Having heard a fair bit about Bordeaux (all of which was good), we were headed there for a city break. Bordeaux turned out to be a darling of the French cities. It rained on our first day so we hit the museums.

First was the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux. Not a huge collection, yet well presented and carefully curated following a historical timeline with thoughtful explanations giving background to the paintings.

The next was Institut Culturel Bernard Magrez. Situated in a chateu in a lovely district of old houses made out of sandstone and twisty and turny streets. The building and surrounding gardens proved a great setting for two large exhibitions – one on Graffiti art from 1985 till 21^st Century and second one on Baccarat Crystals.

With the weather decidedly improving, Bordeaux was a lovely stopover, lots to do, good food, happy people, a lot of open space and the proximity to the ocean surf!

Speaking of which, we both had somewhere to be and something to do so we headed to the seaside. Seeing the ocean after a few land-locked months felt amazing. That, accompanied by beautiful weather, good waves and excellent burger (burger of the trip award) made up a lovely afternoon. Sadly, the coast was very busy and we started to experience the high-season burn…where everywhere is packed with families and the traffic is horrendous.

But we are on our way to find the abandoned beaches, sunny cliffs and space. And we are determined to find them!