Bordeaux Favorites

Favorite thing: On the North of the old town there is Place des Quinconces, where you can enjoy wonderful monument (one of my favorites in the city). It was built in the 2nd quarter of XIX century and symbolizes Bordeaux as a part of French Republic. There is bus terminal and you can get the place without any problem.
See travelogue as well

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Favorite thing: There are several old gates to the city that were kept. Some hundreds ago they were entrance to the city. They were built in XIV-XV centuries. The most impressive one is Grosse Cloche, Big Clock Tower. It is situated on the crossing Cours Victor Hugo and Rue St. James. There is a fantastic view in night.
To the left from the tower (if to come from Course Victor Hugo), you see St Eloi Church.

Favorite thing: Clock was constructed some later, in the end of XVII century. It's better to have a look at the mechanism in the day light, of course. I haven't any idea whether clock bells nowadays, in any way I didn't hear that..

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Favorite thing: Another impressive gate is Porte Cailhau. It is situated not far from Pierre Bridge and you can see it if you go along the embankment. Porte Cailhu is the only one gate, which was used as a living tower. The tower was built in 1493-1496.
You may go upstairs into the tower (EUR 4 per person). There is tables of history of building the tower. Besides there are nice views from the tower's top (see travelogue)

Favorite thing: Cloche is French for bell and clocher means belfry (or bell-tower), derived from Celtic clocca or clang (the sound of a bell). A large clock in French is "horloge". This tower (actually originally a belfry part of a gate in the city wall is from the 13C. There were no clockwork mechanisms developed at that time. There is a modest bell in the arch about midway up and a small clock as well below it. When built it was used to send various messages (church belfries indicated time because they called monks to their time related services). Much of this structure and the bell were destroyed long ago by a king as a punishment to the unruly Bordelais.

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Favorite thing: The belfry of the Church of St.-Michel was erected at the end of a church complex at the end of the 15C. The intervening church buildings were destroyed during the Revolution. This is what also befell buildings at the Cathedral leaving the Tour Pey-Berland isolated. This is why there are many free standing belfries like this in France (We have seen another in Auxerre). This tower has a hexagonal base with a 12 sided spire. It is 114 meters tall and is the tallest steeple in the South of France, and of course the tallest spire in town.

Favorite thing: I would recommend highly that while you are visiting Bordeaux to wear comfortable shoes. It's an easy navigable city and most of the sights you will want to see are within short distances from eachother. Wearing comfortable shoes is a must since some of the streets are cracked or uneven. Even if you wear comfortable shoes beware, as you can take a fall and get hurt.

I know this first hand, while walking to St. Bruno there was a crack in one of the streets and I took a tumble and hurt my knee very badly (I admit I am always on the ground, lol). We spent the better of an hour looking for a pharmacy for some first aid.

Fondest memory: Not my fondest, but I guess I will remember the tumble I took while walking to St. Bruno. My comment to my fellow travelers is that I need to "Christian" the streets of any city with my knees...lol

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Favorite thing: You really won't get lost in Bordeaux if you have a sense of direction and good map, but even thought we were prepared, somehow we just couldn't find St. Andre (it was literally a few minutes walk from where we were).

We had to stop and take a better look at where we were and where we were going...we eventually found our way with a little help from a friendly local.

Fondest memory: Exploring Bordeaux with some really great people