Day 16 - To Bordeaux

Our only early start for the trip, and that was only because I wanted to ensure we had time up our sleeve in case - just because of we are relying on public transport. We needed to catch 2 different trains today, one to Hendaye, a town just over the Spanish border in France, then catch a train to Paris, but we're getting off in Bordeaux. We had a 3.5 hr food and wine tour booked in for 4pm, so we needed to catch the 9.45 train out of Hendaye. We arrived in Bordeaux at about midday, after 2.5 hrs sitting backwards on the train all the way - disappointing.

It's great to be back into Air Bnb accommodation, as we've mostly been in hotel style rooms - this unit is a bit cute.

We rested up for an hour or 2 and headed into town for a look prior to our tour. Oh, it's lovely to be back in France, there's just something about it - the architecture, the plants, the food, the language - the pastries 😋. Look at this vanilla custard filled deliciousness.

The food tour was great. It was a small group of 4, the other 2 were an older American couple. They were pretty good for Americans 😂. They made it clear that they hated Trump and were most likely looking to move to Croatia if he wins!

The idea of the tour was that the guide Alex, would take us around to a few of the best shops and we'd pick items to finally eat at the wine bar at the end, with a few wines. She explained the shops and their artisans as we went. We started at a Boulangerie where she brought a piece of foccacia (because we said Italian bread was shit) and a Chocolatine (also known as a Pain Au Chocolat or a chocolate crossaint). She advised that it's safest to call it a Chocolatine in these parts. The foccacia and Chocolatine we for eating now and we got some bread and a baguette to have with the cheese.

Next stop was to try the best canele - a small French pastry flavored with rum and vanilla with a soft and tender center and a dark, thick caramelized crust. It was better than the one I'd previously tried, but the vanilla custard tart elwas much nicer.

Then the Boucherie for some meats. We got some Rillette de Carard (duck), some Jambon (ham), ans some saucisson (sausage).

Then to a Fromagerie (cheese shop), where we got 5 different types.

]

Which were all put onto platters.

And were enjoyed with a local Bordeaux white and red wine.

A lovely introduction to Bordeaux - which is shaping up to be a beaut city (almost like a smaller scale Paris). Having said that, Bordeaux has a very large uni - 54,000 students attend - so there is a large student population - so I imagine it's a very big party town too.