was that good), and made our way to the tourism office for our wine tour!
We spent the rest of our day in the wine country in Saint-Emilion, tasting wines, visiting chateaus, and learning about Bordeaux wines. Rough life, I know. We all surprisingly learned a lot, and it's now safe to say that Cara and I are pretty much wine connoisseurs. We got to see two very different types of chateaus, a small family run vineyard and a large corporate vineyard. Chateau Mauvezin is winery that has been in the family for 400 years. We got to taste their three different blends of red wines, which is what the region specializes in. Chateau Soutard is a large, gorgeous chateau where we tried three more red wines. To our surprise, the wine tour also included a quick tour of the city of Saint-Emilion. We got to visit the largest underground church in Europe, which was carved out of a single stone, and is located underneath part of the city center. Our guide also taught us about Saint Emilion himself and showed us his place of meditation and the catacombs in which he was buried. The whole city is truly amazing because it is built on so much history, and has so much more to offer than just their wine.
Thanks to our food research that we did before the trip, we found the best little brunch spot in the city. We enjoyed our Sunday brunch at Plume Small Kitchen. This place has such great reviews for a reason. It was a set price for a set meal, so we had a gorgeous feast before our train ride back to Paris. Our plate included yogurt with granola and fruit, a scone, cheese slices, strawberry jam, a lemon poppyseed muffin, a vegetarian scrambled egg sandwich, beans, and more. For anyone traveling to Bordeaux, this little place is very highly recommended, but make sure you have a very empty stomach!
Judging by the food, the wine, and the historical sites, Bordeaux was a huge success!
No comments:
Post a Comment