Bordeaux, France 1
We made a trip to the city of Bordeaux, the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France in May. We arrived in the city on a sleepy Sunday morning...
Probably Bordeaux is the most famous for its wines, but the city is also known as the origin of cannelés, classic French pastries in a small, fluted cylinder shape with a dark caramelized crust and soft custardy interior infused with rum and vanilla. Since I don't drink alcohol, not a wine tasting but a cannelé tasting was my mission of the trip. Our first cannelé to try was one by Cassonade, a pastry shop/coffee shop dedicated to cannelés. Founded in 2019, Cassonade offers four versions of cannelés: Classic (rum and vanilla), Vanilla, Vegan, and Sugar-Free, along with other pastries and hot and cold drinks, at four locations in Bordeaux. The shop we visited was located on Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges.
We both tried a Classic cannelé. They had a very crunchy crust and a moist, spongy interior, and tasted nice. I had iced tea, but I don't remember what kind of iced drink J had. Those chilled drinks were very refreshing. We were really thirsty after traveling all the way from Wiesbaden, Germany.
Just a block away from the cafe was the Place du Parlement, an Italian-style square surrounded by Louis XV-style, also known as Rococo, facades of 18th-century buildings. A couple of kids were running around the fountain.
On Rue Sainte-Catherine, the main shopping street, which is known as the longest pedestrian street in Europe (1.25 km), we found another cannelé shop: La Toque Cuivrée, a specialist in Bordeaux cannelés for over 30 years. They operate several stores in the Bordeaux city center.
We bought two of their traditional cannelés, Canelés de Bordeaux to compare with those of Cassonade while we still clearly remembered them. The shop was just a stall: we munched one right away on the street. La Toque Cuivrée's had a less crunchy crust and a much more gooey, moist custard interior. It also had a lovely rum-vanilla flavor, too. We preferred La Toque Cuivrée's. By the way, Legends say that cannelés were invented in the 17th or 18th century by the nuns of the Annonciades convent in Bordeaux, using scraps of flour collected from the docks and leftover egg yolks from local wine clarification. Because Bordeaux was a major trading port, the nuns also had easy access to rum and vanilla from the islands... However, the regional government says it could not find any evidence to prove those legends; there is no record of the pastry as we know it today before the 20th century. In the mid-1990s, cannelé production thrived with about 1,400 manufacturers in the regions of Aquitaine and nearby Gironde. Certainly, we have often seen cannelés in Bordeaux: it seems that the pastry hold a status almost on par with croissants there.
The massive, neoclassic style building was the Grand Theatre of Bordeaux, inaugurated on 7 April 1780. Its remarkable facade featured 12 columns, crowned by 9 muses and 3 goddesses from ancient mythology.
The monument had two fountains adorned with bronze figures at the bottom and a statue of liberty breaking her iron chains on the top.
There was some food vendors near the monument. A big bear was guarding the meat and sausages being cooked on the grill. When I got too close, I was attacked by thick clouds of smoke from the grill. The huge square was filled with many antique stalls although we didn't check it out because it didn't look like our style.
We headed to a restaurant for lunch, passing by the theater again...
Melodie is a family-run French restaurant serving simple and homey, regional classic dishes since 1989. They offer a set menu at lunch and dinner with four choices of starters, main dishes, and desserts. That system made it easy for me to choose and order what to eat.
My starter was oeuf BIO mayonnaise truffée (organic eggs with truffle mayo): French-style deviled eggs. They were good. The red cabbage pickles under the eggs were surprisingly sour, strong vinegary, unlike sweet, mild German red cabbage! J got Saint-Nectaire rôti (roasted Saint-Nectaire cheese) with smoked bacon. Saint-Nectaire is a cow's milk cheese that has been made in the Auvergne region since the 17th century. J must have liked the combination of melting cheese and smoky bacon.
For a main dish, we both had cuisse de canard (duck leg) with red wine sauce and mashed potato. Duck meat is one of the gastronomic specialties of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The duck leg was very tender, easily falling off the bone. It was tasty and went well with the rich red wine sauce. The mashed potato didn't need to be so garlicky for my taste, though.
For a dessert, I chose pommes caramélisées (caramelized apples) with four spices, speculoos crumble, and vanilla whipped cream. "Four spices" or Quatre épices is a classic French blend of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. The dessert was just ok. J had a tartelette au café (coffee tartlet) with coffee ganache and almond-coffee praline. I don't remember if he mentioned anything about it.
While we were having lunch, the rain started. When we left the restaurant, it was still raining. We walked up to Le Miroir d'eau, one of the largest reflecting pools. It didn't clearly reflect the buildings on the Place de la Bourse because of the rain, although the clouds started breaking.
The Pont de Pierre, a historic 19th-century bridge was seen over there. Commissioned by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810, it features 17 stone arches according to the exact number of the letters of the Emperor's name. I counted the arches and found only 15. I guess the two on the far right hid behind a ship.
The rain stopped while we were strolling along the River Garonne. The river has always been the lifeblood of Bordeaux. The city began as a Celtic settlement along the river around 300 B.C. before growing into a major port. Following the Roman conquest in the 1st century B.C., the city flourished as a trading hub, and the Romans planted the region's very first vineyards. The crescent-shaped curve of the river gave Bordeaux its UNESCO-listed title, 'Port of the Moon.'
We visited Église Saint-Louis-des-Chartrons de Bordeaux, a 19th-century Catholic church in neo-Gothic architecture. I somehow didn't doubt that it was the Bordeaux Cathedral at that time.
It got pretty hot and kinda humid once the sun came back. We kept wandering around the city center.
Then, it was getting dark and the rain started again. Then, it was getting dark and the rain started again. While we rushed to our hotel, we walked past a huge church. I realized it was the Bordeaux Cathedral and wondered what church we had visited earlier...
To be continued...
