We’re on line 39 of the Bordeaux Métropole bus network, in the suburban town of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles to the north-west of Bordeaux. One of the stops has a rather mysterious name, the mysterious name being linked to the story of a model village which, even today, feels like a time capsule containing the hopes and aspirations of 1960s France. The name of the bus stop? Villagexpo! 

The story goes that Villagexpo Aquitaine was an event which ran from 13 September to 4 November 1968 and which aimed to showcase modern house designs to prospective buyers keen to move away from their inner-city apartment blocks. At that time, individual homes represented the cornerstone of France’s housing policy. Similar to an initiative rolled out a couple of years earlier in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge near Paris, the Saint-Médard event comprised 142 walk-through houses of thirteen different designs, delivered by architect/building contractor pairings chosen from around 400 candidate projects. Similar events were also held in Nantes and Lille.  

Non-AI visual featuring
the original dates of the event.

In the seven weeks following the official inauguration of Villagexpo by Albin Chalandon (France’s Minister of Public Works), Bordeaux Mayor Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Saint-Médard Mayor Christian Dussedat, and various other dignitaries, around 80,000 people travelled from Bordeaux and beyond to view the show houses and enjoy a variety of activities, including painting and sculpture exhibitions, musical performances, prize-winning contests, and lectures and conferences, all for the entrance fee of just 3 francs. Sud Ouest newspaper hailed the 'village sans habitants' (the uninhabited village) as 'a permanent spectacle'! 

The 15-hectare plot of land, which was transformed for the Villagexpo extravaganza (complete with a 900-capacity visitor car park), was surrounded by wild greenery at the time. Unlike today, it was not served by any form of public transport. Shuttle buses therefore ran from the Esplanade des Quinconces in central Bordeaux throughout the day. But while the Villagexpo homes appeared to spring out of nowhere, they were never intended to be an isolated housing estate. The Saint-Médard authorities had more extensive development plans for this part of the town, which evolved from the village of Gajac. Many more streets and homes were built over the following years, culminating in the arrival of the massive E. Leclerc shopping centre in 1992. 

This is how this part of the Gajac district of Saint-Médard area looked in the 1950s. There wasn't much going on. The blurred area over to the left here and in the following pictures is part of the explosives plant, still today commonly referred to as 'la Poudrière'. Source: IGN/Remonter le temps.

A few years after the event, here is the same area in the 1970s, the yellow lines indicating the Villagexpo development. Note the municipal sports stadium top left. Source: IGN/Remonter le temps.

The present-day view, including the Leclerc shopping complex top right. Source: IGN/Remonter le temps.

The Villagexpo development was a true feat though, as explained by the chair of the event, one M. Philippon, in an interview with Sud Ouest: “We were able to achieve this first and foremost thanks to our team spirit… There was close collaboration between the Gironde department, the Bordeaux Urban Community, the municipality of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, the developer Habitat Girondin, the architects, the contractors, the relevant agencies, and – something that is truly extraordinary about this project – the government, which provided significant support under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing.”

Contemporary coverage in Sud Ouest as retrieved from the newspaper's most excellent Archives section.

The event proved so popular that visitors were encouraged to be flexible by travelling to Saint-Médard on weekdays rather than on overcrowded weekends. To make this option more appealing, the closing time was extended to 10 pm on Wednesdays. What is more, the original closing date of 28 October was postponed by a week. 

Rather than being unattainable dream homes, these were relatively affordable properties set at around 600 francs per square metre. In his Sud Ouest interview, Philippon explained that “these homes meet the criteria for affordable housing designed to help residents become first-time homeowners. […] The houses will be sold to visitors who have expressed interest in a particular model and wish to purchase it. In addition, anyone can purchase a model and have it built on their own land using the financing option of their choice.”

When visiting the estate today, it is easy to see how the model village was organised, with houses of each design grouped together in areas known as 'îlots' (islets). However, the pavilion that welcomed visitors to the 1968 event has long since disappeared, and additional rows of more recent houses have taken its place. While there is no on-site information about the legacy of Villagexpo, a page authored by Florian Grollimund on the Bordeaux Métropole 'Carte des Patrimoines' makes it possible to identify some of the more distinctive designs and the people behind them.  

Angular, flat-roofed homes such as these must have seemed very futuristic in 1968, and were the work of the architects Prévôt and Courrech. 

These houses, designed by architects Andrault and Parat, seem straight out of a Trente Glorieuses comic strip with their curves and slanted roofs.

A number of the islets comprise compact terraced housing conceived by architects including Bouey, Bersagol, Calmon, Tagini and Piequet. 

Some houses even enjoyed the luxury of an upper floor. Personally I find these houses remind me of the UK!

More pleasingly now retro-futuristic designs: 

All very varied then, and although it was very quiet on the cold winter's day that I visited, reports suggest that Villagexpo has a pleasant, village-like atmosphere, with an active residents' association organising many events to keep the estate entertained (their Facebook page certainly suggests that there is always plenty going on). In 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first residents moving in, a series of events were held to celebrate the estate's first half-century. Perhaps another round of festivities will be held in a few years' time to celebrate the estate's 60th anniversary. 

Meanwhile, even though the 1968 event is now very much in the distant past, the model village concept lives on in Bordeaux in the form of the very Truman Show-like Homexpo complex in the Bordeaux-Lac district, which is located to the north of the city. Founded in the 1970s and no doubt inspired by the success of Villagexpo, the complex comprises 13 homes and their building contractors, who are on hand year-round to guide customers embarking on their personal property journey. It is one of the biggest permanent exhibits of its kind in France. 

> Find it on the Invisible Bordeaux map: Villagexpo, Saint-Médard-en-Jalles.

> Ce dossier est également disponible en français !

My band Slowrush, whose song themes emanate from articles originally written for the Invisible Bordeaux blog, has just put out a new EP, Pianoforte, and the lead track is inspired by the incredible journey of Sylvain Dornon, who, at the end of the 19th century, walked from Paris to Moscow… on stilts!

The EP, which we've released with my bandmates Dorian and Olivier, is titled Pianoforte, a nod to the old-school piano that energetically drives each track in a timeless fashion reminiscent of artists like Ben Folds Five, Joe Jackson, Billy Joel in his prime (y'know, pre-Uptown Girl), as well as Air and Youth Lagoon.

And it is indeed the surprising tale of Sylvain Dornon that the band shares in the song “Stiltwalking to Moscow”. Loyal readers will be familiar with the story: in 1891, this baker from Arcachon set himself the challenge of walking from Paris to Moscow with the sole aim of showcasing and preserving the Landais tradition of walking on stilts! He accomplished his endeavour in just 58 days, but the return to his daily routine as a baker was a shock to the system, and Dornon died young.

A video featuring unrelated archive clips illustrates the song's lyrics in a literal way, hopefully with just a touch of gentle humour, and almost makes you want to put on a pair of stilts yourself.

As for the other tracks on the EP, “Hey, Mr. Bertolucci” shares the unusual experience of witnessing a Parisian avenue being transformed for a film shoot set in May 1968 - a story that was previously shared over on the Invisible Paris website. 

“Salt of the Earth” is an instrumental piece built around a cassette recording of a sermon by evangelical pastor Robert Fairnie (who happened to be my grandfather!), dating from the 1980s and kept on tape by a member of a church in Fraserburgh, in northern Scotland. Finally, “Half a World Away II” draws inspiration from Dorian’s extended stay in Chile, the musical project he built from scratch in the Southern Hemisphere, and the friendships he formed there. 

The EP is available on all streaming platforms, or via the Spotify player below. We hope you enjoy the tracks, and long live stilts! 

> Check out Slowrush's streaming links and socials.

If you’re a fan of imaginative, quality street art installations, and have visited places like Orléans, Tours, Chartres, Montpellier, Lille or indeed Paris, you may have spotted some of the celebrated pixel art creations of MifaMosa, whose chosen angle is to draw inspiration from street names and illustrate them in a well-observed, amusing manner. Well, the first piece of good news is that there are seven MifaMosa pieces to be enjoyed in Bordeaux! And the second piece of good news is that MifaMosa even shared some inside information with the blog! Read on!

From what sketchy information is available, MifaMosa is from Orléans, and his street name illustrations idea began as a collective project conceived with his mum and sister with a view to bringing some much-needed joy and light relief to his ailing grandmother. That family philosophy is referred to in the name MifaMosa (for My Family/Mosaic), as well as in the three circular dots that form the artist’s signature, representing his mum, his sister and himself.

MifaMosa’s first sets of street name illustrations appeared in 2017 and since then the artist has branched out to other towns and cities throughout France, with the hope of ultimately being present in each département across the territory. Here in la Gironde, MifaMosa’s only visits to date were to Bordeaux in November 2022, followed by Libourne in August 2023 (six creations can be seen there).

For now though we’ll focus on the Bordeaux installations, which are to be found in three clusters: two in the Chartrons district to the north of Bordeaux, three in the city centre proper, and the remaining two are further south in the Saint-Michel/Capucins area.

Our trail starts out in the Chartrons district, on rue Rose and its long-stemmed, red rose. That artwork is positioned on the corner where the street connects with rue Pomme-d’Or, as illustrated nearby by a diminutive golden apple. Barely 50 metres separate the two pieces.

The second set begins at the end of one of the city’s tiniest, narrowest streets, the strictly pedestrian-only rue de la Vache, personified by the famous logo of La Vache Qui Rit cheese. On the original logo, the cow’s earrings are packs of cheese. Here, they have been replaced by a pair of MifaMosa’s trademark three-circle signatures!

Moving slightly west, on rue Sainte-Colombe, a dove complete with its saintly halo can be seen taking flight, and at the tip of rue du Loup, a wolf can be spotted howling in the general direction of Place Pey-Berland!



The final pair can be enjoyed first on rue des Vignes, where a bunch of grapes has sadly lost its three signature dots, and then on rue du Mouton with possibly my favourite of all, Shaun the Sheep mischievously peering out from the wall.

Reaching out to MifaMosa, I asked him what impressions of the city remained from that stay. He pointed out that he was not in Bordeaux for long “and it isn’t easy to describe the city in a few words without being familiar with it, but I’d say it struck me as being modern and high on gastronomy!”

Given the very exposed locations of one of two of the creations, I wondered how the installation process went: “Unfortunately there is nothing particularly exciting to report! When installing the pieces, everything went very smoothly, whether daytime or night-time. There were however a few positive interactions with passers-by.”

Finally, I wanted to know when next in town whether he would rather be greeted with the gift of a rose, a slice of Vache qui Rit cheese, or a cuddly Shaun the Sheep toy. His indecisive response: “I love presents, so I’ll have to come back to Bordeaux three times!”

MifaMosa, you will indeed be welcome back in Bordeaux whenever you want. We would for instance love to see what you would make of street names such as Rue des Gants, Rue du Mulet, Rue du Vélodrome, Rue des Lendemains, Impasse Bon Gré Mal Gré... The list goes on and the possibilities are endless! :-)

> Further information about MifaMosa with full information about the 500+ pieces dotted around France on his official website: mifamosa.fr 

> This Chartres.TV report provides an excellent introduction to his philosophy and methods:

> Ce dossier est également disponible en français !

The scene is Arcachon, in the latter years of the nineteenth century, and local baker Sylvain Dornon (pictured left) has taken it upon himself to popularise the bygone Landaise tradition of walking on stilts. To do this he organises demonstrations and performances, then opts to stilt-walk up the Eiffel Tower, before venturing from Paris to Moscow. But let’s go back to the start…

The use of stilts, or “échasses”, was widespread throughout the Landes from the 18th century onwards. The wooden implements (and their leather foot-straps) were primarily employed by shepherds as both an easy way of manoeuvring through marshy land and as a means of extending their field of vision when watching over their flock of sheep. Other stilt users in the Landes were messengers and postmen, keen on time-saving and maintaining a steady step. But as the wetlands became drier, due to the work of Nicolas Brémontier and previous blog subject Jules Chambrelent, so the use of stilts began to die out. 

Enter Sylvain Dornon, who was born in 1858 in Salles, to the east of Arcachon and at the northern tip of the Landes. His background wasn’t that of a shepherd. Rather, his father was a résinier, collecting resin from the pine trees of the region, and Sylvain became a baker in nearby Lugos. All the while he was fascinated by music and dancing, and during his time in Lugos he set up one of the first-ever folk-dancing troupes to perform… on stilts. In the late 1880s, the young baker moved to Arcachon, operating on the central Rue du Casino.

Rue du Casino is now rue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny. Dornon's boulangerie can be seen to the left of this picture, and was a vacant unit when this photo was taken.

As the town’s tourist credentials were gaining momentum he hit on a potentially lucrative idea: to entertain visitors by putting on shows in the leafy Parc Mauresque, just metres away from his bakery. The échassier shows featured racing and dancing, culminating in a square dance number known by the Gascon name Lou Quadrilh dous tchancats (stilt-walkers were referred to as being “tchanqués”, as still are the famous huts on stilts mid-Arcachon Bay, les cabanes tchanquées).

In true street entertainment style, spectators were invited to make generous donations at the end of the show. The concept proved successful but Dornon felt he and his stilts deserved greater exposure. In September of 1889 he therefore travelled to Paris for the Exposition Universelle and, in full-on tchanqué mode, walked up the steps to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. The coup garnered extensive coverage in the press.

Arcachon's Parc Mauresque, sadly short on stilts the day I was there.

He would not stop there though. Inspired by tales of eccentric Russians travelling on foot from the western frontier of their country to France, Dornon elected to go one step further (well, several steps further) and stilt-walk all the way from Paris to Moscow. His arrival would be timed to coincide with a Franco-Russian exhibition being held there in May 1891. He secured financial backing from the magazine L’Illustration and Dornon set to work making two new pairs of stilts: one set measured 1 metre 10 centimetres and weighed 3 kilogrammes while the second, longer pair (1m80) were, along with trunks of clothes, dispatched to Moscow.

Dressed in full Landais shepherd clothing (including goat-skin coat and beret), carrying a bag containing maps, a few spare clothes and a loaded gun (you can never be too careful), Dornon set out from Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 12th 1891, surrounded by a 2,000-strong crowd of enthusiastic supporters! 

The scene on Place de la Concorde, as recorded by L'Illustration (photo source: bassindarcachon.com)

Covering an average of 60 kilometres per day and in spite of harsh weather conditions and poor road surfaces, Dornon cruised through Reims, Sedan, Luxembourg, Koblenz, Berlin, Wilna and on to Moscow. Walkers and cyclists would often join him for stretches of the route, although progress was also sometimes hindered by uncooperative policemen or children who would throw stones at him, not to mention downright hostile observers, notably in Germany where the sight of a Frenchman on stilts did not systematically prove popular. On the whole though, Dornon would never fail to find a local who had heard of his venture or a hotel bed to sleep in.

The endeavour even generated a bit of controversy as it was rumoured that Dornon had hopped on a train to ease his efforts somewhat. The press in France quickly picked up on this information, although Dornon later claimed (in his personal account of the trek published the following year by Bordeaux printers Gounouilhou*) that he had solely taken a train in Jastrow, Germany, to appear at a one-off circus event in Kustrin, before returning by train to the same point in order to carry on with his venture. 

Source: Wikipedia

Anyhow, after 58 days and 2,875 kilometres, Dornon arrived in Moscow preceded by a police cortege. He was hailed by a crowd chanting “Vive la France!” and treated to a champagne reception, although the staff at the French exhibition weren't too enamoured; he wasn't allowed to stilt-walk at the event and wasn't even given a courtesy ticket. However, after taking part in a number of other festivities (including a race on stilts against a clown from Germany), and visiting Saint Petersburg, Dornon finally got on a train and began the return trip, which would of course take far less time… although it wasn’t incident-free: at a border crossing the souvenir engraved glasses Dornon was bringing home for friends all got broken during a search by an overly zealous customers officer.

Back in Arcachon, Dornon returned to his duties at the boulangerie. Other than dealing with visitors familiar with his recent achievements, his life regained some form of normality. His Landaise stilts did however continue to excite him far more than the bakery's output; he would take part in races and dance performances throughout the region up until his death in 1900 aged just 42. His legacy is that of reviving a Landaise tradition which had already died out, and the concept he developed lives on to this day, with many échassier folk dance troupes continuing to entertain the masses.

> Find it on the Invisible Bordeaux Googlemap: Dornon's bakery was located on what is now Rue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny in Arcachon. Parc Mauresque can be accessed via the public elevator which has already featured on the blog.

> Further reading: www.illustratedpast.com/people/Stilt-Walkers/index.html

> *Dornon's own account of his trip from Paris to Moscow, as first published in 1892, has been re-printed by local children's book specialists Milathéa, see: http://www.milathea.fr/sylvain_dornon_milathea.html

> Cet article est également disponible en français.

With winter more or less coming to an end, one of Bordeaux's essential musical highlights of the year is just around the corner: the 2026 Bordeaux Rock Festival, taking place from 11 to 14 March. As always, we can look forward to a diverse programme of artists performing over the four days, ranging from local talents to international superstars, all expertly guided by the good people of the Bordeaux Rock association, who are also behind the annual Musical Écran music documentary festival.

The festival will begin on Wednesday, 11 March at L'Inconnue in Talence with a 'Portugal Com Amor' event, featuring Ana Lua Caiano — often referred to as the Portuguese Björk — and Rita Braga. A few days later, on Saturday 14 March, the 2026 edition will come to a spectacular close at the Bordeaux Grand Parc concert hall. Headliner Marlon Magnée (of La Femme) will perform his first French date with Domenique Dumon and local band Équipe de Foot supporting.

On Thursday 12 and Friday 13 March, make way for the 20th anniversary of the slightly mad Rock en Ville initiative. This year, the event will span two evenings, with no fewer than 40 local bands performing at six legendary venues in central Bordeaux.

The principle is simple: evening passes are available at each venue for the affordable price of €6 (cash only) and allow you to move between l’Avant-Scène, Archipop Records, l’Éther, Maison Allez les Filles, Pulp and Grizzly Pub.

The lineup will be beyond eclectic. So whether you're more into power pop (Gordon), skate punk (Fast Lane), dream pop (Aldo is a Dog), post punk (Souffre Douleur), grunge rock (Grenat), country folk (The Coudougnans), or indie rock (Pyramid Kiwi), you're sure to find something you like!

Full disclosure: my alt-pop band, Slowrush, whose songs are inspired by the unusual themes shared on this blog, will be performing on Thursday 12 March at L'Éther (12 Rue des Menuts), alongside the excellent grunge shoegaze band Safe Waters and the equally excellent punk rock band Cust. Join us at 7.45pm sharp for the start of our set – don't be late!

You can also purchase a collectible souvenir of these two nights in Bordeaux in the form of a double CD compilation produced by Thoineau Palis (also known as TH Da Freak and founder of the influential label Flippin' Freaks) and featuring the fine rockin' mascaron artwork by Aubérie Vantomme that can also be seen on the festival poster. The compilation will be available for €10 throughout the festival and then from all reputable record stores across Bordeaux Métropole, as well as on order from the Bordeaux Rock website. It will also be available to stream on Bandcamp. This new set joins previous Bordeaux Rock releases, which have already allowed me to travel back in time and discover the Bordeaux music scenes of 1977–1987 and 1988–1998. Check back soon for my thoughts on the 2026 vintage!... and see you at the festival! 

A Rock en Ville 20 ans compilation spotted in its natural habitat.

> Full information about the Bordeaux Rock festival here
> Full information about the Rock en Ville 20 ans compilation CD here

At Invisible Bordeaux, we’ve become accustomed to looking upwards at walls, plaques and windows, but on a lane stretching through the forest of Le Taillan-Médoc, in the north-western suburbs of Bordeaux, it is very much a case of looking down at what is painted on the ground: a 100-metre-long hopscotch-like serpentine installation comprising handpainted squares inspired by local sights, customs and tales. We give you 'Les Pieds au Sec' (which translates as "dry feet"!).

The artwork is the result of a project (codenamed a POP, for Projet Optimiste Partagé, an upbeat shared project) conducted by the local municipality throughout 2024 and 2025, with the active support of a number of cultural players, and awarded to be delivered by the multidisciplinary artists Benjamin Grafmeyer and Colette Ducamp.

Starting from a blank page, initial encounters led the two artists to develop an idea around an iconic raised pathway, « la Levade du Médoc » (also known as Lébade). This was a footpath that ran from Bordeaux to Soulac via Le Taillan, in essence the first formal route in the area, and the reason it was raised was to enable walkers to remain above the level of the surrounding marshlands, therefore keeping their feet dry (i.e. les pieds au sec).

Full explanations about each of the 58 recurring panels are available alongside the artwork.

Working with the idea of possibly creating their own form of "levade", they held workshops in local schools, care homes, art clubs and even at the weekly market, meeting, greeting, chatting and collecting examples of some of the distinguishing features that make Le Taillan what it has become today, whether substantial or seemingly insignificant! And while out rambling with the town’s youth club, they came across the long stretch of ground, close to where the original "levade" was located, that would later host the end product.

During further sessions with participants at what is known as le POLCA (Pôle culturel et artistique), work began on creating giant stencils, and primary schoolchildren contributed by utilizing a set of pre-defined shapes to conceive some of the visuals that would end up painted on the ground.

The final stage came in April 2025 when schoolchildren and volunteers joined the artists to produce the actual stencils’n’paint artpiece, which can now be freely viewed at all times. But then again why not take things one step further as this is public artwork that cannot only be viewed but can be played, with detailed explanations and rules available online (the game is reportedly suitable for players aged 3 to 101, and is also available online as a print-out-and-keep version).

To enjoy the full experience, nothing beats visiting the exhibit itself, but as a taster, here are just a few of the squares painted on the ground (they could already do with a little TLC) and what they represent:

Le lavoir (above left): Le Taillan-Médoc’s centrally-located washhouse was first built in 1870 and renovated in 2009. As elsewhere, for many years it was a veritable meeting point and a hub for local gossip!

Le sergent mystère (middle): the artwork has been positioned on Allée du Sergent, but it is a mystery who the original sergeant might have been!

Chez Titine (right): Titine was the lady who was the first person in the Germignan neighbourhood of Le Taillan to have a telephone connection. She was therefore particularly well-informed about local news and developments!

Les voitures fantômes (above left): In June 1940, a surprising convoy of Citroën vehicles turned up in Le Taillan-Médoc. They were being driven by Citroën factory-workers and their families, who had fled Paris and were on a mission to hide the cars further south in the Landes region.

La Place Général de Gaulle (right): the town’s central square was previously the territory of grazing sheep, but is now the place where people meet to socialise and catch up with each other. Cheers!

Here's to Les Pieds au Sec, let's hope it proves to be a durable addition to Le Taillan-Médoc, possibly even in time becoming as much a part of the town's heritage as the sights, customs and tales that the artpiece celebrates! 

And here is some official video footage of the installation:   

P.S. Before signing off, there is a bonus item to share as nearby, by another lane that enters the forest, an old red British telephone box can be seen. There seems to be no particular reason why it should be there, but it is indeed there, and makes for an unusual sight to say the least. Judging by the scale of the neighbouring property, it appears to be a private initiative rather than the work of the local council. 

Doing a bit of homework, it appears to be a K6 model kiosk, and the bas relief St Edward’s Crown therefore means that it was manufactured after 1953. Since the 1990s, when red telephone boxes quickly disappeared from the landscape, the crown has been picked out in gold paint on heritage models; here though it has retained its original red paint. Sadly, there is no phone inside, so if your battery is low and you need to make a call when in the area, possibly best instead to hunt out ‘Chez Titine’…

> Find them on the Invisible Bordeaux Googlemap: Les Pieds au Sec hopscotch serpentine and Red telephone box, Le Taillan-Médoc.

> Ce dossier est également disponible en français !

Several of the locations featured on the Invisible Bordeaux blog, along with a number of places further afield, are now included in Atlas Obscura, the definitive guide to extraordinary places around the world. This makes me strangely happy!

Here at Invisible Bordeaux, I have been an avid reader and user of Atlas Obscura for a number of years. In fact, recent cycling trips have been voluntarily designed to take in sights that have been featured on the website. It was only a matter of time before some of the Bordeaux and Gironde finds from the blog appeared on Atlas Obscura, reaching the platform's international audience. Here then are the weird and wonderful subjects that now have that additional exposure.

Twin City Gardens

These little-known and somewhat run-down gardens, which have been designed to make visitors feel as if they have been magically and instantly transported to other parts of the world, namely a number of Bordeaux’s twin cities, including Lima, Munich, Madrid and Casablanca, have been a recurring subject on the Invisible Bordeaux blog and were even converted into a song and video for my musical project, Slowrush.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

The Mériadeck quarter

This modern, high-rise district emerged in the 1960s and 1970s following the demolition of an entire residential neighbourhood. Although many Bordeaux citizens have never fully embraced the area, it is popular with brutalist architecture enthusiasts, photographers, skateboarders, urban dance groups, and British bloggers.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

Square Vinet’s green wall

Just a stone’s throw from the perpetually bustling Rue Sainte-Catherine, at the junction of two picturesque side streets, you will find a small children's playground which is home to the city's largest mur végétal — a vertical garden, or green wall. It stretches across two sides of the square that meet in a circular niche.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

The Ovniport UFO landing pad in Arès

The quiet resort town of Arès, located at the northernmost point of the Arcachon Bay triangle, has a designated landing pad for unidentified flying objects, albeit a rather minimalist one. The so-called 'ovniport' is still awaiting its first extraterrestrial visitor.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

 

Other Invisible Bordeaux contributions to Atlas Obscura are from a little further afield, but don’t let that stop you from checking them out!

Rembrandt’s Christ on the Cross in Mas d’Agenais (94 kms from Bordeaux)

Le Mas d’Agenais is a picturesque village overlooking the River Garonne, located approximately halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Its small parish church, Église Saint Vincent, is home to an unlikely treasure: a painting produced by Rembrandt in 1631!

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

Montech Water Slope (197 kms from Bordeaux)

This remarkable feat of engineering enabled canal boats to bypass a series of five locks. All that was required was a 125-metre sloping channel through which twin 1,000-horsepower diesel-electric locomotives could move the barges. Simple.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

Ayré Barèges funicular (302 kms from Bordeaux)

This leisurely mountain hike from the Pyrenean village of Barèges follows the disused tracks of a funicular railway and leads to the spectacular former upper arrival station, which is now abandoned. One of the funicular's last-generation green metal cabins remains in place, while its twin counterpart can be seen at the back of the former departure station in Barèges.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

Der Lake Museum Village (just 767 kms from Bordeaux)

This museum preserves the remains of three villages that were submerged by the creation of Der Lake in the early 1970s, which was intended to protect Paris from flooding by regulating the flow of the Marne River. The buildings relocated to the walk-through museum include a town hall, a school, a 14th- to 15th-century church (with its cemetery!), a barn, a blacksmith's house and a dovecote.

> View the Atlas Obscura entry.

> Enjoy the full Atlas Obscura experience and its more than 30,000 entries on the atlasobscura.com website, or else on the very handy app, as used and recommended by Invisible Bordeaux! 

> Atlas Obscura can also be followed on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and elsewhere! 

They are easy to miss, but there are two plaques affixed to the wall where Rue des Bahutiers meets Rue du Cancéra in the centre of Bordeaux. They commemorate the life and death of 19th-century French-Peruvian writer and socialist activist Flore Célestine Thérèse Henriette Tristán y Moscoso, better known as Flora Tristan.

Flora Tristan was born in Paris in 1803. Although she often speculated about the grandeur of her ancestry, she was actually the product of an affair between Mariano Eusebio Antonio Tristán y Moscoso, a colonel in the Spanish Navy and a member of one of southern Peru’s most powerful families, and Anne-Pierre Laisnay, a Parisian bourgeoise. The couple had met in Bilbao, Spain.

This informal family unit (the parents never married) appears to have lasted until her father’s death in 1807, after which mother and child were unable to maintain their high-society lifestyle, in large part because their home had been repossessed by the French State (as it was part of the Spanish empire, Peru was regarded as an enemy nation at the time).

Source: Wikipedia / 

Les Belles Femmes de Paris et de la Province

Tristan’s first means of escape from relative poverty was aged 17 when she married a wealthy engraver, André Chazal (she was already pregnant with their first child, they were to have three in all). However, the relationship soon turned sour, as Chazal proved to be a jealous and violent husband. She fled in 1825 and obtained a property settlement in 1828, but was never able to successfully file for divorce, a driving factor in her commitment to fight for women’s rights.

After spending time in England, Flora Tristan set off from Bordeaux to Peru in 1833 to stake her claim to her paternal inheritance, which was controlled by her uncle. As her family regarded her as illegitimate, she failed in this endeavour, although she was granted an allowance for a number of years, enabling her to gain some degree of financial independence. Feeling socially out of place in Lima, she eventually returned to Paris, where she wrote a travel diary about her time in Peru called Pérégrinations d'une paria (Wanderings of a Pariah).

Her status as a published author enabled her to begin operating within Paris's literary and socialist circles, and she continued to build on her experience in Peru, where she believed women were freer and more influential than elsewhere. She went on to produce seminal works on women’s equality, feminism, and workers’ rights, becoming one of the leading figures of the utopian socialist movement of the 1840s. Notable books on the theme of social justice included Les promenades dans Londres (1840) and L’union ouvrière (1843).

The ceramic tribute on Rue des Bahutiers.

In April 1843, she set off from Bordeaux on a trek which aimed to gauge working conditions in various locations and share her thoughts about equal rights between women and men in conference settings (100 meetings were planned in 20 cities). The journey, which had been conceived one year earlier during a stay in Bordeaux, sought to replicate the 'Tour de France' model applied by 'compagnon' apprentices who perfected their skills while travelling around the country.

However, after 13 stops, she was both physically exhausted and unwell. She returned to Bordeaux for treatment, but died unexpectedly from typhoid fever at the home of the journalist Charles Lemonnier and his wife, Elisa. She was buried the next day at the Chartreuse Cemetery in central Bordeaux.

The house where Flora Tristan's wanderings came to an end. 

The two plaques on Rue des Bahutiers therefore mark the spot where Flora Tristan’s “wanderings came to an end”, as is inscribed on the slightly damaged ceramic tiles of the older installation, unveiled in 1992 and also featuring the coat of arms of the Peruvian capital, Lima, one of Bordeaux’s twin cities. The second plaque, which is made of metal and provides concise biographical information of the self-described “fallen aristocrat, socialist woman, and feminist worker”, was added in 2021 to mark the 200th anniversary of Peru's independence.

A large column, topped off with a couple of stone books (one featuring the title of her work L'union ouvrière) was installed on Tristan’s grave at Chartreuse Cemetery five years after her death. Funded by workers, it is collectively signed "Les travailleurs reconnaissants" (the grateful workers) and bears the inscription “liberty, equality, fraternity”. A ceremony is held there every 14 November to mark the anniversary of her death, traditionally attended by women’s rights associations, trade union representatives, local dignitaries and historians.

Finally, Flora Tristan's legacy was to extend beyond her thoughts and writings. Her daughter, Aline Chazal, married Clovis Gauguin, and the couple had a son, Paul Gauguin. He of course went on to become a celebrated Post-Impressionist and Symbolist painter and sculptor.

> Find them on the Invisible Bordeaux Googlemap: the house where Flora Tristan died, Rue des Bahutiers, and Flora Tristan's grave, Cimetière de la Chartreuse, Bordeaux 

> Ce dossier est également disponible en français !

In the run-up to the festive season, why not take some time out to attend the Compagnie Clapotis production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House? It will be performed six times between 11th and 14th December at the Halle des Chartrons in Bordeaux, with three performances in English and three in French. To find out more, Invisible Bordeaux spoke to Joshua Stretton from the bilingual theatre company.

Joshua Stretton

(credit: Victoria Hebrard).

What is taking shape?

We are staging a production of A Doll's House, a 19th-century Norwegian play that is well known in Scandinavia, the UK and the US, but arguably not so well known in France. The play centres on Nora, and the story revolves around her marriage, her relationship with her husband, and a decision she made a decade earlier that comes back to haunt her. In essence, this is a 19th-century version of a kitchen sink drama, with the story unfolding behind closed doors. The play can be regarded as an early feminist text, focusing on a woman who self-emancipates. The play was a huge success when it was first written and performed, and it remains just as inspiring today.

Can you introduce us to Compagnie Clapotis?

My wife Emily Guernsey and I are the creative partners behind Compagnie Clapotis, an immersive bilingual theatre company. Emily is from Maine in the US and I am from Somerset in the UK. We met in Paris while working on outdoor Shakespeare productions and moved to Bordeaux in 2022, establishing the company to focus on non-traditional theatre in unconventional spaces. The name 'Clapotis' refers to the ripples on the surface of water.

Can you tell us about some of your other projects/formats?

We also run “Director's Labs”, a programme that originated in Paris and which we would like to replicate in Bordeaux. These are acting classes that are designed to help directors, too. We explore a variety of styles and encourage multiple directors to develop a concept, which is then rehearsed with actors. We also run educational seminars on Shakespeare based on our experience gained over the past 10 years.

Focusing on A Doll's House, who will be on stage?

There are four actors playing six parts, two of whom are native French speakers and two of whom are native English speakers. Yolanda Creighton, who is from Paris, plays Nora, while I play her husband, Torvald. The other two actors, Mayte Perea López (actually Franco-Spanish) and Paul Wilson (an Englishman based near Bordeaux), each play two roles. Emily is directing the show!

Left-right: Yolanda Creighton, Paul Wilson, Mayte Perea López (credit: Victoria Hebrard).

What is the thinking behind the performances in English and in French and what are the learnings from working on two versions of the same play?

The idea is that we are testing the waters in Bordeaux with English theatre, but we also want to attract the local audience, hence the shows in French.

While working on the play, we realised that French is a much more direct language than English, which is more nuanced. For example, in an early scene, I regarded the interaction between husband and wife as friendly teasing in English. However, at the French-language auditions, everyone performed this scene as an argument. When we asked the actresses we cast, they noted they saw the exchange as abrupt.

The two versions we are performing will be as similar as possible, but they will also be slightly different. Having two native French speakers and two native English speakers adds to the project's uniqueness.

You'll be playing in the round, is this something you're used to?

It's something we've done a few times before. The format is very liberating, but it takes a lot of stagecraft to let go of the idea that you have to face one direction! The play involves a lot of movement and frequent changes of angle. This configuration also enables us to use a large stage on which we will be mimicking an apartment complete with furniture.

Paul and Joshua mid-rehearsal (credit: Victoria Hebrard). 

Why did you choose A Doll's House and why is your version set in the 1930s?

The main draw was the storyline. We wanted to update it, but certain plot constraints, including a twist involving a loan, would have required significant changes if we were to set it in modern times. So, we opted for the 1930s, which is obviously an interesting period to consider right now, with the added backdrop of the financial crisis of the time. We decided to keep the setting in Norway to retain the conventions of the original. We're confident the audience will easily overlook the fact that the dialogue is in English or French!

What do you hope audiences will take away from these performances?

We hope they will appreciate some well-produced, strongly acted theatre in the form of an intense, high-octane drama from start to finish, which will be an exciting experience in the round. It could also prompt a discussion about language: for those who come to see it in English, is this what they want? For those who see it in French, did they find it interesting to see a performance that isn’t a typical French play? We also hope that audiences enjoy experiencing theatre in such an intimate setting.

Where can tickets be purchased and where can readers keep up to date with Compagnie Clapotis news?

Tickets can be purchased via our website or the HelloAsso platform. They are priced at €18, with reduced rates of €14, and there are also pay-what-you-can concessions for the two matinee performances because we believe that ticket prices should not be a barrier for the community. Keep up to date with Compagnie Clapotis on our Instagram account!

 Event: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
 Dates: Thursday 11– Sunday 14 December (English-language performances Thu 11 at 19:00, Sat 13 at 15:00 and 19:00, French-language performances Fri 12 at 19:00, Sun 14 at 15:00 and 19:00)
 Venue: Halle des Chartrons, Bordeaux

> Compagnie Clapotis website
> A Doll's House ticketing
> Compagnie Clapotis on Instagram

> Ce dossier est également disponible en français