The Tour du Greffe in Bordeaux is said to be one of the oldest belfries in France, a remnant of the ancient city walls dating from the 13th century. The “Great Bell” in this tower was cast in 1775 and weighs 7750 kilograms. It is rung six times a year Read More …
In the center of Bordeaux there is an old fortress called the Fort du Hâ, also known as the Château du Hâ or, as Vauban called it, the “Chasteau du Haa”. This fortress was originally built starting in 1454 at the end of the Hundred Years’ War to keep the city Read More …
This pleasant little square, with Porte Cailhau in the background, is now largely pedestrianized. It has several popular cafés and restaurants, but just one narrow lane for limited motor traffic, with access controlled by a bollard which can be lowered for emergency vehicles or deliveries. But it has only been Read More …
Like most French cities, Bordeaux had an efficient tramway system for over three-quarters of a century — from 1880, when the first horse-drawn trams were installed, to 1958, when the last of the 38 electric tram lines fell victim to automania. For the next 45 years Bordeaux was dominated by Read More …
Every two years the website copenhagenize.eu publishes its “Copenhagenize Index”, ranking the world’s twenty most bicycle-friendly large cities (not including smaller cities like Groningen or Münster), as determined by performance in fourteen categories, namely: advocacy bicycle culture bicycle facilities bicycle infrastructure bike share program gender split modal share for bicycles modal Read More …
The railway station Gare Saint-Jean in Bordeaux is a short distance southwest of the city center, just a quarter of an hour by bicycle from the opera house (Grand-Théâtre), a distance of 3.3 km. I traveled to Bordeaux on a TGV train from Toulouse, travelling first class because when I Read More …