Wandering in Bordeaux (Part 1)

While guided tours and planned activities offer great opportunities to learn about new places and cultures, one of the most authentic and meaningful ways to experience a city when traveling is to simply wander. Wandering allows the traveler to become part of the pulse of a city. It is an opportunity to witness life as it is for the locals, who are out and about living their lives. Also, wandering is spontaneous and allows the traveler to discover a city as it unfolds before them. And it is exciting because without an agenda, no one knows just how the day will unfold…

This post is the first in a two-to-three part series in which I share about a day spent wandering in Bordeaux, France. In the image featured above, Bordelais (Bordeaux inhabitants) are out and about, taking advantage of a sunny day in early spring. I might have taken a break from my own wandering activities at this café if only a table had been available!

While the act of wandering is spontaneous, to make the most out of wandering experiences it is best to take a strategic approach, to have a general idea of which part of town you’d like to explore ahead of time. When I visit a new city, I find that riding public transportation provides an opportunity to check out various neighborhoods. Then, once I find a neighborhood that particularly strikes my curiosity, I return to it another day and explore it on foot, without an agenda.

My husband and I stayed in Bordeaux at the Maison Internationale, located right next to the Bergonié stop on tram line B. 

In the process of riding tram B I not only discovered one of the most happening areas of Bordeaux’s city center, the Place de la Comédie, but also a bunch of delightful shops and the historic Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux. 

I decided that I would spend a day wandering from the vicinity of the Cathédrale Saint-André to the Place de la Comédie, where I would complete my route by meeting my husband for a late afternoon snack at Le Regent Café. And one convenience of wandering not far from the tram line was that if I needed to, I could simply jump on the tram to complete my journey.

Window shopping was perhaps the most enjoyable part of my day spent wandering, and I dedicate much of this post to it. Some of the most creative and captivating window displays I have ever seen have been in France. The shop windows in Bordeaux were no exception. Below I share my most favorite displays.

The lithe and graceful ballet dancer in the window at the Bordeaux location of Repetto was stunning. Founded in Paris by famed artisan Rose Repetto, Repetto has been the French standard in ballet pointe shoes and dancewear since 1947.

A sparkling crystal shop caught my eye, and quite literally, too! I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I looked at the photo later I noticed my reflection captured in the window. And of course the champagne glass tower is timeless!

That same crystal shop’s flirtatious display of flowers, fruity macarons and pink champagne left me drooling.

And porcelain plates intertwined with crisp white flowers united to create a fresh bouquet in the window of a porcelain shop. 

Now, once in a while there is a shop that is so captivating from the outside it is simply impossible not to go inside. The patisserie in the photo below was one such shop. As you can see, the photo was taken from the inside! The colorful display of macarons in a variety of flavors was simply too tempting to pass by. I entered the shop and filled up a bag with macarons to take with me!

I took a break from wandering at a café on Place Pey Berland, where I was able to gaze at the Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux while sipping my coffee. I’ll write about my visit to the cathedral in my next post!

I’ll close this post by sharing a BORDEAUX FUN FACT. Did you know that in Bordeaux the delectable and sweet French pastry commonly known as a pain au chocolat is referred to as a chocolatine? I studied in Paris my entire junior year of college and never learned this until I visited Bordeaux decades later. If you order a pain au chocolat in Bordeaux’s bakeries, you will be met with a quizzical gaze. The chocolatine reference is used throughout southwestern France, while pain au chocolat reigns supreme throughout the rest of the country.

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