Ranking as the ninth largest city in the country with a population of around During my recent trip to Bordeaux, I used all these resources by Lonely Planet to plan our stay and make the most out of it.
First things first, let me share some historical facts to provide context and introduce you to this French destination. Built on a meander in the Garonne River, Bordeaux has been an important port since Roman times , when the city was known as Burdigala.
For centuries, it was a trading hub in Europe and is actually considered the oldest commercial port in France after Marseille. Nowadays, Bordeaux retains few vestiges of the Roman, English, Franks or the religious wars that marked its past. Dating back to Roman times, wine exports were the basis of moderate prosperity, but under English rule, between and , merchants began to amass immense fortunes with the monopoly on the sale of wine.
After the discovery of the New World, England took advantage of its strategic location in the Atlantic to diversify and expand its wine market. As a result, the historic area known as Port de la Lune in Bordeaux literally meaning Port of the Moon has become an outstanding example of the exchange of human values over more than years, due to its role as capital city of a world-famous wine production region and the importance of its port in trading at regional and international levels.
Following the French Revolution in , Bordeaux faced some of the harshest reprisals in the country, largely due to its ties with the political faction known as Les Girondins. As a modern city of the 21st century, Bordeaux now blends its historic charm with a forward-looking perspective.
