Date and Time of Visit: September 23, 2017, approximately 11:00 a.m.
Less than a week left on this long journey, and in less than 5 days I have crossed France from east to west, all the way to the city of Bordeaux, having been in Switzerland until 5 days ago. The original reason for coming to the Atlantic coast was to visit the then new addition of this most beautiful village in France.
But while we were there, we decided to visit La Cité du Vin, a new attraction that was built in 2016 in the north of Bordeaux. In Japanese, it could be translated as « Wine Museum ». I’ve been to Bordeaux a few times in the course of my tour of beautiful villages and the Medoc Marathon, but I never thought I’d visit again. But it’s not a problem because this city is one of my favorite cities in France. At the time of the Medoc Marathon, this facility did not exist yet.
The day before, I was at the Auberge in Corrèze, the place I mentioned last time. La Cité du Vin is located in the suburbs of Bordeaux. To be honest, it’s in the middle of an industrial area and the atmosphere is subtle. But I remembered this atmosphere well because I always pass this area when I drive to the Medoc, the north side, La Rochelle and Nantes.
We arrived at the site around 11:00. It was relatively new and the surrounding roads were very clean and well maintained. The parking lot is also very clean. Moreover, it is wide and easy to put in. It’s quite a storage space.
It’s cute how each floor has an animal assigned to it. I don’t know where I parked myself, I forgot. The photo is a tortoise, but I think it was a hare?
Now, this is the building, which was inspired by a decanter, I think?
Then we went inside. The building is a shop selling wine goods, a museum, and, oh, don’t forget, you can buy wine, too. It’s an amazing number. You may not see so many gorgeous shops in France. By the way, I didn’t buy any wine here. Because the souvenir wine this time was mainly Swiss.
Let’s go to the museum. I think it was the second floor of the building. At the entrance, you get this kind of guide by smartphone. This seemed to be something that everyone received. It is quite well made. But I don’t think there was Japanese voice. I set it in French for a challenge.
By the way, the fee is 20 euros, which is not bad.
What kind of museum is this? You can see the most advanced panels like this one, which introduce wine regions around the world and explain the history, innovation and progress of wine with videos and photos.
I also took a video.
Also, when you come to such a sign, you can automatically listen to an audio commentary about the sign from the example smartphone.
You can also view subtitles on your phone, which is useful if you can’t hear the audio.
But again, there is no Japanese, so if you can’t listen and read English at least, you may not be able to enjoy it much. Also, the museum gives various explanations about wine, but it is very European and French, and there is a lot of information, so I thought it was necessary to have some knowledge of wine. In addition, the amount of text is also very much, I think it is such a relatively severe tourist spot, not a feeling of easy sightseeing, also requires some enthusiasm to study.
Well, if you just like wine, you’ll enjoy it lol.
It was a year and a half ago when I visited here, so although I can remember the approximate contents from the photos, I have forgotten many things, so I would like to revisit when I visit Bordeaux again (I’m sure there will be). I need to study French a little more.
