Europe trip part 30

Wednesday 3 October

 We went on a Tuk Tuk tour to learn about some Bordeaux history and see some of the main sights. Our driver, Tebo spoke very good English and explained that it was once part of Britain and was a city of commerce exporting wine to the UK as the town has a river that goes out into the Atlantic ocean. To help make the boats heavy enough to travel back they loaded them up with rock which became cobblestones – they are still in the streets of the old town today. The weight is known as ballast and it stops the boats being unstable whilst sailing on the Atlantic ocean.

 A long time ago the King’s castle was torn down as a sign of repression and replaced with a beautiful square and monument with an amazing fountain with sculptured horses and mythical creatures. During WW2 the Germans dismantled the statue and fountain as they wanted to melt the bronze down and make cannons and guns etc.

 Luckily the French resistance decided they didn’t like this so they hijacked the train, killed the guards and hid it until after the war when it was returned and rebuilt. It was also a city of slave trading – the locals took North African slaves to America and traded them for cinnamon, spices and exotic fruit that wasn’t available in Europe.

 After WWII, many African migrants came to settle in Bordeaux so the population is quite diverse. We walked around St Michel which is where they mainly settled and had some mint tea and did some people watching. There was a street that had over 30 hairdresser shops! Bordeaux was once a walled city to protect it from invasions.

 Many of these walls have been torn down but some of the gates/archways remain. One had an 8000kg bell which is still rung on special days and the first Sunday of every month. The King used to have the bell rung as a warning of something bad happening so the people would know there was imminent danger. After that we stopped at a park and I met Stan who was 8, from England but he now lives in Bordeaux. We met Stan’s father who was from England and he came to live here from London because he thought it was a good place to raise his kids and it was much more affordable than England.

I spent an hour playing football and other games with him and his two little brothers which was fun. We had dinner in town as we wanted to wait until it was dark so that we could go and get some photos at the Miroir d’eau – the water mirror.

 This is a really cool idea where 100’s of water jets mist the paved area then as the water drains away it creates a “mirror” effect that reflects the image of the buildings across the road. When they are lit up at night it works really well. I just wanted to run through the mist as it was fun! After a 10 hour day exploring this lovely city we headed home for a well deserved sleep!