578km (359 miles) SW of Paris; 549km (341 miles) W of Lyon
On the Garonne River, the port of Bordeaux, the capital of Aquitaine, is one of the world's most important wine-producing areas. It attracts visitors to the offices of wine exporters, most of whom welcome guests.
It may not exude the joie de vivre of Paris, but Bordeaux is a major cultural center and a transportation hub between southern France and Spain. Bordeaux is a city of warehouses, factories, mansions, suburbs, and wide quays 8km (5 miles) long. Now the fifth-largest city in France, Bordeaux belonged to the British for 300 years and even today is considered the most "un-French" of French cities.
With a population of some 700,000, the historic core of Bordeaux looks better than it has in years, thanks to the restoration of many of the city's 18th- and 19th-century buildings. This inner city is hailed as one of the great urban aesthetic triumphs of western France.
