Bordeaux, France - September, 2025

 It was not a smooth start leaving Philly for Bordeaux. Because of "crew" issue in Philly, our flight delayed for a few hours first and finally deplayed 24 hours...We stayed overnight in Philly trying to catch the same flight the next day to Madrid. The Philly hotel that American Airlines comped us was a seedy little hotel by the name Waterrfront Inn, a few miles from the airport. In the morning when things cleared up, the waterfront in front of our balcony did not look too bad!. We walked to the local restaurant for breakfast. It was a nice morning and we had a pleasant walk. Then, we caught the shuttle back to the airport around noon.

Not Bordeau...! But the view in front of our Waterfront Inn hotel room is not too bad! There is a little marina on the Delaware River not far from the hotel's balcony.

 

It was a long day in Madrid waiting for our short flight to Bordeaux. We finally arrived in Bordeaux, 24 hours later than planned. It was late in the afternoon on day two when we arrived at the hotel.  We were tired and exhaused. However, we walked to the riverfront as it was not too far from the hotel. It's good to have a feel of where we were and planed to get dinner. 

Porte de la Monnaie - Bordeaux Arch. There is a Vietnamese restaurant "Dat Viet" at the left of the arch where we had our first dinner in Bordeaux.

Gare St. Jean, Bordeaux central train station. From here, we took Bordeaux city tram which covers the city, the riverfront and tourist attractions. 

Place de la Bourse.

Place de la Bourse.


Pedestrian street in Place de la Bourse with shops and resturants.


Clock Tower - Place de la Comedie (Comedy Theater).

                        Walking through a quiet alley to visit the Notre Dame of Bordeaux.

Notre Dame of Bordeaux.

Inside the church.

Monument aux Girondins.

Bordeaux Maritime Museum .

On the bridge over the Garonne River with Cite du Vin Museum in the background. 

In front of Cite du Vin.

Port de Bordeaux with Pont Jaques Chaban-Delmas in the background.

Pey-Berland bell tower of the St. Andre Cathedral.

St. Andre Cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

Back side of St. Andre Cathedral @ Hotel de Ville plaza.

Hotel de Ville of  Bordeaux.

We took the tram to cross the Garonne to visit the Bastide district on the right bank.

The right bank of the Garonne - Pont de Pierre in the background.

The Blue Lion sculpture in Place de Stalingrad on the right bank.

Pont de Pierre connects the left bank (city's historic center) and the right bank (La Bastide district) of the Garonne River.  

Back to the left bank to spend the rest of the evening in Bordeaux.

Porte de Bourgogne.

St. Catherine Promenade.

Place Camille Jullian in the historic center.

Back to Dat Viet restaurant for a glass of wine and appetizers.

Porte Cailhau.

Place du Palais at Porte Caihau.

We wrapped up the last evening in Bordeaux at Place de la Bourse which was our first tram stop earlier that day.

Place de la Bourse at night - illuminated against the twilight sky.

Our visit to Bordeaux was enjoyable despite we lost one full day there. We hope to come back to Bordeaux to visit Saint-Emilion's medieval village and world-famous wineries. Good bye Bordeaux for now!.

On the train to Paris.

Mauritius - February 2025

Saint-Denis, Reunion was the last port of call on this cruise. However, the ship had to abort the port due to tropical cyclone Garance that struck Reunion Island about the time of the ship arrival. We had the last sea day on board instead.

Port Louis, Mauritius was our disembarkation port. We look forward to our three day stay in Mauritius. Our hotel was in Grand Baie, a village in northern Mauritius. 

Entrance to our hotel.

Relaxing in front of our hotel/appartment @ Dodo Square.

Grand Baie Beach across from our hotel

A short walk to the G.B Bazaar for handicrafts.

The first of many beautiful sunsets over Grand Baie.

The next day, we visited Cap Malheureux near Grand Baie and the capital of Mauritius, Port Louis with many tourist attrations. 

A Hindu Temple in Cap Malheureux.

 

Coindemire Island and Mahre Beach.

Marhe Beach @ Cap Malheureux.

The Red Church (Notre-Dame Catholic Church) of Cap Malheureux.


One Banyan tree.


Downtown Port Louis and Caudan Waterfront.
 

Fruit stand in Central Market.

Port Louis Chinatown.

Caudan Waterfront.

Caudan pedestrian mall.

A casino in Caudan mall.

An old post office, now a museum.

Perched on a hill in Port Louis stands the Citadel or Fort Adelaide. 

Steps at Fort Adelaide.

Fort Adelaide.

 

Overlooking the village from top of the fort.

View of Port Louis Harbor from fort Adelaide. The NCL Dawn in the harbor.
 

One of the top tourist attraction in this capital city is the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden.

Botanical Garden.

Chinese Windmill Palm Boulevard. 

Victory Flower and Giant Waterlily pond.

Giant Waterlily.

Talipot Palm, commonly known as the sea coconut, coco de mer or double coconut. It's endemic to the Seychelles.

Testudo - A threatened species of tortoise, residents of the botanical gardens.

Another resident: Chelonoidis, a tortoise family found in South America and the Galapagos Islands.

Sunday family's beach time at Pereybere public beach in Cap Malheureux. 

Our last evening in Grand Baie - Piton du Milieu in the background.

Grand Baie sunset.

We were leaving Mauritious the third day. Taking advantage of late flight out, we had a private car and driver to take us from Grand Baie,the north of the island to the airport located in the southeast of the island. Thus, we had a full day visiting the south and southeast before our flight departure.

Piton du Milieu in Pamplemousses district.

Grand Bassin Hindu Temple or Ganga Talao in Savanne distsrict, the most sacred temples in the country, located in a former volcanic crater.

Sacred Lake in Grand Bassin, the Hindu temples's pilgrimmage site.

Sacred Lake in the background
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Our next stop was Black River Gorges National Park where we spent the rest of the afternoon before leaving for the airport. 

The Black River Gorges National Park is a protected natural area with many attractions and features including: Alexandra Falls, Chamarel Waterfalls and Seven Colored Earths...


Alexandra Falls.

                                                     Black River Gorges national park.                                                                                                                                          

Black River Gorges look-out.

                              

We came to an area called "La Pangee", believed to be an ancient supercontinent, Pangee, and its connection to the Indian Ocean - but there is no record of a place named "La Pangee" within the Black River Gorges National Park. 

Chamarel Waterfalls.




Entering Chamarel Geo Park and Village.

Chamarel's Seven Colored Earth Geopark.

Chamarel's Village in the background.


Walk way around the village.

Black River Peak.

Village by the Le Morne Brabant Peninsula.

It's time to say goodbye... We are glad to spend three days in Mauritius. This island country offers a mix of natural beauty, volcanic landscapes, waterfalls, national parks, white-sand beaches and diverse cultural heritage.  The Mauritians are friendly and welcoming. We had a good time here.