Gironde with Bordeaux

From its Gallo-Roman and medieval past, Bordeaux has preserved the ruins of the Palais Gallien, a 15,000-seat amphitheatre built in the 3^rd  century, and such medieval belfries as Porte Cailhau and the Grosse Cloche.

It was during the 18^th  century that Bordeaux really started to make a name for itself, as the wine trade expanded with the development of improved means of transport.

Bordeaux prospered under the impetus of the two intendants Tourny and Boucher, who redesigned the city. The poet Ausone’s ancient town of Burdigala and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s medieval city gradually gave way to a metropolis open to the world at large.

Wide avenues replaced ramparts, squares were laid out and monuments erected. The neoclassical facades of Place de la Bourse, the Grand Théâtre and the Palais Rohan, which now houses the Town Hall, bear witness to the “Golden Century”, as do the grotesque stone faces grimacing down from the pediments of the city’s houses.

Three monuments are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites : Saint-André Cathedral and the Saint-Seurin and Saint-Michel basilicas. There is still very much of a medieval atmosphere in the narrow little streets of old Bordeaux, in the heart of the picturesque neighbourhoods of Saint-Pierre, Saint-Eloi, Sainte-Croix and Saint-Michel, which make up the largest protected sector in Europe.

Set off on foot, by tram or by bicycle to explore the city’s picturesque districts, and take time off for a leisurely stroll through the many pedestrian streets in the city centre. Let the city’s charms work their magic upon you...

Well worth seeing

Bordeaux Monumental, rue de la Rousselle (where Montaigne lived, at numbers 23/25), to discover the city’s history from Antiquity to the present day.

Rendezvous at the Tourist Office, which has a range of UNESCO-labelled visits on offer.

Guided night-time tour of the UNESCO-listed area (1810 hectares – half of the city’s total surface area) aboard an open-roof bus (from Pont Saint Jean to the Chartrons district and from the Garonne to the boulevards, via the city’s great monuments, lit up by night).

Good to know

From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month, the city centre is reserved exclusively for pedestrians,  cyclists and rollerbladers.