11 October 2014
Between Paris and Bordeaux for the city to visit in France, I will pick Bordeaux anytime.
Paris is expensive, noisy and overcrowded, with half of it’s population seemingly made up of tourists. I never got to appreciate what’s the hype of Paris being one of the most romantic place in the world.
If you want to serenade a girl with good wine and food, romantic riverside walks with many kissable/hugable moments and country side drives with beautiful towns to explore, Bordeaux is definitely the place to be.
It is also a great place to run with so many options.
I took the easiest option for me to run along the River Garrone which offers kilometers of undisturbed run with a spectacular view of the city.
I set off from one of the busiest road in Bordeaux along the Cours Victor Hugo and at 730am in the morning, traffic is very light with few other pedestrians along the way. One of the biggest issue I have encountered while running in cities, especially those is Asia, is poorly maintained pedestrians pavement with ankle breaking potholes. Here at Bordeaux, the pavement is so smooth and well-paved, that even well maintained Singapore foot paths have to take a second seat.
Once I hit the River Garrone, it is just kilometers of smooth, undisturbed running & sightseeing. If not more the threat of my injured knee, I would have probably ran for 10km without even feeling the fatigue, thanks to the extremely cooling 15 degrees temperature. The SG Unfit Runners were very lucky to witness the 6 days stopover of the 18th century replica of French frigate Hermione on its way to United States, where the tickets to visit the ship were all sold out way before the ship even reached Bordeaux.
If you enjoy a good run, French food, fantastic red wine (Alcoholic came with us during the trip..), great weather and a beautiful city, Bordeaux is definitely the city to visit during October. Our 5 days stay at Bordeaux seemed entirely too short after only visiting Cognac and Saint Emilion with the entire western and southern parts of Bordeaux not explored. Heck, we did not even manage to explore many parts of Bordeaux during our stay there. We were too busy feasting on 3 hours French fine dinning and Bordeaux Red Wine.
Our next stop, Barcelona Spain!
of Bordeaux
largest square in Europe
Visit SG Unfit Runners for more routes for absolutely unfit people. Don’t visit us if you are very fit and do ultramarathons without breaking a sweat! SG Unfit Runners is a finalist at the Singapore Blog Awards.
Whaddaya know? I was in Bordeaux myself in August! Also did St Emilion and Cognac. I didn’t get to run around Bordeaux (spent too much time eating, and feeling too drunk and full to move afterwards) but I did at the Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe. That killed me.
I completely agree that the pavements of Bordeaux are well maintained. I think I ought to go back just to say I’ve run Bordeaux…
I know. The food and booze are fantastic! I had to drag the rest of the guys out for a run the morning before we left Bordeaux.
I tried running along the beaches at Australia Gold Coast. Not funny… haha.