Back to towns in France
Bordeaux
The city of Bordeaux is stunning when approached from the south along the river. It's big, with a population of over half a million, and obviously rich - as it has been since the Romans set up a lively trading centre here. Especially attractive is the relatively small eighteenth-century centre, paid for by the expansion of colonial trade. The rest is scruffy and, even with its long history, contains few sights. But if you're just passing through - it's the main regional transport centre - there are a couple of sights worth checking out, and plenty of cheap places to sleep and eat. The atmosphere is inviting and worth sticking around for.
Bordeaux is reasonably spread out along the western side of the River Garonne, with the eighteenth-century old town lying between the place de la Comédie to the north, the imposing buildings of the river bank and the cathedral to the west. North of the centre is the vast open square of the esplanade des Quinconces , and further still, the Jardin Public , containing some very scant remains of Bordeaux's Roman past.
Arriving by train, you'll find yourself at the gare St-Jean , with its own small tourist office (May-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 1-6/7pm, Sun 10am-noon & 1-6pm; rest of year closed Sun; tel 05.56.91.64.70), right at the heart of a somewhat insalubrious area, nearly 3km south of the city centre; buses #7 or #8 run into the centre. Single-journey tickets are available on the buses (7.50F/?1.14), but it's cheaper if you buy a carnet of ten from a tabac (52F/?8.31). You must punch your ticket on the bus; carnet tickets are then valid for one hour, during which period you can change bus up to four times, re-punching the ticket each time. There's no central gare routière , but most regional bus services terminate at the parking lot on the north side of the esplanade des Quinconces; if the planned tramway goes ahead, however, the bus park may well be relocated. Bordeaux's main tourist office , 12 cours du 30-Juillet (May-Oct daily 9am-7/8pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9.45am-4.30pm; tel 05.56.00.66.00, fax 05.56.00.66.01, www.bordeaux-tourisme.com ), can book accommodation free of charge; it also has useful information on the city and surrounding vineyards, to which it also arranges tours .
Bordeaux is packed with numerous restaurants , many of them top-notch, and due to its position close to the Atlantic coast, fresh seafood features prominently on many a Bordelais menu. The best place to look for restaurants is around place du Parlement and place St-Pierre, where you'll find something to please all tastes and budgets. There are numerous sandwich bars and fast-food outlets at the south end of rue Ste-Catherine and spilling into studenty place de la Victoire. In recent summers, guinguettes - open-air riverside stalls selling shrimps, king prawns and other seafood snacks - have proved a huge success, and they set up along the quai des Chartrons. Surprisingly, Bordeaux lacks any truly grand, people-watching cafés . Though Café Regent on place Gambetta is the place to be seen, a nicer, cheaper alternative is to be found across the square at Café Dijeaux beside the city gate. For picnic fodder , there is a marvellous, round market in the place des Grand-Hommes, north of cours de l'Intendance. And on rue de Montesquieu, just off the square, Jean d'Alos runs the city's best fromagerie , with dozens of farm-produced cheeses.
Bordeaux's student population ensures a collection of young, lively bars , a host of which are found on and around place de la Victoire. Several offer live music and all are packed on Thursday nights. There's also a clutch of English, Irish and antipodean pubs now in Bordeaux and a low-key gay scene concentrated at the south end of rue des Remparts.
|
