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!