36 Hours in Bordeaux, France

Ed Alcock for The New York Times

The scene at the retro-trendy L’Apollo Bar on Place Fernand Lafargue. More Photos »

By SETH SHERWOOD

Published: June 10, 2010

TASTING notes for the 2004 Bordeaux — the stony French city, not its famous wine — might have read something like this: lifeless and bland; aromas of dirt and dust; a once majestic city well past its prime. But recent years have shown real progress. Today’s Bordeaux is smooth and elegant, thanks to reclaimed docklands and a beautification effort that is removing centuries of soot from its venerable squares and medieval churches. There’s also a new liveliness, including avant-garde art spaces and fledgling concept stores. Throw in some stellar upstart restaurants and innovative wine bars, and Bordeaux sparkles once again.

Bordeaux, France

Friday

4 p.m.
1) EXHIBIT A, HARBORSIDE

Start your explorations of Bordeaux by riding the futuristic tram system to the Bassins à Flots, a once seedy harbor that has been cleaned up and is now home to the city’s most innovative galleries. Cool exhibitions take place at Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (Hangar 2, Quai Armand Lalande, 33-5-56-24-71-36; frac-aquitaine.net), a gallery run by the regional governmental body that collects works by contemporary artists in France and beyond. In the same building is Arrêt sur L’Image (33-5-56-69-16-48;arretsurlimage.com), a gallery specializing in works on paper and furniture design. And Le Garage Moderne (1, rue des Étrangers , 33-5-56-50-91-33;legaragemoderne.org) is a junk-filled hangar with an auto-repair shop and raw contemporary art gallery under the same roof.

6 p.m.
2) PANTALONS ET PASTIS

The left bank of the Garonne River waterfront is another 21st-century urban-planning success story. Old warehouses are home to outlet stores (Quai des Marques), an ultrathin miroir d’eau (mirror of water), constructed in 2006, reflects the grand Place de la Bourse, and the waterfront is dotted with cafes. For a drink, order a pastis at L’Ibaïa Café (Quai des Chartrons; 33-5-56-00-45-35; ibaiacafe.fr), where you can watch the sunset and the river flow past amid pulsing house music.

9 p.m.
3) GLUTTONY

Strange things happen to olive oil at Septième Péché (65, cours de Verdun, 33-5-56-06-42-16; 7peche.fr), a year-old jewel-box restaurant whose arch moniker means the Seventh Sin. Sometimes it’s served in a syringe — no needle — so you can drench your bread. Sometimes it comes in the form of illicit-looking white powder. Is there an addict in the kitchen? No, just Jan Schwittalla, a 20-something German chef whose fun takes on regional specialties (for example, molded bars of foie gras topped with gel of bonito tuna and escargot) are unmistakably habit forming. Tasting menus at 39, 49 and 75 euros, or about $46, $57 and $88 at $1.17 to the euro.

11 p.m.
4) SMOKE AND ICE

There sure is a lot of smoke coming out of people’s mouths at the Ice Room (Hangar 19, Quai des Marques; 33-5-57-00-10-15; iceroom.fr), a vaulted, white club that opened last year. Of course, there are the smokers, puffing away on Gauloises within a glass-walled smoking lounge. But behind another fish tank wall of glass is a spacious ice bar, where parka-clad partiers indulge in vodka (20 euros for 20 minutes; drinks included). In between, young professionals crowd the main bar, ordering the house cocktail, Sex at the H19 (vodka, Chambord, Midori, pineapple juice and cherry juice; 9 euros) — a reference to the bar’s home in Hangar 19.

Saturday

11 a.m.
5) DOWDY TO HIGH DESIGN

Until this year, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (39, rue Bouffard; 33-5-56-10-14-00) was a museum that only a grandmother could love: a dainty dollhouse of period rooms filled with harpsichords, antique vases and other relics of Bordeaux’s past. Then a new wing devoted to 20th- and 21st-century design opened, offering yet another symbol of the city’s playful rejuvenation. Some of the more decadent highlights, many from French designers, include a 1980s Baroque-Dadaist aluminum and wood “Lola Mundo” chair from Philippe Starck; a fuzzy, Chia Pet-like “Tactoris” dresser by Christian Astuguevieille; and a disjointed checkerboard mirror by Andrée Putman. Global design titans, from Ron Arad to Ettore Sottsass, also make cameos.

1 p.m.
6) FAKE FOREST

This year’s gold medal for Bordeaux wine bars easily goes to L’Autre Petit Bois (12, place du Parlement; 33-5-56-48-02-93), whose kitsch-cool design and unstuffy attitude breathe new life into a shopworn Bordeaux institution. Under the shade of leafy (and artificial) indoor trees, a crowd of 20- and 30-something diners tuck into tomatoes with mozzarella (5.60 euros), goat cheese salads (7.50 euros) and toasted bread tartines (5 to 8 euros). Just as surprising is the wine list. There’s a terrific La Rose Pauillac (7 euros) as well as wines from — gasp! — English-speaking nations like the United States and Australia.

3 p.m.
7) MADE IN FRANCE

Underdressed? Concept stores and clubwear boutiques have inundated the area around Place Fernand Lafargue. Recent arrivals include OK Daddy (31, rue Ste.-Colombe, 33-5-56-81-02-20; ok-daddy.com), a gallery, bookshop and clothing emporium that sells its own stretchy rayon jerseys with thin Indonesian python collars, as well as men’s T-shirts and windbreakers by the Marseille label Kulte. It joins Le Rayon Frais (31-33, rue St.-James; 33-5-33-51-10-55; lerayonfrais.fr), a street-wear shop that sells black jeans from Bleu de Paname and flannel shirts by Bérangère Claire — both French labels.

6 p.m.
8) VENDING VINO

Welcome to the future of wine tasting. Buy a tasting card (25, 50 or 100 euros), slip it into a high-tech Enomatic vending machine, choose from eight Bordeaux wineries, pick a size (2.5, 5 or 7.5 centiliters), put your glass under the spout, press the button and voilà: out comes a top vintage, kept at ideal temperature and free from over-oxygenation. Such is the routine at the Max Bordeaux Wine Gallery and Cellar (14, cours de l’Intendance; 33-5-57-29-23-81; maxbordeaux.com), which opened last year. Selections in the minimalist white tasting room include a Cheval Blanc that is 27 euros for a small dose, 688 euros for the bottle.

8 p.m.
9) LAMB, THREE WAYS

The chef François Adamski has the Midas touch. He’s been awarded two of France’s top culinary prizes, the Bocuse d’Or and Meilleur Ouvrier de France — one of only two people to achieve both — and this year his very white, very elegant new restaurant, Le Gabriel (10, place de la Bourse; 33-5-56-30-00-80; bordeaux-gabriel.fr), grabbed its first Michelin star after barely a year of existence. Credit the fine-tuned French menu with international accents. Mediterranean France and southwestern Basque country meet in the squid stuffed with risotto, candied tomatoes and peppers. Lamb, meanwhile, sometimes gets served three ways simultaneously (a succulent gigot, a roasted crispy-salty rack and a proletarian sausage) with a purée of dates, nuts and cumin. A three-course dinner for two, without wine, runs about 140 euros.

11 p.m.
10) BORDEAUX BEATS

Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and the Meters all haunt L’Apollo Bar (19, place Fernand Lafargue; myspace.com/lapollobar), at least in musical form. Young women in thrift-store finery and scruffy young men shoot pool, hobnob and drink pints of Paulaner at this retro-trendy bar. For electronic tunes, pop into the nearby Azuli (55, cours d’Alsace-Lorraine; 33-5-56-79-39-46), where D.J.’s in a second-floor booth preside over the Baroque room, spinning electro, minimalist house and other clubby beats.

Sunday

11 a.m.
11) MARKET CRASH

Sunday is market day in Bordeaux. The fashionable Marché des Quais (Quai des Chartrons, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is a foodie haven and a fine place to feed on fresh oysters (six for 5.50 euros at Huîtres Marennes Oléron; 33-5-46-36-09-10). For a splash of color, hit the Marché St.-Michel (near St.-Michel church, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Situated in a mostly North African quarter of the same name, the market is a chaotic jumble of vintage luggage, Depression-era scrap metal, 1950s radios and rusted French street signs. It’s yet another facet of an evolving city.

IF YOU GO

Air France, Alitalia, Delta, Iberia and KLM all offer one-stop service from New York toBordeaux. According to a recent Web search, Air France has flights from Kennedy Airport, with a connection in Paris, starting at around $1,150, for travel in July.

Opened in 2009, L’Avant Scène (36, rue Borie; 33-5-57-29-25-39; lavantscene.fr) is a stylish nine-room hotel in an 18th-century stone town house just off the waterfront. Doubles from 99 euros (about $116).

Reopened in 2008 with splashy neo-Napoleonic styling, the 150-room Regent Grand Hotel Bordeaux (2-5, place de la Comedie, 33-5-57-30-44-44; theregentbordeaux.com) presides over Bordeaux’s most famous square and houses the Michelin-starred Le Pressoir d’Argent restaurant. Doubles from 260 euros.

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