Bordeaux, Nantes, St. Jean de Luz

[Redtravel]

Help. Taking a cruise in August that stops at these ports. All new to me. Any suggestions? I am especially interested in art, history and architecture. I have been to chateaux in the Loire Valley and have visited vineyards in France on other trips. I would appreciate all suggestions. Thanks.

[cruising cockroach]

Bordeaux is nice to walk around. The city tourism office has waking maps and there is also a bus tour. It's been continuously rebuilt due to wine money so doesn't have as much a medieval feel as other poorer cities.

 

Nantes - visit the palace/château of the Ducs de Bretagne and there is also a walk around the old quarter nearby.

 

St Jean de Luz - walk around the small old town and beach front. Church is where a French king (one of the later Louis) got married. The old quarter is small. You can also cross the harbour and visit Ciboure which has a bit more character.

[cberge]

Love Bordeaux...do a wine tour to St. Emillion...very good wines and charming tow,.This is if yu have the time.

[Redtravel]

I appreciate your suggestions. I have traveled to France many times. I am new to these 3 ports. I looked at the train schedule to St. Emellion. SNF trains take about 30 minutes each way. I have been to many vineyards and wineries in other areas. I am more interested in history and culture. IF you have been to St. Emellion, is the town worth visiting? Also, thinking about renting a car. We will be in Bordeaux for 3 days....2 overnights. In Nantes and St. Jean de Luz, we overnight. Any restaurant suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[cberge]

I appreciate your suggestions. I have traveled to France many times. I am new to these 3 ports. I looked at the train schedule to St. Emellion. SNF trains take about 30 minutes each way. I have been to many vineyards and wineries in other areas. I am more interested in history and culture. IF you have been to St. Emellion, is the town worth visiting? Also, thinking about renting a car. We will be in Bordeaux for 3 days....2 overnights. In Nantes and St. Jean de Luz, we overnight. Any restaurant suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again.

 

If you are there for 3 days I would rent a car for Bordeaux.The drive to St.Emillion itself is a nice way to see the countryside and yes, I think the town is worth visiting,but I love the less touristy smaller French towns anyway.I can't help with info on the other two as I have just been through Nantes and not to St.Jean.The tourist bureau in Bordeaux is a good place for info...they really helped us both staying there and on a cruise.

[cruise kitty]

Hi, I recently returned from Europe land trip (my first solo!) & I did take the train to St. Emilion for a day, very much worth it! You need to be able to walk a good 20 minutes slightly uphill to get to town from the train station. You can get a key from the tourist office to climb the high tower over the church they are currently excavating.

 

Bordeaux itself is currently undergoing a serious facelift & cleaning of some of it's historic churches, I'd love to go back & see when they are finished!

[Steirisch]

We'll be in Bordeaux in August, too. We were thinking of doing a wine and tasting tour, but honestly, why? We've probably been to 50 different wineries and they're pretty much the same tour...they show how they make the wine, take you to where the cold vats are, then they show you the room with the barrels and finally they do a tasting. So we decided not to do any tours of that sort. Much more interesting to us is going to a cheese shop in Bordeaux and do a tasting of cheese and wine there. If you just want to taste different wines, you can taste lots more at Bar a Vin than it would cost for a wine tour. You like chocolate? There are so many chocolatiers in Bordeaux you'd have no trouble making your sweet tooth happy.

 

For example: Cheese tasting

http://www.jeandalos.net/spip.php?page=sommaire2&lang=en

and this place:

http://holeinthedonut.com/2013/03/23/gourmet-cheese-shop-bordeaux-france/

 

Chocolate:

http://www.cadiot-badie.com/

http://www.alienorchocolat.com/atelier.html

etc. etc.

[Redtravel]

I appreciate your suggestions. I joined a small group on the roll call that is doing a tour to St. emelion. In the other ports, I found good info on the web.

[Chairsin]

We are stopping in St Jean de Luz in September as part of a Cruise on the Seabourn Legend. I have arranged for a car to take us to San Sebastián for a city tour and pintxos bar crawl. The driver needs to know where in St Jean to pick us up. Does anyone have any experience tendering into St Jean and can thus provide me with detailed info?

 

 

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