May 21 St Malo

 From St. Malo we did the excursion to Mont Saiint-Michel. We had visited before but ended up running out of time to visit the village. Instead of climbing the 350 steps to visit the abbey we were just going to stay in the lower village. Unlike our previous visit many years ago they have built a bridge so you don't have to wait for the tides to make your visit.

Our guide said that the village was "practically empty" compared to busy summer days. Today was hot and crowded enough for us. 

The flats that flood at each high tide are not sand, but more like muck. These kids were having a fun time squishing through the mud.

 

 

 

 

May 18-20 Bordeaux

Oceania has a great plan here: 3 days, 2 nights in Bordeaux with the ship docked in the center of the city. Bordeaux is a great place to visit with lots of things to do. Many of them involve wineries which matches Oceania's "finest cuisine" branding.

For our first day we took an excursion to Saint-Emillion,  a medieval village in the heart of red wine of France. The bus is parked outside the ancient city walls and we walk in.

The town church, eglise collegiale Saint-Emillion

View of the lower city

Continuation of the old town wall that also served as a monastery wall.

Now it's time for the wine tasting. We visit the Cantenac winery being run by the fifth generation owners of the vineyard. In olden times roses were grown at the end of rows to either 1) mark who owned that row (not the case here, but needed in shared vineyards), and 2) roses are more susceptible to fungus than the grapevines and served as an early warning in case of infection.

On Day 2 the weather looked a little iffy. But we took our ponchos and the magic stick that repels rain (umbrella) and walked through the city. This is Place de la Bourse, the Stock Exchange Plaza. 

City Gate, Porte Cailhau

City gate, Porte de Bourgogne

Basilique Saint-Michel

City gate Grosse Cloche 

The pedestrian shipping street, Catherine St, the longest in Europe at 1.2km. The tile became slippery with a small amount of rain, which didn't last long

Day 3, let's visit another winery, Boutinet. This winery is owned by a family that bought it just 15 years ago, and raise their grapes certified organic. We walked the perimeter of their fairly small holdings which included grapevines, woods, and grassland for their sheep.

The tasting included three wines and tapas.

For the final afternoon we decided to walk about the northern part of the city since we went south the other day. This is the Monument aux Girondins, remembering the victims of the French Revolution.

This is a streetlight pole, but with the clocks  at the bottom rather than up high. Unusual.

Some pictures from the sailaway along the river La Garonne just as dusk fell. This is Eglise Saint-Martial.

Riverboats dock just down from the cruise ships.

Pont Jacques Chaban=Delmas, a vertical lift bridge, in the up position so we can go under.

 
 

 

 

 

May 17 Saint Jean-de-Luz France

This was a tender port and a large swell made boarding the tenders at the boat an interesting (and slow) proposition. We boarded the tender, endured the rolling and pitching and made it to the town. Disembarking in the harbor was much pleasanter. St Jean-de-Luz seen from Marina. We are aiming for the cluster of white buildings on the right hand side.

Early on a Sunday morning there wasn't much traffic along the streets

Pretty buildings

Eventually there were lots of local families strolling through town with the children and their dogs. It was a very happy place.

Returning to the ship was not a happy event as the swells were still pitching the boats about. Perserverance won the day, and successfully made it to lunch on Marina.
 

 

 

May 16 Bilbao

Bilbao is best known for the Guggenheim Museum. We've visited it before so when we took the shuttle into town we walked by it and just visited the city. The city is located along the Nervion river.

The Guggenheim, river side

The Puppy, guarding the front of the museum

Pretty buildings

Casilda Iturrizar Park

Pretty monument in the park

Frederico Moyuaren Plaza

Iglesia de San Jose de la Montana

Pretty building

Iberdrola Tower

 

 

 

 

May 14 La Coruna

 A lovely Spanish coastal town. It was walk down the gangplank and immediately into town. We walked about and visited the Mercado, which turned out to be a supermarket, not a bunch of stalls as we were expecting. There were some unusual things in this supermarket, at least for us North Americans

A machine that will squeeze oranges directly into your container (empty bottles on the left) 

I can't imagine this in the US -- DIY bread slicer. Simple, 4-step process

Igrexa de San Nicholas, inside

and outside

The town square is Plaza de Maria Pita, and this is Maria.

Government building, complete with a protest group in front

Every city should have its meridian plainly marked

cutting right through Maria Pita Square. Doesn't seem like it's centered on the building but maybe it's the mayor office or council chambers.

The shopping street, Rua Real