So we arrived at Bourges early evening and walked about 20 minutes to our apartment from the station. The apartment is nice, very modern with good space, kitchen and bathroom but lacks any direct access to an outside space, which was a little disappointing. However got good air con and got the stick to work so we’re able to enjoy the indoor space.
On our first day we went out to explore the city, and managed to do all the main sights within the day. It is quite a small city with some very attractive buildings, and clearly quite a lot of history, but it lacks something compared to the fabulous places we’ve been to so far on this memorable trip. Clearly we are in the heart of France, not a very touristy city, so very quiet compared to what we’ve experienced recently, so the language barrier has been more challenged here, but we’ve got by. Here are some images of the city today.
After the cathedral it was time to explore the outdoor spaces and historic streets, with plenty of gardens and historic medieval buildings.
Day 2 the sun came out and we found out there is a lake about 2.5 km south of the city so we went to check it out, only took about 40 minutes walk to get there, and the walk is lovely as it tracks the river D’Auron, and then takes you through an avenue of old sycamore trees. We got to the lake and found that part of it has been manufactured into a beach Plage du Val d’Auron. I would definitely recommend this for a day out or just an afternoon especially if the sun is shining. You can also enjoy a lovely walk along a path which goes around the whole lake. It seems to be Bourges best kept secret.
On the way back to our apartment we noticed a bar on the river which looked quite nice, so after dropping our stuff off we went to check it out, as this would be our last experience in Bourges, and the last experience of our whole 11 week trip. It was a lovely way to end, really nice bar, great atmosphere and beautiful setting, prices quite reasonable to. Definitely recommend this bar if you visit Bourges. Overall Bourges has been a pleasant surprise, didn’t know what to expect but the small city has a lot to offer. It just feels like it doesn’t advertise itself enough, perhaps it just doesn’t want to become a tourist destination, not a bad thing I suppose.
