Of wine and toilets

After a very quiet night on the vineyard, we left early in the morning to drive the few kilometers to Bordeaux. My human had booked a walking tour at ten o´clock, starting at one of the largest city squares in Europe, namely Place de Quincoces, measuring 12 hectares. There used to be a palace in the 18th Century and it is now used for various forms of entertainment.

The fountain on the side of this very empty place

Monument aux Girondins

The best hotel in town

The tour guide was a young Indian, quite funny, studying to become a sommelier. During the two hour tour he dished out enough information to make anyone's head spin. After the tour, my human and a guy who also was on the tour went to the market, suggested by the guide, to find some lunch and they had nice food and a good conversation. Although the guy was American, but one of those with a brain. 

After retracing some of the earlier steps to get a second look at a few buildings, my human decided to come back to me early and we left the city to spend the night on another vineyard, close to the village of Saint-Emilion. The guide had mentioned it as one of the prettiest villages in all of France. Not that the parking lot close to the center of Bordeaux didn’t exude a certain charm, but…

There it is again, the Ferris Wheel

Many houses have these little doors on ground level. They are for rolling the wine barrels into the cellar. 

...this was better. Parked next to a little pond with only three other vans around, smash bang in the middle of hectares and hectares of soon to be wine. At dinner time to owner of the vineyard came around, carrying some bottles of wine. What a nice gesture, we thought. Well, the gesture cost 10 Euros, but hey, so be it. The quiet night in this location alone was worth it. The wine we haven’t tasted yet.

After some early morning Yoga we drove the 5km into Saint-Emilion. Home to around 2000 permanent residents and datint back to the 8th century. No wonder it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was still peaceful at 9 o´clock, which would change dramatically about two hours later. Which was when we left, of course.

I am kind of glad that my human doesn’t like red wine. If she did, we would probably never have left town and my parking spot next to the cemetary might have proven prophetic as well as fatal.

Not too sure what this little fella has to do with wine, but quite cool anyway

250 kilometers down the coast is the last real city efore you cross the border to Spain, Biarritz. A mecca for surfers from all over France and the neighboring Spanish regions. 

It’s very obvious here that the border isn’t far, there are suddenly many Spanish cars on the road and in town you hear the language on every corner. Finally my human could understand some people again!

The city is laid out between some low hills. Not so low if you are on a bicycle, but technically low. It stretches along the coast for a few kilometers, with the old center in the middle, of course. You can walk all along the coast on promenades, little terraces connected by stairways, all very nice and pretty. And full of people. It seems to be a bit of a fashion city as well, judged by the many shopping bags being carried around. And the smaller the bag, the more expensive the contents.

There wasn’t really any surf up, but still, there were lots of boards in the water. Most of them occupied by young kids, taking their first attempts at riding waves. The choice of surf schools seemed endless.

Beach art

How do you know a place is busy?

While Carmelo and my human were exploring the city, I tried to make the best of my parking spot. Which was on a municipal parking lot. It seems to be a law that these lots always cost 12 Euro and provide fresh water as well as disposal of waste and water. Some do have a toilet, which only the brave will use. 

This space in particular only had very few level spaces to stand. Most caravans carry leveling blocks for occasions like this. Not us. So the last, relatively, level spot was right next to said toilet and the disposal. Well, my sense of smell isn’t that keen, but still, it was not the most pleasant day I ever had. The night was OK, because no one was draining their waste water. Until the next morning…

...when my human went for a run and a shower at the beach, before returning to the city for some more walking and sight-seeing. The lighthouse and market still had to be checked out. After returning, we got rid of our wastes as well, did some cleaning and then headed off towards a new country!