Bordeaux

When you hear the name Bordeaux, the first thing that comes to your mind is wine. Bordeaux is known all over the world for its excellent wine. However, there is more to the city than just the wine. The city is not traditionally famous and its reputation has grown only in this century. Since the city is growing and developing all the time, you can expect something new every time you visit the city. Another interesting feature of this city is that it is very flat. So, you can get a view of the whole city if you climb up to the top floors of any high rise buildings.

The Culture

Bordeaux is a very relaxed city in terms of political beliefs, religion, language and even sexual orientation. This is a welcome change from the other French cities, where many are traditionalists. This is probably because Bordeaux is a modern city in more ways than one. Since the city was under the English rule for a long time, you can expect some English flavor in the city’s culture. The city is considered as a competitor to Paris for the spot of the most popular city in France. The ‘Parisiens’ and ‘Bordelais’, who are people of Paris and Bordeaux respectively, take this very seriously. So, never get into an argument on this topic with any of the local people.

Traveling

Bordeaux is very well connected through both land and air. There are regular flights from all the major cities. Even if you don’t have a direct flight, you can take any of the connecting flights, which will not cost you much. The airport is also well connected to the other parts of the city through taxis and buses. It is however advisable that you make a prior booking with a taxi company to ensure that there are no hiccups on that front.

Bordeaux, like other European cities, is easily accessible by trains. There are trains coming in twice or thrice every hour from different locations. You can plan the route you take according to your convenience.

All the major attractions of the city are concentrated around the city center. So, you will not have much trouble traversing between them. You can either walk or rent out bicycles for this leg of your journey.

Food

Like any other French city, the food in Bordeaux is spectacular. There is a variety of cuisines which you can enjoy along with the traditional French cuisine, which is at the heart of the food culture in this city. There are many cafes which cater food that appeals to all palettes. Another important reason why Bordeaux is famous for its food is because of the wine that accompanies it.

Wine

Bordeaux produces probably the best wine in the world. On an average, more than 700 million bottles of wine, ranging from table wine to a few of the most prestigious and expensive wines in the world. If you are a wine connoisseur, Bordeaux is your Mecca.

Andy Butler is an expert adviser for Burger Davis Sotheby’s International Realty. The company provides top end luxury villas for rent and for sale in France.