Exploring Arcachon: Visiting Bordeaux's Family Vacation Spot with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

  

Exploring Arcachon (France) - 1:  Visiting Bordeaux’s Family Vacation Spot a Second Time with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Laurent and I were going on a weeklong beach vacation in Arcachon outside Bordeaux (France) with baby Florence.  We headed southward out of Paris and waited through the traffic jam to get on the highway to Bordeaux.

Just when we got on the highway, it started to rain.  I made a list of several restaurants by the port that we could try for seafood when we arrived.

The French stay slim by looking for the best “quality-price” value on restaurant meals.  They do not always choose the cheapest restaurant, but they also refuse to be financially exploited by eating at a restaurant that marks up a dish by 15%.

The French read cookbooks and shop themselves to know prices, so they can assess good values on restaurants and food purchases.

We arrived late in Arcachon and started looking for restaurants.  We spent six hours under a downpour from Paris to Arcachon.  Laurent was not too keen on looking at every restaurant on the port.

Almost all the restaurants were closed, but I tried the locked door on the Taverne du Pêcheur anyways.  The owner smiled at us huddling under our umbrellas and opened the door.

“Could we order some sandwiches at this hour?” I asked as I balanced Florence on one arm and the umbrella on the other.

“No sandwiches,” he laughed.

“I only serve full-course meals.  Please sit down,” he said.

We started our meal with a vegetable terrine that had layers of orange, green, and white, puréed vegetables and a cream sauce.

Then, we ate a dozen raw oysters each or “fresh” oysters as the French would say.  The theory goes that you should only eat oysters with months having Rs in them.

Arcachon oysters are famous for their plump light, green flesh.  The ones we ate were clear and not milky for the season.

We drank a wine called “Entre-Deux-Mers” with this meal.  It is named for the peninsula between the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers where the vineyards are for this wine.

We ate simple fish dishes with potatoes following this: Sole meunière for Laurent and grilled sole for me.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring Arcachon Bay and St. Emilion: Vacationing in the Bordeaux (France) Region with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Arcachon Bay and St. Emilion: Vacationing in the Bordeaux (France) Region with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Hobnobbing with Bordeaux winery owners and their families on vacation encouraged my husband Laurent and me to go on vacation in Arcachon Bay and St. Emilion outside Bordeaux one year when we lived in Paris (France) for seven years.

We reserved a hotel with a kitchen.  When we arrived, we spent an afternoon stocking up on items to eat like prosciutto and lamb shanks.

We got around to tourism the next day after I prepared the lamb shanks.  We visited downtown Bordeaux where I had my photo taken with the rearing horse statues by the Girondin Fountain in the Quiconces Park.

The Girondins were the losing faction from Bordeaux, who mostly lost their heads during the Terror that took place after the French Revolution.  The Girondins were more moderate than the Montagnards, who sat above them at the Convention before the Terror.

The name Girondin comes from the name of the large estuary of ocean that extends into the land at Bordeaux like a Norwegian fjord.

The Quiconces Park with the fountain was also hosting an antiques fair that day.  We spent a good three hours walking among the beautiful wood furniture.

The next day, we visited the adorable town of St. Emilion known around the world for its wine.  St. Emilion had steep streets everywhere and the yellow stone homes all had red geraniums draping down in front of their windows.

Every vantage point in St. Emilion was a postcard photo.  We walked up and down almost every street and visited the surrounding villages in the car.

We even drove through one of the town’s caves going up and down roads.

We bought bottles of St. Emilion in nice, wooden boxes at the Maison du Vin.

Discussing the weather was an acceptable topic in Bordeaux I discovered as I eavesdropped on discussions about the various microclimates in Bordeaux.  “Rain in the Médoc, but not in the Sauternes.”

Our vacation came to an end too quickly.  We had a great time in Arcachon and St. Emilion (France).

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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