[mousquet]

The old downtown was mostly built in the 18th century. Bordeaux was really thriving back then, partly due to some nasty business like slave trading, or so they say. But there was some fair business too, such as winery already. That's nothing new over there.

Old Bordeaux would've been taken as the very model for the Paris redevelopments by Haussmann from the early 1850s to late 1860s, cause it felt like a royal town or something.
The guy Haussmann had been the prefect of Bordeaux before being appointed prefect of the Paris region by Napoleon III.
So Bordeaux would've been the main inspiration of his massive Parisian master plans.

The old town is pretty, full of charms, but I think it's still sort of gritty. You should've seen it 30 years ago when I was a kid. The local limestone was still dark, filthy because of lack of maintenance.
It's not even completely cleaned up yet.

There's quite some contemporary development all around and it's only been boosted by the high-speed rail line connecting it to Paris.
Bordeaux has always been a favorite town in France and a lot of dwellers in Paris would move over there.