The Salinières fountain, also known as Fontaine de la Grave, is one of the landmarks in the city of Bordeaux which people see but rarely stop to look at. That was certainly my case until I recently made a point of inspecting this unusual sight, on the left-bank waterfront more or less in line with the spire of Saint-Michel church.

The fountain was the work of the then chief city architect Richard-François Bonfin and was first installed here around 1787-1788. It was initially fed by the “Font de l’Or”, a spring captured on nearby Rue Carpenteyre and which had previously been channelled to a more rudimentary fountain a little further down the quayside near Porte de la Monnaie.

We are at the grave of Henri Salmide in the Cimetière Protestant of Bordeaux. According to the inscription, he “singlehandedly and on his own initiative saved the port of Bordeaux on August 22nd 1944”. So who was this local hero?

The local hero was in fact a German, born Heinz Stahlschmidt in Dortmund on November 13th 1919. His father, a plumber, died in 1937. His elder brother had taken up studies but the family couldn’t afford to bankroll a second student, so with the outbreak of war in 1939 Heinz volunteered for the German navy. His military career got off to a bad start though: in April 1940, he was on board the battleship Blücher when it sank off Oslo in Norway. In June 1940, a fishing boat he was on which had been converted into a coastal patrol vessel also sank. And in September 1940, he was on a frigate carrying troops which was torpedoed between Denmark and Norway. Stahlschmidt managed to swim back to the coast but 560 men died.

After writing an article about the Wallace fountains of Bordeaux sometime ago for the blog, I thought it might be interesting to film the evidence. 

So here is the ultimate 3'46" video guide to these elegant cast-iron drinking fountains, their history and their locations throughout the city. Enjoy!

Click here if video does not display properly on your device.

Local top-flight football (soccer) team Girondins de Bordeaux will soon be leaving Stade Chaban-Delmas and moving to their new purpose-built stadium in the Lac district of the city. But did you know that in the early years of the club, les Girondins in fact alternated between two stadiums: Parc Lescure (now Chaban-Delmas) and Stade des Chartrons, aptly enough in the Chartrons quarter.

To get the full story, Invisible Bordeaux teamed up with fellow blogger Antoine Puentès, also known as MyStickTroy, who had suggested the subject as a potentially interesting one to pursue together. To add an extra layer, a request had also come through from David Ledru, the webmaster behind the marvellous Scapulaire.com site (the definitive online database and guide to the history of the Girondins de Bordeaux), who wanted to track down information about the buildings which had taken the stadium’s place, on behalf of the descendants of Olivier Lhoste-Clos, a former chairman of the club.

Yes, this is a wooden dolphin, and in its beak (sorry, its rostrum) the dolphin is holding a red hat reminiscent of the knit cap famously worn by the underwater explorer and filmmaker Jacques(-Yves) Cousteau. And the wooden dolphin is to be found in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, the town to the north of Bordeaux where Commandant Cousteau was born in 1910 and buried in 1997.

His birthplace, celebrated by a plaque, was a room above the pharmacie ran by his maternal grandfather Ronan Duranthon, from a long line of illustrious local land-owners and wine-growers. Cousteau’s father, Daniel, was from a similarly wealthy background and was heir to the legacy of a merchant-shipping dynasty. He had become a reputable lawyer who had followed in the footsteps of his own father, a notaire. After graduating from Law School in Paris, Daniel returned to Saint-André where he practiced for three years.

A few months ago I published a couple of items about some of the sights in Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc, and the story of the Diamant A roundabout that can be found there. 

I recently went back and this time filmed the evidence, which you can view in this brand new Youtube clip. Hold on to your hats, it's pretty spectacular. 

Click here if video does not display properly on your device.

In every city there are secret and often surprising places hidden behind closed doors. Bordeaux is no exception and a few weeks ago Invisible Bordeaux again joined forces with the guys behind the Bordeaux 2066 blog (the French-language version of this article can be found on their website here). Together we enjoyed a private tour of one such gem, to be found at the end of a tiny alleyway just off Cours de la Marne, the busy street that connects Place de la Victoire and Saint-Jean Railway Station. For it is here that lies, behind a door that is usually locked, the 18th-century Portuguese Jewish cemetery of Bordeaux.

The person providing the tour (and the key to the door) was none other than writer, journalist and broadcaster Michel Cardoze, known to many as a former TF1 weatherman but best-known to myself and my Bordeaux 2066 friends as the man who delivers “l’histoire du jour” every morning at 7:55am on Radio France Bleu Gironde. In his short monologues, Cardoze glides effortlessly through some of the most amazing tales from Bordeaux and beyond.

All the subjects covered by the website over the past twelve months have once again been a delight to compile and research. But here are five subjects which proved particularly interesting when peeling the layers away. Click on the titles or associated pictures to read the items!

The time has come to finish off the calendar year with a couple of items that look back on some of the features that ran on Invisible Bordeaux over the past twelve months. This first set compiles the five most-read articles. Click on the titles or associated pictures to read the full items! 

The latest issue of Voyage, the official Liverpool John Lennon airport magazine, features a double-page feature about Bordeaux. The question-and-answer session is part of a regular series of interviews with bloggers who have gained inside knowledge of their city and, yes, for the Bordeaux piece they looked to... me!

You can therefore read what I say about the best places in and around Bordeaux to get a sense of history, to take in an unforgettable view, to be surprised, to take in a concert... and even where to go if you're in a romantic mood. Loyal readers will be pleased to see that I also squeezed in a reference to Cacolac (though sadly not in the paragraph about getting romantic). 

• The full piece is available online here (scroll through to pages 16-17): http://issuu.com/archetypeissuu/docs/voyage_issue_5

This bronze statue, which can be found on Place Montaud in the heart of the Bastide quarter, depicts one Joseph Marie Edouard Chabrely (1835-1895), a doctor who was a cornerstone of this right-bank community in the 19th century.

For 39 years, Dr Edouard Chabrely provided the local working classes with medical care, paying close attention to each individual’s ailments and, according to the plaque in front of the statue, “knew the right remedy to heal each wound”. Chabrely was also a member of the local council until his death. By then he had earned not only plaudits but also various titles and honours, much to the embarrassment of this naturally humble man.

To celebrate the blog’s third anniversary, Invisible Bordeaux teamed up with Mollat, the city’s most famous independent bookstore… enabling one lucky reader to win a copy of the marvellous “Nouveau Viographe de Bordeaux”!

Here then is the prize draw in all its glory, including cameo appearances from Bono and the official Invisible Bordeaux cat.

Click here if video does not display properly on your device.

About the prize: Kindly donated by the good people of Mollat, Robert Coustet’s “Nouveau Viographe de Bordeaux” is an authoritative 560-page encyclopedic guide to the stories behind every one of the city’s streets and squares. Packed with fascinating historical insight and often surprising architectural information, the book is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to get under the city’s skin. Click here for further information.

And of course, massive thanks to bookstore Mollat for partnering with Invisible Bordeaux for this competition! You can of course visit them on the internet (www.mollat.com) and hook up with them via various social networks… I particularly recommend their fantastic Instagram account!

A few months ago Invisible Bordeaux ran a set of pictures merging old postcards with modern-day shots, the end montages produced with the expert help of talented work colleague and friend, Anthony Poulachon.

Here then is another selection of pictures that combine past and present, juxtaposing buildings and landmarks that have changed – or no longer exist – with the environment as it looks today.

After recently visiting the 45th parallel north marker in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, it suddenly dawned on me that a remarkably unique latitude/longitude confluence point lay just 60 kilometres to the east of Bordeaux: the intersection between the 45th parallel and the Greenwich meridian.

By doing a little bit of research, I realized that visiting confluences of the like had become a pastime for enthusiasts around the world who then posted their stories and photos on the www.confluence.org website. I was therefore able to read about other visits to the 45°N 0° confluence and saw that, well, there wasn’t much to be seen there at all.

To celebrate the blog’s third anniversary, Invisible Bordeaux has teamed up with Mollat, the city’s most famous independent bookstore… enabling one lucky reader to win a copy of the marvellous “Nouveau Viographe de Bordeaux”!

To have a chance of winning the coveted prize, simply answer the following question, submitting your response before Sunday November 30th:
 

[COMPETITION NOW CLOSED!]

A draw will take place on Monday December 1st and the name of the winner will be announced shortly afterwards on the blog!

About the prize: Kindly donated by the good people of Mollat, Robert Coustet’s “Nouveau Viographe de Bordeaux” is an authoritative 560-page encyclopedic guide to the stories behind every one of the city’s streets and squares. Packed with fascinating historical insight and often surprising architectural information, the book is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to get under the city’s skin. Click here for further information.

And of course, massive thanks to bookstore Mollat for partnering with Invisible Bordeaux for this competition! You can of course visit them on the internet (www.mollat.com) and hook up with them via various social networks… I particularly recommend their fantastic Instagram account!

The suburb of Le Bouscat has long been renowned for its racecourse, its residential quarters, its high street shops and, a-hem, its countless car dealers. But this sign greets visitors to one of the latest additions to the town’s portfolio of potential outings: le Bois du Bouscat.

The Bois du Bouscat provides a landscaped walk in the woods which was two years in the making and was officially opened in June 2013 by local mayor Patrick Bobet. The project was the result of the acquisition of woodland which stretches along one flank of the racecourse (indeed, it was previously best-known as Bois de l’Hippodrome) and next to the high-rise blocks of the Lyautey estate.

We are in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, some 23 kilometres to the north of Bordeaux, on the right bank of the Dordogne… and coincidentally on the 45th parallel north, mid-way between the Equator and the North Pole. This part of town is known as Montalon, a large mound which rises 73 metres above sea level and identified in the 18th century as the ideal location to build a number of windmills.

Today, five of these distinctive circular constructions can still be seen, although maps produced in the 19th century record the presence of as many as ten such mills. Three of the surviving structures have been incorporated within private properties – a couple even appear to be the natural extensions of some lucky homeowners’ living quarters. The other two have been partly restored although both were closed when I was there: one provides a unique rooftop vantage point for a panoramic overview of the site, while the other has become an astronomical observatory which is run by the local council in conjunction with an association.

When shooting the footage that formed the basis of the Invisible Bordeaux “View from Pont d’Aquitaine” video clip, I was reminded of a story which was recently covered by local newspaper Sud Ouest: the mystery of the disused iron rig on the Garonne.

The rig in question can be seen near to the left-bank Bacalan district of Bordeaux, more or less mid-way between the Chaban-Delmas lift bridge and Pont d’Aquitaine suspension bridge. When the subject was initially raised by Sud Ouest, journalist Jean-Paul Vigneaud asked more questions than he provided answers about what he called the “phantom of the Garonne”, a structure “where nobody goes and which nobody is interested in” and which now resembles a “mid-river heap of scrap iron” (un tas de ferraille au beau milieu de l’eau).