Discount Hotels Bordeaux
Historical interest: Bordeaux
    
From Phoenician times, Bordeaux was the premier Atlantic port for shipping
interior wines. The Roman edict in 280 AD allowed the vineyards to extend and
the industry formed, but for 800 years Saxons, Turks, Franks and Normans pillaged
the region in turn. However, in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries the industry
flourished, especially when Henry of Anjou (King Henry II of England) evolved
a decree of law and order. Red wines were produced and a 'clairet', forerunner
of the modern claret, was made by mixing red and white grapes.
The power of the Angevin kings lasted 300 years, but after 1453 the English
trade fell away and the Calvinistic trade between the Protestant Huguenots and
Hansiatic states took its place, and the taste for sweet white wines moved the
industry in that direction.
But the historical links with England survived and the country still imports
15 per cent of all Bordeaux wines. Perhaps also, it is because Thomas Jefferson,
the American President, so liked these wines that many Americans drink them
today.
Some of Bordeaux' streets are mangled, thanks to the construction of a new
network of trams to be completed by 2009 and refurbishments evolving some of
the city's 18th and 19th century buildings. But all of this is leading to a
fantastic transformation of the city's architecture, and shortly Bordeaux will
no doubt be an (urban) aesthetic triumph in western France.
Selection of hotels in this region:
Quality Hotel Bordeaux Sainte Catherine | | Holiday Inn Bordeaux City Centre | | Tulip Inn Bordeaux | | Novotel Bordeaux Centre Meriadeck | | Mercure Chateau Chartrons | |
Click below for a
full list of hotels and online booking
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