The Oyster Farms in Bordeaux

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I was in Bordeaux about 3 years ago and decided to take a day and go and see the oyster farms. Up until this point I had been travelling around the various vineyards and decided for some coastal scenery. I enjoy walking around vineyards and smelling the musky cellars, but my love of the sea was calling.

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From Bordeaux itself the drive is around 30 minutes and the day we drove it took a little longer due to roadworks. I had no idea what to expect, but that is all part of the adventure. The area is known as Cap Ferret which is basically a peninsular jutting out into the sea. There are lots of little villages along the way allowing you access to the water. The villages are dotted with little sheds and shops offering you the catches of the day and the oysters they farm.

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106 meters of steps doesn't sound like too much fun after a few glasses of wine.

The Aracahon Bassin is where the oyster farms are and it has a huge tidal swing. The area at high tide covers around 150 km² to just 40 km² at low tide. This all happens in front of Europes largest sand dune , Dune du Pilat. I didn't go and visit this as by the time I thought about it I had a few too many glasses of wine over lunch and it would have been a bad idea. Next time maybe or maybe not as it is just a sand dune.

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Europe's biggest sand dune in the back ground.

Today was a day of no planned tours and just relax in front of the sea sitting on a terrace somewhere and trying the local food with a little wine to wash it down. We found a spot right on the seafront in front of all the fishing boats and we were the only ones there. The people that ran this little foodie place were the fisherman themselves.

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Lodges owned by the fishermen where they take breaks whilst looking after their farms.

I found it very entertaining as they were pulling in the catch and offering us shellfish and oysters basically straight from the boat. You can't get any fresher than that and we spent around 4 hours with them chatting in broken English. This area is known throughout Europe for it's oysters and they were really good.

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How it works is they place terracotta tiles down for the wild oyster larvae to latch onto and they start to grow. Once there are large enough they scrape the larvae off and place them into mesh type bed basket looking device.They are then moved deeper into the Bassin where they are lowered into the water and left for the next two years. The whole process from start to finish takes roughly 3 years. This is slightly slower than other regions because of the huge tidal flow. The farms occupy around 700 hundred acres of the Bassin.

There are less than 400 farms today and they produce around 10 000 tonnes of oysters per year. France total supply is 150 000 tonnes per annum yet 60 percent of the oysters eaten in France today are the Aracahon Bassin ones as they regard them as the best. I really enjoyed learning from the fishermen as they showed all their different techniques and have an open invitation to join them on an outing on the boat next time I am there. That is something too look forward to and I will definitely be back.

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There are literally hundreds of these little places to eat and drink oysters and seafood in.

The experience meeting the locals was great and we only ended up spending around 20 Euros for everything we ate and drank. Four hours in the sun with great company along with a stunning back drop you just can't beat it. There wasn't a tourist in sight and it was as local as you could get. I am sure in season though it would be totally different and jam packed.

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I can't recommend Bordeaux enough as a place to go as it is a great place for a short break. There is loads to see and do and for those that just want to relax and eat well then you can't beat it.I will be back at some point.