I could not wait to get to Bordeaux for my birthday weekend– the wine, the weather, the food; it was everything I needed to escape the brutal European winter that slammed us this season. I packed my flip flops, my summer dresses and shades and we started the eight hour drive from Gent to Bordeaux. (Side note: Why did we drive? My furry friend joined us for the trip and stupid Ryanair doesn’t allow animals to fly. In the future, we will definitely take a flight. It’s only an hour and a half and the airport is super close to the city center.)

Wineries

My extravagant present to myself was a wine tasting and tour at the very prestigious Chateau Pape Clement. This chateau has been harvesting since 1252 and is one of the Grand Cru’s of Bordeaux. They went in great detail on the history and significance to the chateau and its harvest, showing us the vault holding bottles of wine from every year. We finished with a very strong tasting of seven different styles of red, white and rose wines, explaining the tastes, smells and bodies of each one. For the super wine lovers, you can also stay at the chateau in their own bed and breakfast, which looked like it didn’t suck.

Dune of Pilat

This thing was nuts. After the tasting, we wanted to take advantage of the amazing weather so we head to the tallest sand dune in Europe. Before leaving Bordeaux, we stopped at a store for French cheese, meats and wine to enjoy the gorgeous sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. Don’t let the massive sand hill intimidate you, even though it is a bitch to climb. The view is simply magic.

Bordeaux itself

As if by birthday magic, a carnival appeared in the heart of Bordeaux. After the dunes, we arrived to the city and spent the rest of our evening in the cutey carnival, playing the ducky game and target shooting. Even at 31, a girl still loves when her boyfriend wins her stuffed animals 🙂

Bordeaux is a place you need to spend at least three days in to see and experience everything. Us driving cut into the amount of time we could spend in the city but we enjoyed the things outside of the city very much.