With any weekend that I stay in Aiguillon, I always like to go to Bordeaux for a day to spend more time there. When I went this past Saturday, I visited three places that I've been aiming to explore: a food market, the main library in Bordeaux, and a park.
The first stop I made was the Marché des Capucins. This is the biggest daily market in Bordeaux and offers everything from stands of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, sweets and spices, oysters, and a bunch of lively cafes and restaurants. It's a covered market, so it's a perfect place to go on rainy days. There are also plenty of tables where you can sit, enjoy a glass of wine and a bite to eat, and enjoy the market's great atmosphere.
This market is much more than a place just to buy groceries. There are a lot of of colorful stands, selling food that represent the best local flavors of Bordeaux. At one of the stands, I got croquetas, which is a dish that I tried for the first time in Spain. They are fried dumplings which contain a thick béchamel sauce, cheese, and some type of meat. I tried mine with saucisson sec, a thick, dry-cured sausage in French cuisine.
My croquetas
My next stop was the main library in Bordeaux: Library Mériadeck.
This is Bordeaux's central library and one of the biggest public libraries in France with 27,000 square meters of floor space holding a million texts. The library has 4 floors containing books on history, literature, news, languages, tourism, with a lot of them exploring the Bordeaux culture, Aquitaine, and beyond. Because of its noteworthy collections and rare documents, the French government classifies this library as classée (‘listed’), meaning it is a library of national significance. There were also quite a few students there, as we are near the University of Bordeaux.
After reading at the library for a few hours, I ended my day with a nice walk at the Parc de l'Ermitage. This park is located on the east bank of the Garonne River and is part of the enormous 400 acres green space called Parc des Coteaux, which goes through several towns on rive droit (the right bank of the Gironde and Dordogne departments in France).
I climbed the upper side of the park to enjoy a stunning view of Bordeaux, the Garonne River, the Cité du Vin museum, the Aquitaine bridge, and the Port de la Lune. Then I climbed down to see the lake at the bottom of the park.
As I was trying to find the lake, I ran into the Parc des Iris. Here you'll find some picnic tables and an animal farm for kids with rabbits, donkeys, goats, and more.
Situated next to the lake is the nuage (cloud), designed by Candice Pétrillo. This little house is for those who want to spend the night at the park. In this little hut, you'll be lulled to sleep by the sound of the frogs and woken up with the call of the birds. It sounds like a very peaceful experience.
Overall, this is a stunning park and a great place to stroll, hike, bike, have a picnic, and enjoy some beautiful views of Bordeaux. You can easily bring food here to eat or read peacefully by the lake.
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