Postcard from Bordeaux, France: In the city’s belly

Above, “breakfast” platters of seafood at Chez Jean-Mi

Marche des Capucins is the city’s oldest public marketplace, meriting the moniker of the “Belly of Bordeaux.” The abundance and quality of its seafood, produce and cheese stalls inspired numerous chefs to open booths there in the past decade, but, while we were in Bordeaux, COVID and August vacations temporarily pared down their numbers.

Seafood remains prominent. The most renown platters are found at Chez Jean-Mi. One has to arrive early because it both gets crowded and closes before 2 p.m. most days. This forces many a foodie-pilgrim to venture forth for raw oysters for breakfast. As wonderful as a succulent raw oyster can be, I just couldn’t talk myself into eating it first thing, and there definitely was no room at the counter by lunch time.

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Postcard from Saint Emilion, France: Treasures ripe for harvesting

It’s all about the grapes here. And it’s been a rough year, with severe frosts followed by intense summer heat and mold-inducing rain. But the time is nigh for pickers to begin swarming through the tidy rows upon rows of carefully pruned vines.

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Postcard from Bordeaux, France: Not shying away from the past

Shadow of shackles prominently displayed in Musee d’Aquitaine

The collection housed in Bordeaux’s Musee d’Aquitaine covers a broad swath of the history of the region’s past 500,000 years.

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