This year I would like to be more consistent with travel blogging. I usually failed at this in the past because I needed it to be perfect and that’s just not possible when blogging while travelling. So I’m just going to update on downtime while away and will add links to things we do and recommended places to eat and stay once I’m back.

And I’m back to late posting on my travels. Our day 3 in Bordeaux was a BUSY, busy day and I was just too tired for anything after it. It was a great day but we did all the things, including sleeping in so it was kind of a rush from the get go. We never sleep in late but when we travel we (read me) often plan a lot and therefore end up needing more rest than usual. It also helped that our hotel room was so comfy and without doubt the quietest hotel room we’ve ever had. So peaceful.

The hotel was La Maison Bord’eaux on rue Docteur Albert Barraud. We stayed in room 002 which was just off the courtyard. I think this added to what made it so quiet but it was winter so not sure what it would be like during the summer with people sitting in the courtyard, but this time of the year it was just perfection. Also handy having an idea of what the temperature was like before leaving the hotel.

So we rushed to start the day and first up at 11.00am was Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux, this was a really cute little museum that was self guided and gave a really good in depth history of Bordeaux wine. We also had a little tasting at the end and it was a really nice overview of how Bordeaux became Bordeaux!

Next up we made our way to the piste de resistance that is La Cité du Vin. La Cité du Vin is an amazing interactive museum and in all honesty you need about four hours in it. Unfortunately we only got to spend about two and a half hours there because we had a boat tour booked (one that never happened but I’ll complain about that shortly) and we didn’t get to see everything, but we fortunately learned a lot of the stuff about the region in the previous museum. You could probably skip Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux if you wanted to spend more time here but I enjoyed the old world feel of that museum, I used to be a tour guide back in the day and there was a small museum there and Musée du Vin et du Négoce de Bordeaux reminded me of that.

La Cité du Vin is another level of tourist attraction though. It’s all very high end, also self guided but you scan the device they give you at whatever point you are at so you don’t need to go in any particular order. The Five Senses Buffet was my absolute favourite. I didn’t want to leave!

The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is like one of the top tourist attractions in the world and in my opinion it’s not even close to being as good as La Cité du Vin. I mean I LOVE wine so it’s kind of geared towards me so take what I say with a pinch of salt! 😀

So we had to fly off to grab something to eat before a pre-booked wine tasting boat trip. We rushed around to arrive at Les Bateaux Bordelais for the 4.30pm launch only to discover that it had been cancelled. The ticket booth was closed so we couldn’t get a refund. Only for a lady on the boat that hosted the dinner we wouldn’t have known what was going on. I booked the tickets back at the beginning of November and had heard nothing from them about changes until I checked my email after we went to the ticket booth to see it closed and I checked. They’d emailed me Thursday ( I missed it because obviously away) and they had the nerve to say they couldn’t contact me. They sent me one email and I had zero missed calls. I think I would have been understanding had they not started the email saying they couldn’t contact me to be honest.

I’ve emailed them requesting a refund, that was Saturday and as of Tuesday I’ve not heard back so I wouldn’t recommend using them. Very shoddy and not what you want when you’re away. Luckily we managed to get on another boat trip 15 minutes from the original launch that started at 5.00pm, but obviously that cost us more money and it wasn’t a wine tasting. We also ended up on the tour with a very large group who were kind of rude as they spoke loudly through all the English parts and were deathly quiet for the French bits. I’m glad we got to see Bordeaux from the river though. It’s worth doing, I feel that way about all places that offer a view from a body of water though.

The alternative tour we took was Yacht de Bordeaux.

And lastly an update on the duck confit situation. Another day, another two duck confit’s.

One was a very rushed affair because of the time constraints so wasn’t well researched. It wasn’t the best duck we had but it was the best fries for me. The duck was a little tough but the skin was super crispy.

After the boat tour we had booked dinner in a spot called Chez Dupont and found a wonderful little wine bar on the way called Le Sobre Chartrons where I’d have loved to spend more time but we only had about 40 minutes (would have 70 minutes had the first boat tour not cancelled). You get a card with a limit of €50.00 on it and can choose what wine you want. You can go for a tasting (at around €2.00) a small glass (at around €4.00) or a glass (at around €6.00) and once you reach the limit you go up and pay and start again. We had one glass and two tastings each and it was fun and allowed us to taste a few wines. I think there is one of these places in Dublin and I really want to give it a go some date night!

And then we were onto our last duck confit of the trip and I think we saved the best to last. The duck was cooked for 20 hours and you could tell. My fork went through it like it was a soft butter. The skin wasn’t as crispy as all the others we’d had but the duck itself was so superior and plentiful that it honestly didn’t matter.

We finished the meal off sharing a top notch Crème brûlée. Crème brûlée is something my partner would usually not be bothered with but after this trip I think I’ve converted him. We had two and he loved both.

I won’t post a day 4 as it was mostly a travel day with minimal sightseeing. This trip was a lot of fun and Bordeaux is definitely worth a visit. I imagine during the summer with planned trips out to vineyards it would be a great base. Winter is probably not the best time to visit for long but it’s perfect for three nights. This is our first time going away in early January and I kind of loved it. It really made the first week much more bearable. I’ve plans for next year! 😀