Reader's Digest

July• 2018 | 107

the City of Bordeaux has embarked

on.” It is to Juppé’s credit again that

coming to terms with the city’s past

has become an integral part of the

plans for the future of Bordeaux.

Hubert leads me through rooms

illed with ship models paintings and

the paraphernalia of suppression. We

are surrounded by a group of 12 year

olds brought here to learn this dark

history. More than 11 million enslaved

Africans were traded like cattle by the

British French Dutch and others.

“For too long we have hidden behind

the notion that slavery was an Ameri-

canissue”saysHubert.“Itwasnot.It

was very European.”

Theexhibitionlendsadegreeof

honesty to the way Bordeaux wants

to present itself. But there is still a

longwaytogo.SinceImetVeronique

Baggio I have asked several other

locals about the slave trade and found

thatthesubjectisassensitivehereas

it is in my own hometown Amster-

dam. We don’t like to be reminded of

thecrimesofourforefathers.

Apopularmythamonglocalshasit

that the Bordeaux traders were forced

bylawtoshipslavestoAmericaasa

result of a deal between the king and

theAmericans.Itisanexcusethat

places responsibility with the regime

thatwasoverthrownintheFrench

Revolution.Hubertlaughsoutloud

whenItellhimthis:“Therewasno

such contract. Absolutely not.”

ASILEAVEthe museum I am just in

timeformyreservationatRacines

asmallrestaurantnearbyowned

and run by Scottish chef Daniel Gal-

lacher.HeleftScotlandtoworkwith

and learn from France’s most famous

chefs. Racines is his irst restaurant.

“I don’t have a Michelin star yet” he

he Rue de Fessets a pedestrian zone in the Old City

has an Old World charm

PHOTOS: PAUL ROBERT