Bordeaux

Understand

Bordeaux and the whole province of Aquitaine came under English rule for 300 years from 1154, when Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future King Henry II. The English rulers enjoyed drinking the wines of Bordeaux, but they enjoyed the profits even more – trade with Bordeaux was their largest source of income. Most wine came from the Graves region just upriver from the city, and this was a clear, deep rosé called clairet, still produced today. The English came to call any Bordeaux red wine “claret”.

In 1453 France took control of Aquitaine and cut off the supply to England, who ceased to drink wine for the next 500 years, turning to beer and gin. This caused a slump in Bordeaux, which only revived from the 16th century through trans-Atlantic trade. The city then prospered through the 18th century, when most of its fine buildings were erected, and it provided the model for Baron Haussmann's 19th-century remodelling of Paris. Bordeaux also came to eclipse other French Atlantic ports such as Bayonne and La Rochelle. Much of the wealth was based on the triangular slave trade: sugar, rum and other plantation products were shipped to France from the Americas and Caribbean, France shipped industrial wares to Africa, whence the slaves were sent west to work those plantations.

Bordeaux suffered a human cost in later turmoils: the French Revolution, Napoleonic wars, and First and Second World Wars. But the damage to buildings was small enough to be repaired, rather than needing whole-s…

Get around

thumb | 300px | Pont-de-Pierre

See

thumb | 300px | Église Sainte-Croix

is the broad leafy square at the focus of the west riverbank. The ornate Girondins Memorial commemorates those guillotined here after that faction lost the power struggle with the Montagnards in 1793, and the Revolution descended into a "Reign of Terror". The square is nowadays a transport hub - just about every city bus and tram route passes through it. Port of the Moon is the elegant waterfront crescent centred on Place des Quinconces that earned Bordeaux its UNESCO citation. You get a sublime view from the opposite riverbank at dusk.

Do

National Opera is on Place de la Comédie, 100 m south of Place des Quinconces. As well as opera it hosts ballet and musicals.