Lucky Stumble

One of the ways I love learning about a town/village/city is to just walk out the door with no real plan, to see what I can stumble upon. I get a more local feel for the place, and it satisfies my need to explore. I especially needed escapes like this on this cruise — to get off the ship; to get away from the ship people; to stop feeling so much like a “see the sites” tourist (no judgement on this — it’s just not my thing anymore).

Our stop in the Bordeaux region port town of Le Verdon-sur-Mer was a perfect place to walkabout like this. Most folks booked wine tasting tours, it’s tiny (population of 1,700 vs. 2,500 on our ship), and it didn’t look like there was much to do or see in the town. It was also one of the rare stops that we could just walk off the ship & out of the port (you usually had to get a bus, shuttle, etc).

I already did a small post of the Camino sign I came across, but the whole day was actually perfect. It was a Sunday, so all the locals were out cafe’ing, biking, walking their dogs. There were virtually no other cruisers walking around, so the locals were relaxed, friendly, and genuinely seemed happy to “bonjour” me as I walked around.

I came across a beach boardwalk leading to a marina:

A ferry port (where I got screamed at in french by someone whose car almost ran over a leashless dog, thinking it was mine):

And a couple of World War memorials, including one to the US:

But then I stumbled upon the kind of thing you hope to stumble upon when you aimlessly walk. It started with this interesting scene from a bridge — a canal/ditch with a grounded boat, and shacks lining the street next to it:

I had to check out what was going on:

What are all these ditches?

I guess this is how they make & maintain them:

What are those decks for?

Oh shit, they’re restaurants!

This one looks cool:

<pulls out phone to take pic & use Google Translate, the greatest apps ever for situations like this>

“Sit anywhere, Monsieur”:

This table looks perfect:

The lovely, amazing, English-speaking waitress carried the sandwich boards in for me to read from my seat. I ordered a local red wine & risotto, which was: risotto in an asparagus cream sauce; shaved fresh asparagus salad; pieces of cut asparagus; chunks of cheese; chips of grilled chorizo that was as thin & crunchy as a potato chip, yet somehow still perfectly meaty & chewy:

It was one of the best meals of my life. The food, the setting, the service, the waitress. She is actually the co-owner, running the place with her boyfriend, a classically trained chef from Nice, France. He does all the cooking in this tiny little thing:

If you’re ever in the Bordeaux region, it’s worth it to make a trek to stumble upon the gem that is La Gabelle – Guinguette. It should have been packed with cruisers when I was there (I’m glad it wasn’t) but apparently does indeed fill up with locals, and Parisian vacationers in the warmer months.

Here are some videos that give you a better feel for the place: