Thinking of going to France for your next holiday but don’t know much about the country beyond Paris? While the capital is beautiful and popular with tourists from all over the world, there is so much to explore in the diverse country.
GB News spoke exclusively to a self-confessed Francophile and expert on everything France about another top city to peruse: Bordeaux.
Janine Marsh swapped London for Pas-de-Calais and loves her life in rural France. She now runs The Good Life France, which gives insight into everything the country has to offer.
She previously spoke to GB News about her expat experience – complete with 52 pets and bartering for beer – and has now revealed which city you should explore if you’re visiting the lovely European country.
La Grosse Cloche is a must-see when visiting the city
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Some 20 years ago Janine bought a “very cheap” house in France that “cost less than a really posh handbag”.
For several years she split her time between London and Pas-de-Calais, but for the last five years, has been living solely in France.
She told GB News: “My French friends say I know France better than they do, but I think that always happens when you’re a stranger in a country. You start to explore it and basically study it.
“Every book I read is about France and French history, where to go, that sort of thing. So I am kind of making myself a little bit of an expert. It’s such a big country though, you can’t be a total expert.
“It’s such a diverse place – you’ve got mountains, you’ve got coast, you’ve got beaches.”
Asked about her favourite place in France, Janine told GB News that Bordeaux is a must-see.
Bordeaux City
According to the expat, anyone with plans to visit France should consider a trip to Bordeaux, a port city and capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The Bassins de Lumières (Ponds of Light) is one of her favourite attractions.
Janine said: “It’s quite brilliant – it’s one of those places that has regenerated itself. A lot of people remember Bordeaux from the old days when the buildings were very dark and dirty. They were covered in pollution, but over the last 10 years, it’s a different place.
“It’s an amazing city, with Unesco-listed architecture. The late 18th-century architecture is beautiful.”
You can’t visit Bordeaux without taking a trip to The Bassins de Lumières, she said.
Janine continued: “They’ve cleaned it up enormously. They’ve opened museums and cultural venues. There are submarine docks from the Second World War and they’ve turned it into one of the world’s biggest and most amazing cultural art immersive venues. It’s really astonishing and it’s so beautiful it made me cry when I went there.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Saint-Emilion is ‘beautiful and a great place for wine tasting’
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“You go in there and it’s this place that’s got this history of tragedy and now it’s just huge, huge artworks on the wall. It’s really, really beautiful.”
Fancy an hour’s drive or train journey? “You can just hop on a train and go to Saint-Emilion,” Janine suggested. “You’ve got a beautiful little historic village with cobbled streets. It’s hundreds of years old, it’s beautiful and it’s a great place for wine tasting.
“Also close to Bordeaux, you have Arcachon, which is the most beautiful seaside resort. You have Cap Ferret, which is very swanky – loads of millionaire’s houses there.
“It’s just astonishingly lovely. So you can actually do city, country and seaside all within one hour by train or by car.”
What to do in Bordeaux
- Visit the Bassins des Lumieres
- Hit the shops! Rue Sainte-Catherine is the longest pedestrian street in Europe, but there are so many places to enjoy some retail therapy. Think, La rue des Remparts or Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges.
- Enjoy a glass – or glasses – of Bordeaux wine
- Learn about wine La Cité du Vin (The City of Wine)
- Check out the Capucins, the biggest daily market in Bordeaux
- Take a look at The Grosse Gloche (Big Bell)
- Appreciate the beauty of Miroir d-Eau (Water Mirror) located just opposite Place de la Bourse
- Visit the gorgeous religious monument Pey-Berland Tower
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