In this video, Joanna LEGGETT takes you on a tour of the beautiful capital of the Gironde, Bordeaux.
A world-renowned city, Bordeaux is famed for its vineyards, gastronomy, and unique art de vivre. But there’s more to it! Offering a great mix of rich historical heritage and modernity, the city is home to stunning contemporary architectural works.
While visiting Bordeaux, take the time to discover the city’s many tasty specialties such as the canelés. Blessed by the richness of its vineyards and enjoying proximity to the ocean, Arcachon Bay, and the estuary, Bordeaux is one of France’s culinary havens!
All our properties for sale in Bordeaux can be found here: https://go.leggett.tv/KCm7
Have a look at our properties for sale in Gironde here: https://go.leggett.tv/EDeS
Oh he’s so Good so I’m standing here now in the middle of Bordeaux and this is right in the center of the Golden Triangle and you can see part of the Golden Triangle here on this plan of the city um there are four squares in the Golden Triangle
The one that you can see behind me is where the Christmas markets are being set up so it’s going to be beautiful at Christmas but on the plan here you can see this is the opera house that was built by Victor Louie um and he also designed one of the most famous shatos
In France that we actually have on our books and you can have a look at that on our YouTube channel this whole whole area over the last 10 years was rejuvenated um by the mayor of Bordeaux it used to be quite rund down and it used to be very dark it is completely
Being transformed and now it’s actually one voted one of the best cities in Europe and this Central area where we are now and you see the trams coming along as well is the best part to be so come and have a Look so where I am here is a secret little gem um that you wouldn’t know because most people just go to the Central Square where the Grand Hotel is and the opera house but if you come down one of these side streets you find This Magnificent Church which is the Church
Of nraam meaning our lady this was actually built in the 17th century but in these little squares in these little secret hideaways over in the corner there is one of my favorite little coffee shops um and it leads through to a little little secret Street of Boutique so let’s go and have a Look so here we are at the passage s and behind me you’ll see A really lovely little cafe that I often come to and behind that is some little boutiques and shops that you can walk through in the passage just like Paris Bordeaux has districts um and we’re currently in the
District two number two um but let’s go and have a look at the little Passageway now here in the secret passage the passage s is actually the caviar deneric shop this is some of the best caviar in the world and it comes from the dooro in in in a town called nvec um so if you fancy some delicious caviar or even some vodka that they make
Now this is in the secret passage so here we’re in Bordeaux and obviously what’s F Bordeaux famous for is its wine shops you’ll find lovely wine boutiques all over the area we’re very close to Sant million which is a magnificent town we actually have an office there as well as Bordeaux um but
You have such a brilliant selection of wines in this area and now this passageway the passage charer actually Liv links from the church to the most expensive shopping street in Bordeaux so you can cut through here and then we’ll come out into the biggest most expensive shopping street in Bordeaux so coming out of the passageway we come out into laik laik is an absolutely famous glass shop um mainly crystals and lighting um but they used to make the beautiful Art Deco lamps that you would see in all of the major hotels and the cities um around the
World so this is the famous store in laik so you can see behind me the trams uh in the last decade the whole of Bordeaux have put these tram lines in and you see the trams going past it’s such a brilliant service it means that there’s no traffic you don’t have any
Cars on the streets the trams come straight from the airport into the center of Bordeaux also goes out to the train station um and it just keeps the whole city moving um and it’s really cheap it’s a really cheap a cheap service to uh to use and it covers the whole of Bordeaux
So you can go anywhere by tram so as you can see in this area shops like zadic and and voler which is a very trendy high-end um shop actually the grandson of lacost was the founder of this um beautiful shop we’ve also got Jewelers we’ve got watch makers I mean
The whole place is fantastic for shopping not so good for your credit Card so behind me here is the plastic onom this is another one of the four squares that are in the Golden Triangle um there’s an undercover Market that goes down there and you’ve got plenty of stores for shopping um I mean this really is the best area for shopping
Let’s go and have a Look so as you can see behind me we’ve got a beautiful champagne store is R out one of the very very expensive but delicious champagnes over to my left you have another wine store um I mean Bordeaux is famous for its wines some of the best wines in the world are produced
In the Bordeaux region and there is actually an interactive live Museum called the city Duan in Bordeaux which you really really must go and visit uh you can on the top floor you’ve got panoramic views of the whole of Bordeaux and you can taste whatever wine you like
Um and there’s choices of maybe 400 and you can have a glass of whichever one you like really really worth a visit So as you can see behind me we have one of the original brasseries in Bordeaux now a braserie used to be a brass which means for beer mixing beer um and brasseries were developed in the 19th century to feed everyone whether you were poor or you were rich you could eat
At any time of the day in a Brasserie now if like me you live in France or you’ve been to French restaurants you know that they’re only open between 12 and 2 and if you get there at Hot House 1 you’re too late but the brasserie
Caters for all times of day so you can eat lovely French cuisine it’s all cater for French cuisine for all age groups all times of the day um and these beautiful old buildings as you can see behind me with the original glass Conservatory roof uh all over bordo and
They were originally created in Paris and now you’ll see the brasseries all over the World so there’s lots of these really pretty little stores with decoration for your home and really unique nothing is like this they’re all little individual Stores so the great thing about shopping in Bordeaux um is not only the fabulous little boutiques everywhere and all original but look at the weather it’s almost 20° here and we could be Christmas shopping um in the center of Bordeaux and so that’s what is so great about where it’s located in the
Southwest of France is you have this fabulous weather in November So this here is a very very popular Square probably the the most popular in the center of Bordeaux um it’s where the cathedral is which is um in front of me to the right there we have the hotel DeVille which is the Mary’s office um and directly behind that we at Le it
Have opened a new office but you can see this is really popular it’s a really popular Square it’s very safe for children it’s all pedestrianized um apart from bicycles um that will come through and again you can see you know this is the middle of November and everybody’s still sitting outside having
Their coffees having their lunch visiting the Mary or of course going into the big tourist attraction which is the Bordeaux Cathedral such a lovely place so over here on my left is the cafe France France it’s um been built in 1899 it’s the oldest Brasserie and the
Most famous Brasserie in the whole of Bordeaux um as you can see they’re just starting the lunchtime uh period coming in now it serves all types of French traditional dishes and it’s really really famous for that um now you see it’s only 12:00 lunchtime but by 1:00
You won’t get a table here so if you are going to come to the Brer the cafe France do book a table um or or come along later on because it’s open all day and it’s directly in front of the cathedral so you’ve got such an amazing view So in front of the cathedral here in Bordeaux you see some of these plaques when they were actually putting this street in place and they were digging down they actually found the remains of the 13th century facade of this Cathedral that was pull pulled down really um in the 13th century because
The floor was very unstable and it was moved back and hence why we have the cathedral that you can see behind me now now what’s interesting was Elena um of aquan was marri married here and she married Louis iith of France um in 1152 that marriage was en olded and she went
On to M to marry the Future King of England Henry II and she became Elena the Queen of England um if you go to walan which is 20 minutes from here on from Bordeaux on the train you’ll actually see elanar of actin’s house and that is now the hotel DeVille the Mary’s
Office in Ulm but this is where she was married her first marriage to Prince Louis iith of France So behind me here you’ll see the Palace of Rohan it’s now the hotel DeVille it’s where the mayor’s office is um but originally it was for the Archbishop of Rohan he had this Palace built for himself in 1771 and it was finished in 1784 um but after the revolution in
1835 it was taken by the town hall and it became Bordeaux City Hall So here we have another plan in the in the um triangle in the Golden Triangle so here on my left is the cathedral which is right in front of me here is the hotel DeVille which is the Mary’s office and behind is the Museum of Bose Arts which is where all the beautiful
Art is and this little Street here is actually where the new le office is I think we need to have a little a little plaque built there on this on this map this is what I love about Bordeaux and what I love about France behind me here it’s a Tuesday afternoon in November
It’s sunny and there’s a little market selling books lovely old books on Art geography cookery what a wonderful Square coming from the cathedral into the road directly opposite is this beautiful building behind me if you have a look at the stunning architecture now this was actually owned by General Charles deal
And he lived in this house at the time when the war was being carried out and the Germans had occupied most of France but this part was still free France and this is where General Charles Dore lived before he went to the UK to live and
Joined the Allies in the UK next door to the home of General Charles deal is actually now the residence of the pref who is the head of the prefecture and he now resided in this absolutely beautiful Home so here in front of me is the cafe biodom and this is where they serve the the canelas now these are specialities of Bordeaux they’re little cinnamon cakes come and have a look in the window and I’ll show you very delicious here we have them in all different flavors
You’ve got the vanill you’ve got them as presents for Christmas but they are the speciality and they come from Bordeaux Several days later so I’m back in Bordeaux for part two of our tour of Bordeaux um there’s so much to see here we couldn’t fit it all in in one go um as you can see behind me we’ve got the plaster la boss where we we ended our
Tour last time in front of me we have the pond Pierre which is the stone bridge that’s over there on the river G garon and we’re going to go over and have a look at the based side which is the right Bank of Bordeaux this area is
Being really developed over the last 10 years it’s Dynamic buildings really nice architecture lots of new apartments coming on the market for sale with Gorgeous views Over the River and the great thing about being on that bank is that you have this View of the the
Beautiful plast la boss and all of the front line of um the old bordo City so two different completely different areas the lovely thing about being in a city um particularly in Bordeaux is how beautiful the gardens are so if you just wanted to come and sit and eat your
Lunch this is a lovely rose garden right in the center of town bearing in mind we’re in December um and it’s still growing and it’s still flowering and that’s because we’ve got the lovely mild weather of the southwest of France So behind me you can see the street as we’re going down to the main tower um this was actually built in 1801 you’ve got loads of different shops you’ve got design shops you’ve got little boutiques up on the wall there it says wheelers savons and fromage so originally that
Would have sold oils and soaps and cheeses um but behind me now it’s just a whole load of restaurants loads of choice all on the riverbank so even in the winter now we’re in December and the tables and chairs are still outside um on a beautiful day it’s early morning at
The moment but these tables will be all full by lunchtime and everybody enjoying their lunch so let’s go and have a look and see you can see up on the wall here the mascons these are really famous in Bordeaux you’ll find them on nearly every building and there over 3,000 of
Them and there was some crazy photographer that photographed each one one individually they represents all sorts of different types of things famous people and every single face or animal is different and in the fountains obviously they’re spurting water what you can see now is one of the very very famous landmarks in Bordeaux
This is the port Deo this is actually was built in the 15th century in the reain of Charles VII and you can actually see the the glory of the building it was all about the wealth it was all about about celebrating the king and you can see the king is actually in
The middle of this gate um now this particular gate would have had thick walls going all the way behind these 19th century buildings or 17th century buildings and this would have protected the whole of Bordeaux it would have been the ramparts and this would been one of
The entry points into the old city of Bordeaux there’s only two remaining Gates like this in the whole city from the 15th century um and this one you can come and visit you can go inside the building it’s absolutely stunning and it’s just so lovely to see that it’s
Been protected from the 15th Century you can see here the thickness of this wall this is All That Remains of the big Gates wall and that would have gone all the way around the city of Bordeaux protecting it from any Outsiders or any invasions Another wine shop one thing that Bordeaux has plenty of it’s definitely wine shop so you must come and try Some here we’ve got another little Arty restaurant so much choice in Bordeaux I just don’t know where to choose for lunch today So here we are in this little Center corner behind plaster Laos and you can see it’s just a maze of little cobbled streets full of life there’s music at lunchtime this is going to be really really busy and there’s so many different choices of restaurants all over the place it’s Great you know how much I love my Gardens this shop is designer outdoor furniture for Beautiful Homes definitely going to have a quick look in here two hours later thank God I didn’t have my credit card with me so as you can can see this whole street is extremely booa and we’re
Lucky enough to have a very rare property in this building here which would have been a hotel particular the apartment that we have for sale in this particular building is the only building um the only apartment that actually has a terce as well stunning very very rare
To get these apartments um but this is the sort of thing we can find for you if you’re looking for a gorgeous bour apartment in bordo and do come and see us the apartment that we have for sale is this one in the corner here it it
Goes all the way around six Windows um and talk about luxury it has its own garage with a lift so you can actually put two cars in um that’s real decadence um to be in the center of Bordeaux have a lift for your car and have this gorgeous Corner apartment with the great
Big Windows So we’re now here in the plaster comedy which is right in the center of the Golden Triangle that we spoke about on our last tour we’ve got the rud of St Catherine which is the shopping street on my right we’ve got the shopping street with all the designer and
High-end brand shops behind me we’ve got the best hotel in Bordeaux and it’s right opposite the Royal opera house um and the opera house is fantastic I’ve seen Swan Lake in there the ballet which was amazing but here the Intercontinental if you really want to treat yourself to a weekend you want to
Book the Opera and stay at the Grand and the restaurant in the grand is actually Gordon Ramsey so here we are in the plaster canos another square of the Golden Triangle a prestigious area very very beautiful and behind me is the monument it is the Fon deira and the monument
Deira otherwise known as the column deira by the Borday people um this Monument is 54 MERS high and what it represents it was built just at the end of the 19th century After the Revolution and it was to um to represent the people that died during the terror of the
Revolution um it’s one of the most beautiful fountains in France itself um it’s not having the water at the moment because we’re in December but in the summer it’s so worth a visit uh to see the fountain in its full Glory so right next to the Fon Dean um there’s this
Bant which I didn’t actually know was here uh but now I do I’ll be coming back so you can buy loads of different objects that can decorate your home that you buy through Le it that’s what she said and um you can see here they’ve got all sorts of lovely old vintage Cutlery
Plates Furniture I mean there’s just everything here really really interesting well before I start spending too much money in here um let’s take a walk it’s just over the road to the lovely Public Gardens of Bordeaux and they’re quite large and right in the center still part of the Golden Triangle so we’re here now in the jardan public um the public gardens for everyone to enjoy Bordeaux this is probably the most sorta area if you’re looking for an apartment a holiday home or somewhere beautiful to live um the parks are huge um it’s all pedestrianized within the park there’s a fabulous restaurant
Behind me that’s really popular in the summer because of the gorgeous Terrace that it has so as you can see there restaurant’s Terrace is is quiet today but you know bearing in mind we’re in December um usually from Spring right the way till the end of the summer this
Terrace will be full but the restaurant inside is beautifully dressed um and it’s still open all year round one of the other great things about bordo itself is it has great universities it has brilliant schools it even has international schools um for foreign investors that once put their children
Into an english- speaking school for example the hospital the hosal hospital is a second to none um in fact Bordeaux hospital has some of the best cancer doctors in the whole of France so coming past the museum here the Museum of Science and nature um it’s an ideal
Opportunity to tell you all about the culture in Bordeaux I mean there’s things to do for everyone you’ve got museums like we have here in the in the public gardens we’ve got art galleries everywhere we have the opera house um but there’s also you know a huge music
Venue in Bordeaux deac where some of the big con concs are held um if you’re young and you want to be in the University City um you know there’s lots of little bars and restaurants suited for all age groups um all sorts of cultural events that are held throughout
The year in Bordeaux um I mean it really is a city that has Everything So we’re now coming into the submarine base where the exhibitions that are on today are Dary GDI and tantan it’s absolutely amazing it’s the biggest space you could ever see you can see the water which is where the submarines would be there would have been about 10
Submarines in this space it’s such a cultural center and it just shows that Bordeaux as a city has really improved it’s made the best of out of all the buildings this is in an in an area that they’re rejuvenating and what better way to rejuvenate it rejuvenate it than to
Create an art center with digital moving Arts I hope you enjoyed the tour of Bordeaux um there was so much to see and there’s still so much to see that I couldn’t have shown you in these two full days that we’ve done um please subscribe to our Channel you can get all
The details below and if you’re looking at buying a property in bordeau either for investment because it’s a big student town and there’s lots of new builds going up everywhere in the rejuvenated part do contact our new team in Bordeaux who’ll be more than happy to
Help you if you’d like an apartment in The Old City or anywhere down this Coastline just outside of uh Bordeaux like arashan our team can help you and if it’s not already on our website they’ll go out and find it for you so do keep in touch um I look forward to
Showing you another city um on next time so do leave your comments about what you’d like to see and I’d be more than happy to show you thanks very much for watching and we hope to see you next Time