Sept 18th – Bordeaux

Day 5 – Wednesday

Mornings require coffee…which meant a stroll to McDonald’s for a couple of tall ones to get the body moving. However, a slowly-awaking Bordeaux begged to be explored in the soft morning light…and so I detoured a bit before returning to the room.

Château Mouton Rothschilds winery in the Medoc
Our morning had but one item on the agenda: visiting the Château Mouton Rothschild winery in the Medoc. With world-acknowledged wines of exceptional quality, Château Mouton Rothschilds sits comfortably among the top five wine makers heading the Bordeaux Classification. What is that, you may ask? More on that tomorrow. 

Who would have thought that visiting a French winery in 2024 would conjure up a nostalgic connection to the ‘70s for me. One of my favorite (memorized) cast recordings from the early 1970s is The Rothschilds, a musical retelling of how the Rothschild family banking dynasty came to be founded. As the story unfolds, Meyer Rothschild sends his sons to various courts and financial centers, where their fortunes increase. One of those sons and the musical’s romantic lead, Nathan, is sent to England where he establishes the Rothschild & Sons Bank. And, in 1853, said Nathan  purchased a Bordeaux winery, rechristening it the Château Mouton Rothschild. And here we are today. 

We toured their facilities from the fermenting barrels on the upper level to the aging barrels in the catacombs. 

We were given rare access to their private museum, The Museum of Wine in Art, built to display works accumulated by the family over the centuries. As its name implies, the common thread for inclusion in this collection is that each work has a depiction of or connection to some aspect of wine and/or winemaking. Unfortunately, photography of the displayed art work was not permitted.

This association with art and artists extends to their signature wine labels as well. Each year, the label of one of their reds contains a reproduction of a commissioned work of art. Past labels have included works from Miro, Chagall, Koons, Haring, Picasso, Dali, John Houston…even King Charles III. While the artist has complete creative freedom in their design, it’s grapevines, wine consumption and the emblematic ram that most frequently show up as the subject of their submitted work. (My birth year, 1953, was an exception. That label celebrated the 100th anniversary of the winery’s purchase with a contemporary portrait of its then-new owner, the Baron Nathan de Rothschild.) 

Our visit wrapped up in their tasting room sampling three of their wines, vintages from 2015, 2016 and 2018. Each was exceptional. 

We returned to the hotel, with the afternoon ours to discover the streets and sights of Bordeaux on our own.

But first, there’s the stomach to contend with. Joined by Peg and the Rosenbergers, we set out to find a small cafe for a bite before scouting out the town’s sites. The first spot had stopped serving, but the server recommended another cafe just down the street that served throughout the day and that they themselves frequented.

Set on a street corner that faced a small pedestrian square, the cafe had available outdoor tables for us. We ordered some croque monsieur and madame sandwiches. Once finished, we split up to explore or return to the hotel. Rob and I embarked on a self-guided introductory walking tour of “the” sights of Bordeaux.

Our Tourist’s Tour of Bordeaux

Place de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Square)

Place de la Bourse is a bit like Bordeaux’s welcoming front courtyard. It was designed between 1735-1738 in the Neoclassical architectural style by the most prominent architect of the Versailles Palace, Jacques Gabriel. However, he died before construction could begin and the project was undertaken and completed by his son, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, in 1775. 

The buildings that embrace the royal square include the central pavilion, the Palais de la Bourse and the Hôtel Fermes. The latter two have been repurposed as the Chamber of Commerce and the National Museum of Customs.

Prominent in the Place de la Bourse is the Fountain of the Three Graces. The three figures represented are daughters of Zeus: Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. Interestingly, this fountain is not original to the square. It replaced a statue of Napoleon in 1869, which itself was a replacement for the original statue of Louis XV who was removed for obvious reasons.

Le Miroir d’Eau (Water Mirror)
Between the Place and the river is the Miroir d’Eau (Water Mirror). It is the world’s largest reflecting pool and one of the most photographed spots in Bordeaux. And it’s not just a static space. Every fifteen minutes, a fine layer of steam rises up, rolls across the dry granite slabs, and then dissipates, exposing a pool now filled with 2 cm. of reflecting water. 

Having taken in the most impressive and expansive sight in Bordeaux, we continued walking under the guidance of a pre-formulated tour from the GPSmyCity app. We visited three former city gates: the Porte Cailhau or Palace Gate, the historic city gate of Bordeaux; the medieval Saint Eloi gate which houses the Grosse Cloche or Big Bell; and the Porte d’Aquitaine, free-standing at the point where rue Sainte-Catherine ends and the University of Bordeaux’s campus begins.

Porte Cailhau (Palace Gate)

Grosse Cloche (Big Bell) at the former Saint Eloi gate

Porte d’Aquitaine

Cathedrale Saint-Andre (Cathedral of Saint Andrew)
And what tour of a European city would be complete without a cathedral? What I found particularly interesting about Bordeaux’s Cathedrale Saint-Andre (Cathedral of Saint Andrew) was its free-standing bell tower. An architectural delight in itself, it was built separately when it was discovered the planned attached bell tower could not support the weight of the bells it was intended to house. 

Grand Théâtre on the Place de la Comédie

Tour completed, we found a little cafe to enjoy a beer and plan the evening. Our goal was to toast the sunset from the roof of the Intercontinental Bordeaux before packing up for tomorrow’s change of venue. As it turned out, the WVIZ-Five were already atop the hotel, cocktails in hand, awaiting the sun’s demise. We joined them.

Sunset on the rooftop of the InterContinental Bordeaux – Le Grand Hotel