The Great Euro Trip of 2022 Pt. 11

 At last, Bordeaux...   As we sailed up the river, we passed examples of a very modern city.  The architecture of these buildings is quite amazing.

But of course, Bordeaux is a very old city, and once in the center, the architecture is more reflective of the city's age.

The Grand Hotel Bordeaux (now an Intercontinental)

The grand theater/opera house

I happened to wander down a side street filled with various cafes, some ethnic, some strange, all curious.

Too many to photo...

Back to modernism, the Cite' du Vin...  quite the building, but an even more amazing museum.  Great exhibits tracing the history of wine and the process of producing the drink.  Put this on your bucket list, very well worth the visit.

One cool thing, with your ticket, you get one free wine tasting on the top floor.  I choose a red from the Medoc region, decidedly my favorite vintage of wine.

From the tasting room, there is an outside balcony with great views of the city.

This bridge is interesting.  It opens for large ship traffic.  However, instead of two "flaps" opening as is usually the case with bridges (think high speed car chases attempting to leap from one flap to another!), the middle section of this bridge raises vertically, hoisted by the four towers.  I waited, and waited, but no large ships came along...

More Bordeaux in the next post.

The Great Euro Trip of 2022 Pt.10

 More from Soulac-sur-Mer.  This stop may have been my favorite place we visited.  As I wandered around the residential area close to the town center, I found all these wonderful houses, and most were named!  Pretty cute.  Anyway, here's a bunch of examples.

This one needs a little love...

Some seem boarded up for the winter.  I suspect they are owned as vacation houses.

The one above is for Miriam.

Finally, the one I'm buying.  It's gonna take some work, but it is so cool.  Originally a bath house, it has a beautiful door frame.  I hope the "protected" status of the town doesn't cause to many restrictions for renovation.

I hope you enjoyed this collection.   I loved wandering the streets of Soulac-sur-Mer.

The Great Euro Trip of 2022 Pt. 9

 At our next stop, we opted to visit a wonderful seaside (Atlantic, of course) town...  Soulac-sur-Mer.  This town is a popular vacation spot for the residents of Bordeaux, and many other Europeans as well.  Since we were off season (and it was too cold to jump in the ocean!), we could wander freely, and did.

Our first stop was a Romanesque church.  I tend to like this style over the gaudy Baroque style that pervades Europe.  Romanesque style is simple, even stark, but strangely more spiritual in is basic design.  No wild carvings and ornate statues (and massive expense) to interfere with a higher calling outside one's own mind.

Expand the pic and notice the posts.  Not a simple, round, mundane post, but something with a bit of design to catch your eye.  

The town hall and a couple hotels/shops.

Soulac-sur-Mer is a "protected" town, so with in the central district, there are strong "zoning" laws that restrict what can be done to the buildings and houses.  More on this later...

Finally, a war memorial, commemorating the soldiers lost in WWI, WWII, and the Algerian conflict.

More from this town in the next post.

The Great Euro Trip of 2022 Pt. 8

 Next stop was the village of Bourg.  It's famous for the citadel overlooking the town.  We had to climb up to visit it via a cool archway.  Again, there is a long history involved here, hopefully the link will provide more info.

From the citadel overlooking the town and river.

Below us were huge caverns used by the Nazi's to store oil for their ships.  Too dark to take photos.

A special treat in Bourg was an arranged wine tasting complete with entertainment of a "typical" French nature.

And a little of their music...

And the cruise goes on...