Visitor Information

Bordeaux has an excellent integrated city transport system and it's fun to travel around the city without a car (and at a reasonable price) using a combination of trams, buses and electric navette , or river-bus. A variety of 'Tickartes' can be purchased at the central terminus (at Quinconces ), at 300 tabacs-presse , or most convenient of all, at automatic machines on the tram platforms, where you will need change as English bank cards were not accepted at the time of our visit. Tickets range from 1 Voyage (valid for an hour), 5 or 10 Voyages, with daily tickets available from 1 to 7 days.

The very quickest way to get around is probably by bicycle: La Maison du Vélo,
69 cours Pasteur
Tél . 05 56 33 73 75.
Open Mon-Fri 10.00 -18.00
and Sat 9.00 - 12.30.
Or discover the city with a bike which talks!
Bord'Eaux Velos Loisirs ,
Quai Louis XVIII - Embarcadère des Quinconces
Tel: 00 33 5 56 44 77 31
The first Sunday of every month finds the city centre entirely car-free, providing a popular event for both resident and visiting cyclists.

Shopping Bordeaux has one of the best city centre shopping areas in France, and it is now mostly pedestrianised. Wander the whole length of the Rue Sainte Catherine for "High Street" names. Famous labels are found on the broad sweep of the Cours de l'Intendance between the Grand Théâtre and the busy Place Gambetta . Discover more boutiques down every side street - and take time to explore the Galerie Bordelaise (entrance off Rue Sainte Catherine) for its architecture and 19th Century ambience, or the other arcade off Place du Chapelet , to relax at the Salon du Thé .

Bordeaux is known also for its antiques and brocante. Try rue Bouffard below the Place Gambetta or the rue Notre Dame in the Chartrons district, where the Village Nôtre-Dame houses 25 antiques shops (open every day except Sunday).

Everyone would enjoy peering in the window at the Verdeun model shop on the Rue des Piliers de Tutelle at the far end of the Galerie Bordelaise . Planes, boats, cars and trains to construct (or ready-made) in every shape, size and material, plus all the accessories you could hope for. It will entertain even the most reluctant shopper.

If food and wine is what you seek, Bordeaux can offer it all. A highlight is the Fête le Vin , a bi-annual celebration in the largest square in Europe, the Esplanade des Quinconces . The Bordeaux Wine Ffestival will be in June 2008, information from www.bordeaux-tourisme.com

Places to see The legendary Grand Théatre of 1773 has been restored both inside and out and is home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux.
The city's Jardin Public (est. 1746) is to be found at Place Bardineau. Across the river lies the brand new 4 hectare Jardin Botanique de Bordeaux which is now open at Quai de Queyries.
The Cathédrale Saint-André, Place Pey-Berland.

A Fine Bordeaux

'Ah yes, Bordeaux...' the mere mention of France's most celebrated wine region is enough to send lovers of fine wines the world over reaching for the superlatives. Press them for their thoughts about the city itself, however, and chances are you'll draw a blank. Either that or their impressions will be hopelessly outdated. Mine certainly were. It must be seven years since my last visit, at which time I thought I'd got it summarized pretty accurately: 'broad river, endless façades of dark stone and complex wrought ironwork, wine shops, lots of traffic.'. Maybe. But that was then, and now I'm back to see just how France's fifth largest city is transforming itself. Forget the old image; this is a happening place.

Despite being some 98km from the Atlantic, the sea remains a tangible force, both in the air quality and the tidal influences on the river. The site, on a gentle, concave sweep of the left bank of the Garonne was already a trading port in pre-Roman times, making it (after Marseille) the second oldest in France. The wine export trade established by the Romans soon saw the area developing steadily, although it was during the English rule of Aquitaine (1154-1453) that things really took off. Exports to England soared, generating substantial fortunes for the city's wine merchants, who prospered still further when the port became the centre for exports to the New World. You can see the results of this remarkable and sustained period of prosperity in the lines of extravagant Classically-inspired residences constructed on the most privileged sites overlooking the long quaysides. What you won't see any more, though, is any trace of the unsightly collection of grey concrete warehouses and other industrial buildings which for many years disfigured the historic quaysides. And now, with through traffic safely consigned to the remoteness of the city's outer ring-roads, the city has even spirited away the previous trunk-road-style signage, leaving the whole riverbank looking cleaner and more dignified than at any time in living memory. Now it's being landscaped. This is restoration on a truly breathtaking scale, designed to hand the broad riverbank back to the people. And there's more to come.

Being here and witnessing the final stages of such a renaissance is exhilarating, not least for the residents, who for three years endured major disruption while a state-of-the-art tramway system was being constructed. For their forbearance they've been rewarded with a city centre which is now substantially traffic-free, giving back huge areas to shoppers, cyclists and visitors. The trams themselves are already a great success. Frequent and cheap to use, they're also air-conditioned, environmentally clean and circulate through the heart of the city in near-silence (with no overhead cabling). The transformation around the Cathédrale Saint-André is particularly striking. After long years of having been marooned amid a turbulent sea of traffic, the vast 11-15th Century Gothic building has recovered its former dignity, and now grabs the focus of attention in the pedestrianised Place Pey-Berland , the freshly-cleaned twin spires upstaging even the nearby Hôtel de Ville.

After taking in the dynamic effect (and a well-chilled 'blanche') from one of the square's café terraces, I make the gentle climb up the boutique-lined Rue des Remparts to the traffic-meets-trees expanse of the Place Gambetta . Rather than leave the old town's inner calm, I turn through the tall, 18th Century Porte Dijeaux , gateway to the city's greatest concentration of both shops and shoppers. The buzz both here and in the streets beyond is upbeat and infectious, as big-name chain-stores rub shoulders with designer boutiques catering for more individual tastes. Then, in the midst of it all I chance upon the Galerie Bordelaise , an oasis of calm whose airy neo-Classical interior dating from 1830-1837 shares the spirit of the arcades which seem to be tucked away in all great cities, if you dig deep enough. At the far end is what must be the ultimate model shop, its window displays of cars, aircraft, railway locomotives and much more guaranteed to transport the calmest adult back to their lost youth. All too aware that I can't have it all, let alone now, I eventually tear myself away for some more attainable fun, and head for la Maison du Vélo , which rents cycles to anyone who feels like discovering the city in pedal-powered independence. I'm in good company, for some three thousand bikes have already been distributed (free of charge apart from a deposit) to city residents by the Hôtel de Ville, to encourage people to get about town without their cars.

It's also a great way to really get to know the place, as I soon discover. I head first for the Place des Quinconces , where Europe's largest square (covering over 12 hectares) is bustling with final preparations for the annual Bordeaux Wine Festival. Putting it all firmly in context are the famous fountains at the base of the Monument aux Girondins , a tour-de-force of bronze statuary created during the 19th Century to honour twenty-two martyrs of the Revolution (another victim was the 15th Century Château Trompette , originally constructed on the site to subjugate the city and its inhabitants). That the fountains still survive is something of a miracle; in 1942 a commission charged with reclaiming non-ferrous metals purchased the sculptures for thirty (old) francs per kilo and dismantled the whole monument a year later. In October 1944 all thirty-four bronzes were rediscovered intact in Angers and returned to a grateful Bordeaux in July 1945. Finally, in 1982 the celebrated charging horses regained the pools from which they still emerge with their chariots, symbolising the Republic and Concordia.

From les Quinconces I make for the neighbouring Quartier des Chartrons, whose glittering Cité mondial du Vin injects a bold, futuristic statement into its more restrained 18th Century courtyard surroundings. Behind I discover a network of narrow streets, home to antique dealers, interior decoration boutiques and a selection of popular eating places. From here it's just a brief hop across the busy Cours de Verdun and into the lush verdure of the Jardin Public , where families and afternoon strollers are relaxing in the shade of tree-sized magnolia grandiflora laden with pale, exotic blossom.

The next hour or so takes me from quartier to quartier , constantly surprised at their respective village-like characters despite the unity of the mostly-18th Century architecture which makes the transition otherwise so seamless. Time after time I witness pale, often delicately-carved limestone emerging miraculously from the near-blackness I still remember from my last visit, as the programme of restoration progresses. Complementing the effect are the unbelievably ornate heurtoirs (door-knockers) and bleue de Bordeaux paintwork which adorn many of the city's most elegant 18th Century portals. Here and there I pause to peer through an open doorway. Among the unexpected treasures concealed behind the imposing façades are monumental escaliers and many secret gardens.

When I finally return the bike I decide to switch to the tramway instead. The sensation of floating rather than clanking is uncanny, as is the rapid rate of progress. Almost before I know it, we're across the graceful Pont de Pierre (which is actually constructed mostly from pink bricks) and gliding smoothly to a halt in Place de Stalingrad , where trams switch to overhead cables and the tarmac between the tracks is replaced by neatly-mown grass. It's a different world over here on the Rive Droite, once literally the end of the line and long perceived as deeply unfashionable. During the past few years, however, a quiet revolution has been gathering pace. Spurred on by the tramway, redundant industrial wasteland is being systematically transformed into le Cour de Bastide, whose new residential developments, services, offices, a school and a university are set between landscaped parkland and botanical gardens, with broad vistas across the Garonne. It seems that the river has finally provided the city with a heart, rather than a boundary.

Words and pictures Roger Moss
The full version of this feature first appeared in A Place in The Sun's everything France magazine Issue 28

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