April 21-23, 2009 (Tuesday – Thursday)
I always wanna visit southern part of France, especially attracted by its winery trails. With the last minute flight booking and a 3 days 2 nights package offered by Office de Tourisme de Bordeaux, I was off to this wonderful place in late April.
My first impression on Bordeaux
I LOVE THIS CITY! Partly because of its mix of 18th/19th century style infrastructure (but still cannot compare to the historical cities in Italy) and at the same time the city was full of high-tech facilities in a clean, fresh environment. During Montesquieu’s lifetime, in the 18th centruy, Bordeaux experienced tremendous growth in trade and population, which led to sweeping changes in the urbanlandscape. Colonial trade made Bordeaux the busiest port in France. As a result, today Bordeaux has more than 350 classified buildings and buildings listed as Historic Monuments, including 3 religious World Heritage buildings since 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.
Miroir d'eau in front of Place de la Bourse
Why the cities was full of high-tech facilities. It was mainly because of the urban project launched in 1996 by the local government – which includes the cleaning of façades, the development of the quays along the Garonne river, the commissioning of the tram in 1999 that runs on a ground-level power supply and the requalification of urban areas strengthened this desire to protect and showcase Bordeaux’s heritage. The city totally support eco-tourism. No car is allowed in some areas. Underground parking were built instead. And I saw lots of cyclist in the whole city. I was particular impressed their effort to perserve the buildings and keep the 2 city gates. All the new infrastructures were built based on the original design in 19th century!
I also impressed by the effort of the Bordeaux Tourisme. Everything was organized in a structural and convenient way for tourists. First, they focused on rebuilting the whole city as a terrific tourist spots – the superb tram system, the Miroir d’eau – a key feature of the Garonne waterfront redevelopment project which became a popular tourist spot and wonderful kid’s playground were some of the examples. Second, a fantastic 2 nights package was offered which includes accommodation, city and wine tasting tour. Third, Bordeaux, Port of Moon was incribed on the World Heritage List in 2007. and a marketing slogan “World Heritage, Fine Wines & Gastronomy” (“Patrimoine Mondial, Grands Vins & Gastronomie”) was created!
More photos in Photo Gallery http://travel.webshots.com/album/573379799CmHpcr
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Do you Know? – History of Bordeaux
This small city in the southwest of France has long been at the hub of the most important wine growing region in the world. Since the 13th century, Bordeaux has been exporting its many wine varietals to the rest of Europe, and although the last couple of centuries saw this city of 650,000 fall into general disrepair, there is at long last a massive urban renewal project underway.
The Celts and Romans
Bordeaux has been occupied for thousands of years. First by the Celts, who established a small village they named Burdigala around 300 BC, then by the Romans, who displaced the Celts in 60 BC. With the fall of the Roman Empire came hundreds of years of strife and chaos. Until the 12th century, Bordeaux was successively plundered by the Vikings, Vandals, Visigoths, Francs and Normans.
English rule
Peace finally returned to the city in 1154, when the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married the French Count Henri Plantagenet, who became King Henry II of England within months of the wedding. Bordeaux fell under English control for the next three centuries, during which time it began to grow and prosper. By exporting wine to England, it earned its reputation in the wine trade.
Other information
- Bordeaux has 113,000 hectares of vineyards and 57 appellations producing some 800 million bottles of wines a year. All the vineyards are away (at least 1-2 hours drive) from the city of Bordeaux.
