Bordeaux on iPhone

I’ve spent so much of my life writing about Bordeaux. The southwestern French city figures prominently in both of my books, despite the fact that I’d never actually been there. We decided this spring was finally the right moment for me to see the place that I have Google image searched a million times with my own eyes.

We went to Bordeaux mostly for a hotel. I have a weakness for modern decor with a vintage touch in historic places, so when I saw La Maison Fernand for the first time on Liv’s blog, I fell in love. I couldn’t get the beautiful place out of my head, so when we booked our flights to Paris, I booked train tickets to Bordeaux, too. The hotel absolutely did not disappoint – everything was even lovelier than in the pictures, and I admit that I wished we could spend our whole trip staying there.

But Bordeaux was much as I imagined, much as I have always described in the voice of my main character; lovely in a way that is different from Paris, but ultimately, so much smaller than Paris. We could walk everywhere, it seemed, in half an hour or less. And we navigated almost entirely without a map – it simply wasn’t necessary, because the city is so petite. I doubt we could have gotten truly lost if we tried. While that was novel for the first day, by five pm we felt no guilt about simply sitting down with a bottle of fine, satisfied we’d checked most of the local sites off our Bordeaux bucket list. The next day, we discovered a few new things, but mostly, we revisited places we’d already enjoyed.

We spent much of that day seeking out the best canneles, a unique Bordelais pastry. (My favourite came from La Toque Cuivre.) By the time we were picking up our bags to leave, I was ready to be back in Paris.

I have often said that our love of Paris spoils us for travel. We inevitably compare every city to the one we love best, and so many fall short of it. Bordeaux is undeniably beautiful. In fact, it is probably more conventionally pretty than the capital, with its sweeping squares and behemoth palaces overlooking the Garonne River. The sunrises are pure, unadulterated natural magic. But it isn’t Paris. And for me, that means that while I’m glad to have seen it for myself, I feel no need to return while Paris still exists so nearby. I will always choose Paris.

…but if La Maison Fernand wanted to open another property in the capital, I would be thrilled. It is, hands down, my favourite hotel we’ve ever stayed in. I took almost all of my iPhone photos in our room. Narrowing down this selection to include shots of other places proved surprisingly difficult as a result…!