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| Bordeaux reborn | Bordeaux reborn |
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| It's Sunday night and my final meal in Bordeaux. I'm talking with a local called Brigitte in Le Plat à Oreilles, a popular husband-and-wife-run restaurant in the city centre that serves traditional country food. So far, so Bordeaux. But as I dig my spoon into the fricassée de lapin and try not to slurp my glass of Graves, I'm finding it hard to recognise the city that Brigitte is describing. | It's Sunday night and my final meal in Bordeaux. I'm talking with a local called Brigitte in Le Plat à Oreilles, a popular husband-and-wife-run restaurant in the city centre that serves traditional country food. So far, so Bordeaux. But as I dig my spoon into the fricassée de lapin and try not to slurp my glass of Graves, I'm finding it hard to recognise the city that Brigitte is describing. |
| "Growing up in Bordeaux, I never really saw the river," she says. "It was physically blocked off by the port until about 10 years ago. In the city centre, the buildings were dark and dirty, and you couldn't really sit outside in the squares because of all the cars. It wasn't a very inspiring place to be." | "Growing up in Bordeaux, I never really saw the river," she says. "It was physically blocked off by the port until about 10 years ago. In the city centre, the buildings were dark and dirty, and you couldn't really sit outside in the squares because of all the cars. It wasn't a very inspiring place to be." |
| Think of Bordeaux, and images of a classic French city spring to mind – its grand boulevards, open spaces and neoclassical buildings inspired Baron Haussmann's remodelling of Paris in the mid-19th century. Add to that the venerated reputation of its wine, and a whiff of bourgeois privilege and conservatism, and you expect a city of well-groomed, self-satisfied people. | Think of Bordeaux, and images of a classic French city spring to mind – its grand boulevards, open spaces and neoclassical buildings inspired Baron Haussmann's remodelling of Paris in the mid-19th century. Add to that the venerated reputation of its wine, and a whiff of bourgeois privilege and conservatism, and you expect a city of well-groomed, self-satisfied people. |
| But as Brigitte goes on to explain, Bordeaux laboured for decades under the nickname La Belle Endormie – sleeping beauty. And by the 1990s the city had slipped into a coma: abandoned warehouses choked the riverfront, the main arteries were clogged by traffic and the limestone facades of the Bourse, the Grand Théatre and the cathedral were bible-black from pollution. | But as Brigitte goes on to explain, Bordeaux laboured for decades under the nickname La Belle Endormie – sleeping beauty. And by the 1990s the city had slipped into a coma: abandoned warehouses choked the riverfront, the main arteries were clogged by traffic and the limestone facades of the Bourse, the Grand Théatre and the cathedral were bible-black from pollution. |
| Bordeaux has come a long way in 20 years. That morning I'd taken a tram to the farmers' market on the Quai des Chartrons that runs along the left bank of the Garonne river. I'd bought half a dozen oysters, some bread and sausage and sat watching strollers, cyclists, runners and roller bladers taking full advantage of the promenade. The mood was light and easy. When the sun made an appearance mid-morning, it threw a spotlight on the spire of the Saint-Michel basilica and the honey-coloured buildings that face the sweeping curve of the broad river. I half-believed I was at the seaside. | Bordeaux has come a long way in 20 years. That morning I'd taken a tram to the farmers' market on the Quai des Chartrons that runs along the left bank of the Garonne river. I'd bought half a dozen oysters, some bread and sausage and sat watching strollers, cyclists, runners and roller bladers taking full advantage of the promenade. The mood was light and easy. When the sun made an appearance mid-morning, it threw a spotlight on the spire of the Saint-Michel basilica and the honey-coloured buildings that face the sweeping curve of the broad river. I half-believed I was at the seaside. |
| Even left-leaning Bordelaise credit long-standing centre-right mayor and former prime minister Alain Juppé with the turnaround. In 1995, Juppé started a massive regeneration programme to open up the riverfront, pedestrianise the city centre, clean up the architecture and install a hi-tech tram system. It has paid dividends – in 2007, half of the city was Unesco-listed, making it the largest urban world heritage site, and in 2013, a survey ranked Bordeaux France's second-favourite city, after Paris. | Even left-leaning Bordelaise credit long-standing centre-right mayor and former prime minister Alain Juppé with the turnaround. In 1995, Juppé started a massive regeneration programme to open up the riverfront, pedestrianise the city centre, clean up the architecture and install a hi-tech tram system. It has paid dividends – in 2007, half of the city was Unesco-listed, making it the largest urban world heritage site, and in 2013, a survey ranked Bordeaux France's second-favourite city, after Paris. |
| The next phase of Bordeaux's reinvention is well under way, reaching into the old docklands to the north, where apartment buildings are mushrooming, while in the suburbs, on the right bank of the river, an old barracks is being transformed into a ecologically-minded co-operative called Projet Darwin, complete with an indoor BMX track and a bike polo pitch. An ambitious new arts centre, Méca, will open next year in the south of the city, and a swirling Guggenheimesque Cité des Civilisations du Vin is slated to open in May 2016. By 2017 the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail link, which will cut journey time from Paris to Bordeaux to just over two hours, will be up and running. By then, Old Bordeaux will be bang up to date. | The next phase of Bordeaux's reinvention is well under way, reaching into the old docklands to the north, where apartment buildings are mushrooming, while in the suburbs, on the right bank of the river, an old barracks is being transformed into a ecologically-minded co-operative called Projet Darwin, complete with an indoor BMX track and a bike polo pitch. An ambitious new arts centre, Méca, will open next year in the south of the city, and a swirling Guggenheimesque Cité des Civilisations du Vin is slated to open in May 2016. By 2017 the Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail link, which will cut journey time from Paris to Bordeaux to just over two hours, will be up and running. By then, Old Bordeaux will be bang up to date. |
| City centre | City centre |
| One of the first areas to be renovated and pedestrianised under Juppé's grand scheme, and still the place to go on a Friday and Saturday evening, is the buzzy St Pierre district in the heart of Old Bordeaux. On rue du Parlement St Pierre, a run of little bars and restaurants spill out on to the street. Le Petit Commerce (+33 5 56 79 76 58, no 22) has an exhaustive choice of seafood on its daily blackboard. Waiters carrying plates of fruits de mer across from its small shellfish bar opposite offering a bit of street theatre. You can round off your evening with a drink at its packed little tapas bar Le Chai du Petit Commerce, a couple of doors down at no 18. Run by the same people, it opened last year and sells grand crus on tap. Or try a cocktail in the retro-chic L'Alchimiste at no 16. | One of the first areas to be renovated and pedestrianised under Juppé's grand scheme, and still the place to go on a Friday and Saturday evening, is the buzzy St Pierre district in the heart of Old Bordeaux. On rue du Parlement St Pierre, a run of little bars and restaurants spill out on to the street. Le Petit Commerce (+33 5 56 79 76 58, no 22) has an exhaustive choice of seafood on its daily blackboard. Waiters carrying plates of fruits de mer across from its small shellfish bar opposite offering a bit of street theatre. You can round off your evening with a drink at its packed little tapas bar Le Chai du Petit Commerce, a couple of doors down at no 18. Run by the same people, it opened last year and sells grand crus on tap. Or try a cocktail in the retro-chic L'Alchimiste at no 16. |
| The advance party from Paris arrived in the form of the Philippe Starck-designed budget hotel Mama Shelter (see end credits), which opened in the city centre last October. It's a fun makeover of a utilitarian building that used to be the head office of France's national gas company. The fact that traditionally conservative Bordeaux was crying out for a bit of street cred and colour can be seen from the line of youngsters queuing to get into the hotel bar for a Saturday night DJ set. | The advance party from Paris arrived in the form of the Philippe Starck-designed budget hotel Mama Shelter (see end credits), which opened in the city centre last October. It's a fun makeover of a utilitarian building that used to be the head office of France's national gas company. The fact that traditionally conservative Bordeaux was crying out for a bit of street cred and colour can be seen from the line of youngsters queuing to get into the hotel bar for a Saturday night DJ set. |
| The bar sits in an industrial-sized space with tables and high benches for dining, and table football for kicks. The trademark graffitied ceiling, the wall of musical instruments and the kaleidoscopic collection of children's inflatable swimming rings strung out above the bar help soften the concrete edges. Tattooed bar tenders in black T-shirts and brown leather aprons shake their cocktail makers in time with the music, but they can also confidently talk you through the local wine list and the subtle differences between the Haut-Médocs, the Pauillacs and the Pessac Léognans. Upstairs, the rooms, in playful powder pink, are decked out with iMacs and lampshades in the shape of Darth Vader and other character masks. | The bar sits in an industrial-sized space with tables and high benches for dining, and table football for kicks. The trademark graffitied ceiling, the wall of musical instruments and the kaleidoscopic collection of children's inflatable swimming rings strung out above the bar help soften the concrete edges. Tattooed bar tenders in black T-shirts and brown leather aprons shake their cocktail makers in time with the music, but they can also confidently talk you through the local wine list and the subtle differences between the Haut-Médocs, the Pauillacs and the Pessac Léognans. Upstairs, the rooms, in playful powder pink, are decked out with iMacs and lampshades in the shape of Darth Vader and other character masks. |
| Saint-Michel/Capucins | Saint-Michel/Capucins |
| You could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and bed down comfortably for the night without leaving the confines of one little cobbled street in the Saint-Michel district to the south of the centre – and without, in fact leaving the domain of one Jean-Pierre Xiradadis, who has slowly colonised the street to build his vision of a rue gourmande. He opened his restaurant La Tupiña, now an institution in the city for its classic south-western cuisine, in 1968, and has steadily been making additions ever since. (For details of this and the establishments below, see latupina.com). | You could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and bed down comfortably for the night without leaving the confines of one little cobbled street in the Saint-Michel district to the south of the centre – and without, in fact leaving the domain of one Jean-Pierre Xiradadis, who has slowly colonised the street to build his vision of a rue gourmande. He opened his restaurant La Tupiña, now an institution in the city for its classic south-western cuisine, in 1968, and has steadily been making additions ever since. (For details of this and the establishments below, see latupina.com). |
| Start with a coffee and croissant at zinc bar Café Tupiña at the bottom end of rue Porte de la Monnaie, and then move on to a hearty lunch at La Tupiña next door, with its huge roaring hearth and spits roasting chickens and racks of lamb. Cross the road and pick up some jam and biscuits in Le Comestible grocery and then waddle up to Kuzina fish restaurant for some oysters before settling down for a nightcap in Bar-Cave de la Monnaie on the next corner. | |
| A few doors down on the opposite side you can check in at Maison Fredon, an 18th-century townhouse newly restored in rough-luxe style, its five bedrooms (from €120 a night) decked out with random pieces by the likes of Philippe Starck (him again), Benjamin Spark, Antonio Segui, Mies Van der Rohe as well as eccentric flea market finds. | A few doors down on the opposite side you can check in at Maison Fredon, an 18th-century townhouse newly restored in rough-luxe style, its five bedrooms (from €120 a night) decked out with random pieces by the likes of Philippe Starck (him again), Benjamin Spark, Antonio Segui, Mies Van der Rohe as well as eccentric flea market finds. |
| While you're in the area, dive into the Marché des Capucins, a short walk away on Place des Capucins. This is where Bordeaux goes to buy its daily provisions and slurp down a few oysters and a glass of white wine. | While you're in the area, dive into the Marché des Capucins, a short walk away on Place des Capucins. This is where Bordeaux goes to buy its daily provisions and slurp down a few oysters and a glass of white wine. |
| Chartrons | Chartrons |
| An area of abandoned warehouses and former wine aristocrats' houses a short tram ride north from the centre on the way to the Bassins à Flot (see below) has been transformed into Bordeaux's trendiest neighbourhood, with the boutiques of rue Notre Dame at its heart. The first wave of gentrification came with the antique dealers, but over the past couple of years, as they started to retire, a new generation of contemporary design, clothing and food shops have moved in. | |
| Former fashion editor Julia Mottram moved here from London and opened her shop Lily Blake almost three years ago, to sell British style to the French. "I was looking for a place with a villagey atmosphere but also cosmopolitan," she says, "and the Chartrons district was perfect. Now the area is exploding, with new places opening all the time." | |
| These include artfully cool stores such as digital print shop Le 101, Scandi household store Ö Design, RKR for handmade furniture, and Cabanes & Chateaux for salvaged pieces. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes for breaks between browsing, plus a fishmonger, an organic grocer and, above Chez Dupont bistro, a chic guesthouse with five rooms (chez-dupont.com, doubles from €105). | |
| From here, it's a short walk to the CAPC museum of modern art on rue de l'Hermite (€5). This converted 19th-century warehouse is a vast, cloister-like exhibition space with balconies overlooking the main area and a varied programme. Its cafe is home to two of English artist Richard Long's vast Garonne Mud Circle murals and, on the terrace, his White Rock Line installation, made up of thousands of pieces of limestone. | From here, it's a short walk to the CAPC museum of modern art on rue de l'Hermite (€5). This converted 19th-century warehouse is a vast, cloister-like exhibition space with balconies overlooking the main area and a varied programme. Its cafe is home to two of English artist Richard Long's vast Garonne Mud Circle murals and, on the terrace, his White Rock Line installation, made up of thousands of pieces of limestone. |
| Bassins à Flot | Bassins à Flot |
| The old docks to the north of the city are a work in progress. Take the sleek blue tram to rue Achard and, as you get off, you find yourself facing a squat terrace of abandoned houses. But above it rise cranes and the shells of new apartment blocks. Restaurant Bar de la Marine (28 rue Achard) is a little oasis of comfort amid the rubble of the past and the concrete of the future. It's owned by Béatrice Aspart, who is the co-founder of Le Garage Moderne, an extraordinary non-profit association that is part car repair shop, part bike maintenance hub and part exhibition space and party venue. It's been going since 2002, but was recently granted an 18-year lease by Juppé's office. | The old docks to the north of the city are a work in progress. Take the sleek blue tram to rue Achard and, as you get off, you find yourself facing a squat terrace of abandoned houses. But above it rise cranes and the shells of new apartment blocks. Restaurant Bar de la Marine (28 rue Achard) is a little oasis of comfort amid the rubble of the past and the concrete of the future. It's owned by Béatrice Aspart, who is the co-founder of Le Garage Moderne, an extraordinary non-profit association that is part car repair shop, part bike maintenance hub and part exhibition space and party venue. It's been going since 2002, but was recently granted an 18-year lease by Juppé's office. |
| The garage is down an unpromising side street but inside it is a hive of activity. The car service area has vintage motors sitting on mechanics' dollies, and there's an exhibition area, a bar, a kitchen, and two old buses that serve as offices. They put on about 30 cultural events a year – dressing the place up with fairy lights and candles – and Bordeaux turns out in force. | The garage is down an unpromising side street but inside it is a hive of activity. The car service area has vintage motors sitting on mechanics' dollies, and there's an exhibition area, a bar, a kitchen, and two old buses that serve as offices. They put on about 30 cultural events a year – dressing the place up with fairy lights and candles – and Bordeaux turns out in force. |
| A 15-minute walk away across the dockyard wastelands, La Base sous-marine) is another stretch of the imagination. A former U-boat bunker, it's a monolithic grey structure looming heavy and haunting on the horizon – but it is being put to good purpose by the city as an occasional exhibition space for photography, festivals and performing art events. | A 15-minute walk away across the dockyard wastelands, La Base sous-marine) is another stretch of the imagination. A former U-boat bunker, it's a monolithic grey structure looming heavy and haunting on the horizon – but it is being put to good purpose by the city as an occasional exhibition space for photography, festivals and performing art events. |
| As you walk back to the tram, don't miss the small Frac Aquitaine gallery, sharing an old dock building with new restaurants and cafes. It shows contemporary art and photography in a small exhibition space, and is moving to the new Méca arts centre next year. Before you head back into the centre, grab a drink and a bite at Les Tontons, which opened last year in the former dock offices and, appropriately for its setting, serves an upscale take on canteen food. | As you walk back to the tram, don't miss the small Frac Aquitaine gallery, sharing an old dock building with new restaurants and cafes. It shows contemporary art and photography in a small exhibition space, and is moving to the new Méca arts centre next year. Before you head back into the centre, grab a drink and a bite at Les Tontons, which opened last year in the former dock offices and, appropriately for its setting, serves an upscale take on canteen food. |
| • Accommodation was provided by Mama Shelter (+33 5 57 30 45 45, mamashelter.com, doubles from €69). Ryanair flies to Bordeaux from Edinburgh and Stansted from £20 one way. EasyJet flies from Belfast, Gatwick, Liverpool and Luton from £21 one way. More information from bordeaux-tourisme.com. The Bordeaux Wine Festival takes place 26-29 June. | • Accommodation was provided by Mama Shelter (+33 5 57 30 45 45, mamashelter.com, doubles from €69). Ryanair flies to Bordeaux from Edinburgh and Stansted from £20 one way. EasyJet flies from Belfast, Gatwick, Liverpool and Luton from £21 one way. More information from bordeaux-tourisme.com. The Bordeaux Wine Festival takes place 26-29 June. |