You Won’t Get Bored in Bordeaux

 

 

I confess that before we booked a tour to the Perigord regions (aka the Dordogne  or the Périgueux) I seldom thought of the French city of Bordeaux. I vaguely knew that Celts lived there in the third century B.C. and that Julius Caesar conquered them centuries later. Four centuries of Roman rule gave way to the Gauls (also Celts) of the early Middle Ages. Back in the days when I was studying medieval history I learned that Bordeaux was the principal town of Aquitaine and that 14-year-old Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine in 1137, then Queen of France. When Louis VII of France had their marriage annulled* in 1152, Eleanor married King Henry II of England and Aquitaine became part of the English crown. And so it remained until after the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453 when it reverted back to France.

 

I then put Bordeaux out of mind unless I saw the name on bottles of red wine. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines are considered among the world’s best. (The difference is that most Burgundies are single varietals–just one type of grape–whereas those from Bordeaux are mixed, usually Merlot and one or two other grapes.) Bordeaux is still a major wine exporter for some 7,000 regional vintners, but it’s also a lively city whose metropolitan population has sprawled to 1.3 million. (The city proper is about 300,000 with immigrants coming in daily, many from Paris.) It has been a university town since 1441, and a major trading center even longer. The Garonne River is muddy and wide in the city as its mouth is just 15 miles away. On its banks approximately center city lies the impressive and photogenic 18^th century Palais de la Bourse (stock exchange), a testament to Bordeaux’s wealth. These days wine, retail, education, and tourism drive the economy. The nearby Grande Théâtre is another example of the city’s 18^th century “golden age,” as are several lavishly appointed cathedrals and churches. It was also a slave trade now coming to grips with its role in that horrific practice.

 

Bordeaux has seen upheavals, which is why there are a reputed 362 monuments in the city. Depending upon whom you ask, the French Revolution or the two world wars were the most traumatic occurences in the city. Given that Bordeaux has several squares and parks named for socialists, the man for whom the guillotine is named graduated from the university, and many abolitionists were socialists, I’d say the Revolution was popular here. (The socialist party tends to get a lot of votes in Bordeaux!)

 

Architectural historians can have a field day in Bordeaux. It has several impressive medieval gates and a well-preserved medieval quarter, the waterfront is mostly 18^th century, and Rue St. Catharine is France’s longest pedestrian shopping precinct (1.2 km). But there is also a district with Le Corbusier buildings, and lots of concrete brutalism away from the center, including the extraordinarily ugly brutalist shopping mall called Mériadeck in the hotel precinct. Why people go there is a mystery given how many shopping options exist in the center–everything from Monsieur T-Shirt to Galeries Lafayette.

 

We only had time to check out several museums: Musée des Beaux-Arts, the Museum of Aquitaine, and Cité du Vin. The latter is an interactive look at wine around the world–much preferrable to Atlanta’s Coca Cola World if you ask me. Its quirky home is supposed to resemble wine being swirled in a glass, but it looks more like a giant glass boot! But you can learn a lot about wine, get a sample at the top, and be treated to an aerial view of Bordeaux.

 

A final thing to mention is Bordeaux’s excellent public transportation. It has a TGV fast train to Paris (two hours), taxis, buses, and a four-line light rail tram system. Line A runs the whole way out to the airport and you can take its slower ride into the city for a          few Euros as opposed to the 25-30 Euros you’d spend for a cab.

 

Rob Weir

 

 

* Medieval marriages were almost always about land, not love. The Catholic Church did/does not sanction divorce, so Louis contrived the excuse that he and Eleanor were too closely related and petitioned for annulment. That’s weird as the couple had two daughters, which would mean they were guilty of incest. The real reason was that Louis wanted a male heir. Don’t blame Eleanor; she bore five sons for Henry.