More Bordeaux

 October 16, 2021

More Bordeaux

Before reviewing our day, I need to put up a photo of a local treat, Canelés de Bordeaux, also known as cannelé Bordelais, which are magical French bakery confections, little fluted cakes with a rich rum and vanilla interior.  They’re sold in small, medium and large, and you can buy one or a box full.

 

The shops selling them, usually from open windows facing the street, do a booming business, with folks lining up to buy them.  They are delicious!  The streets here have been full of people on the weekdays; today they are jammed!

Also, I posted a photo from Italy showing a slate covered wall, saying I had not seen slate used that way before.  Well, I was wrong.  The mansard roofs which you see in Paris and have been copied here have vertical elements which are slate covered:

Our day began with an hour lecture on Eleanor of Aquitaine, a truly remarkable woman of whom I knew nothing.  She was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from 1137 until her death in 1204.  She had many children, and was the mother of King Richard I (the Lionheart) and King John of England among others.  In an hour lecture we barely touched her accomplishments, which began when she was 15!  My knowledge of European history is really scanty.

Our walking tour began after the lecture, and covered some of the areas we had already seen and of which I’ve already posted.  But we entered the city from the river by a route we had not previously taken, through the oldest remaining gate to the city, the Porte Cailhau which dates from 1494:

Our guide told us that in the past 30 years enormous efforts have been made to clean the city.  Growing up he knew only black buildings; they have almost all been cleaned, and the cost has been borne by the owners, by law.  There are some holdouts, which helps to see what it used to be like:

We revisited the cathedral and learned details of its construction and multiplicity of architectural styles:

Then came the highlight of today, the Musée d'Aquitaine.  This regional museum holds the history of this area dating to prehistoric times and going up to the late 20^th century.  We stopped and studied a number of things; to do it justice would require days.  Here are some things which appealed to me.  First, a stone carving from paleolithic times, perhaps 25,000 years ago, which shows childbirth: 

A torque necklace from between and 9^th and 6^th centuries BCE:

A funerary post made of wood from between the 6^th and the 3^rd centuries BCE:

 A Roman bronze Hercules from the 2^nd or 3^rd century:

 

And finally, what seemed very unusual to me, a carving of Mary and Elizabeth from the 12^th century which shows far more emotion, movement and grace than we’re used to seeing from art from that time:

We went back to the hotel, then went out to dinner on our own, and will get some rest in preparation for tomorrow’s trip to Saint-Émilion and a visit to Chateau Villemaurine.