Page 363 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

Wine aficionados will
adore La Cité du Vin TOP TIP:
(%05 56 81 38 47; www.
laciteduvin.com; 1 Esplanade OYSTERS AT CAPUCINS
de Pontac; adult/child €20/ A classic Bordeaux experience is a Saturday morning
free; h9.30am-7.30pm daily spent slurping oysters and white wine from one of
Apr-Oct, 9.30am-7.30pm Tue- the seafood stands at Marché des Capucins (http://
Sun Nov-Mar), a stunning marchedescapucins.com; place des Capucins; h6am-1pm
contemporary building Tue-Sun). Afterwards you can peruse the stalls while
designed to resemble shopping for the freshest ingredients to take on a
a (very modern) wine picnic.
decanter on the banks of
the River Garonne. The
curvaceous gold building Sat, 9.30am-6.30pm Sun Jul various fee-based tast-
glitters in the sun and its & Aug, shorter hours Sep-Jun) ings, including innovative
3000 sq metres of exhib- runs a packed program ones that determine your
its inside, dedicated to of city tours in English, signe œnologique (‘wine
immersing visitors in the including gourmet and sign’) costing from €16 ATLANTIC COAST 33 HERITAGE WINE COuNTRY
complex world of wine, wine tours, river cruises (booking required). It
are equally sensational. in the warmer months, stocks more than 1000
Tours end with a glass of and child-friendly tours. different wines.
wine in the panoramic All tours take a limited
Latitude 20 wine bar on number of participants; The Drive » It’s 29km (30
the 8th floor. reserve ahead. minutes) from Arsac to Pauillac
The tourist office (%05 along the D1215, which becomes
ever more rural. From the centre
56 00 66 00; www.bordeaux- 54 p44, p366 of Pauillac continue 2km south
tourisme.com; 12 cours du 30 The Drive » It’s a 24km trip to get to Bages and Café Lavinal.
Juillet; h9am-7.30pm Mon- along the D1 from Bordeaux to
La Winery in Arsac. Technically
this should take around 40 3 Pauillac
LINK minutes, but traffic around Northwest of Bordeaux,
YOUR Bordeaux can be dreadful so along the western shore
allow longer.
TRIP of the Gironde Estuary –
formed by the conflu-
w Basque Country 2 La Winery ence of the Garonne and
From Arcachon Dordogne Rivers – lie
drive 182km through the Part giant wine shop, part some of Bordeaux’s most
grape-flavoured theme
forests of Les Landes celebrated vineyards. On
to Bayonne and our park, and part wine the banks of the muddy
Spanish-flavoured museum, La Winery (%05 Gironde, the port town
Basque Country tour. 56 39 04 90; www.winery.fr; of Pauillac is at the heart
rte du Verdon, Rond-point des of the wine country, sur-
y Gourmet Vendangeurs, Arsac-en-Médoc; rounded by the distin-
h10.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sun,
Dordogne
Slip some truffle hunting boutique 10am-8pm Jun-Sep, guished Haut-Médoc,
Margaux and St-Julien
into your wine tour. From to 7.30pm Oct-May) is a vast appellations. Extraor-
St-Émilion it’s a mere glass-and-steel wine dinary châteaux pepper
100km to Périgueux and centre that mounts con- these parts, including
our Gourmet Dordogne certs and contemporary- Château Margaux with
drive. art exhibits alongside striking new cellars that

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