Bordeaux central area was awarded its UNESCO World Heritage status for the completeness of its 18th century urban landscape. That architecture has at its core the site of the roman port and around that the medieval walled city which survives in the street plan and many of the narrow streets.
READ MORELaunderettes, dovecotes & bell towers
Jun 22, 2019 | History, Sightseeing
Bordeaux and its countryside include domestic buildings that are an integral parts of the landscape and the local culture. Its unlikely that you would travel far through the rural backroads without encountering a village lavoir – a communal laundry facility where the luxury of cold running water is supplemented by a roof and a stone wash trough.
READ MOREFamous Sons and Daughters
May 3, 2019 | History, Sightseeing
No region lacks some native sons or daughters who have made it into the history books and Bordeaux is no exception. The roman poet, Ausonius is claimed by Bordeaux as one of theirs. The Romans had arrived in 57 BC and by the 4th century Bordeaux boasted a university at which he taught while enjoying the fruits of a wine-producing estate near St Emilion. His life is honoured by a modest monument at the bottom of the Cours D’Alsace and Lorraine, outside the Frog and Rosbif Public House. As elsewhere, poets and pubs seem to be natural associates.
READ MOREPapa Clemente V and his five nephews
May 2, 2019 | History, Sightseeing, Wine
Bertrand De Goth the Archbishop of Bordeaux and local Gascon lad was chosen as Pope in 1305 taking the title Clement V. After delaying his departure from his castle at Villandraut for three years he finally settled in Avignon to begin a period of almost 70 years when rival popes reigned in France and Italy.
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All landscapes have stories to tell – often bloody, occassionally misremembered and sometimes celebrating virtues that are no longer highly valued, but they are what make a place worth visiting. The countryside you can explore around Bordeaux is not one but a number of landscapes ranging from semi-wilderness to some of the most valuable (certainly the most expensive) arable land in western europe. Between those extremes lie small plots, family farms (- sometimes the subject of long-standing disputes over inheritance), woodland reserved for la Chasse, riverside meadows and hamlets and small towns.
A few of the stories that we know we have set out in other pages but there are many more waiting for you to discover …..
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