Luckhounds Travel : Bordeaux, France (July 2026) 🇫🇷

From Paris, we took a bullet-train to Bordeaux. With temperatures in the high thirties, we found fantastic ways to stay cool: water, wine, caves, and castles.

First the water: reflecting the majestic Place de la Bourse, there is the grand Miroir d'Eau, which is a gigantic shallow pool, that rhythmically drains, sprays a fine cooling mist, then refills to two centimetres. We chilled out there for a bit before seeking La Grosse Cloche -- a medieval wall and bell tower. We strolled, we had poké bowls for lunch (p'okay?), and we relaxed in our AirBnb.

We went to an exhibit at the Bassins de Lumières, a World War II submarine base transformed into a massive projection gallery. Videos are projected onto the high walls and reflected in the water in the old submarine bays. The show that was playing when we were there was all about underwater action. It was dark, cool, psychedelic and scientific.

With plans to taste wine at Château Giscours, we rented a car and made our way to the Margaux region and appellation. Our host taught us the basics about how wines are blended and named, and how the climate and land affect the nature of the wines differently each season. We toured the warehouse of oak barrels, where wines are aged, and then we went outside to sit at a table under a big tree, next to the castle and its stables.

Our host set a white page on our table, as well as glasses and stainless-steel spittoons. She poured a Cabernet Sauvignon, and tilted the glass so that the sun shone through the wine and beamed its red colour spectrum across the paper like a liquid stained glass window. She poured four more and showed us the technique: smell, swirl, smell again, then taste. She was genuinely curious about the teens' take on the scent, taste, and texture of the wine. They weren't going for a second sip, but she was a good sport and got them to describe what they'd noticed.

After the tasting, we had lunch at a cool little roadside restaurant, swam in a lake in Carcans, and swam again at the beach at Lacanau, where the town was setting up for an international surf competition -- so much to see and do.

Another day, another roadie... this time to see the Lascaux Caves in Montignac! Well, those actual caves are closed to the public, to prevent further damage to the pigments used about 17,000 years ago to create some of the world's oldest known art. But, Lascaux IV is a precise replica of the nearby Lascaux caves, down to the millimetre, painstakingly recreated to allow us to appreciate their scale, complexity, beauty and atmosphere.

From the modern welcome centre, through a magic door to Palaeolithic times, you walk about 200 meters through cave tunnels. It's a gallery of incredible drawings and paintings, with symbolism and special effects. The "Great Hall of the Bulls" looked familiar from history books, but my favourite depiction was the five "swimming" deer. The stags are painted onto a curving wall and a natural ridge is used as a water line. The guide held a candle at a certain angle and as the light flickered, the deer seemed to bob across a river. ("Better than AI," she whispered.)

No photos were allowed in the tunnels, so the interpretative centre displays more replicated sections of the caves, with the "greatest hits". What a wonderful spot to contemplate the timeline of human history and to wonder how our ancestors lived. 🙌

On our way back to Bordeaux from Lascaux, we had exquisite foccacia sandwiches (chicken Caesar 🥬for the kids, Caprese for us 🍅 -- omg the European produce is so good 😭) in the town of Montignac. The Tour de France flags were going up for later in the week, and we geared up for one more stop: Château Hauteforte.

We approached the castle on the left, through the tunnel of Canadian cedar, planted and curved to form a pergola. The sun was blazing and we were glad for the shade. Instead of the front door, we entered through the side door, the Maritime way 😊. So we started our tour in the kitchen and pantry, where holographic servants were chopping veggies and polishing silverware. Somehow a scent of roasting meat emanated from this lower level of the castle. As we walked from room to room, floor by floor, it was easy to get swept away by daydreams about who lived there over the centuries and what they got up to. The architecture and decor is extravagant, of course, and Sylvie had a Rapunzel moment gazing out of a balcony at the formal gardens. Magnifique!