France, Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city in the south-west of France, with 925,253 inhabitants in the metropolitan area at the 1999 census, now an estimated one million inhabitants in 2006. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department.

Bordeaux is the centre of much military, space and aeronautics research and construction.

With almost 100,000 students, the city's university is renowned for its research units in crop science, new materials and nanotechnology.

Geography

Bordeaux is located near the European Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. The city is built on a bend of the river Garonne, and is thus divided into two parts: the right bank to the East and left bank in the West.

Demographics

At the 1999 census, there were 215,363 inhabitants in the city (commune) of Bordeaux. There were 925,253 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (aire urbaine).

Economy

Bordeaux is the world's wine capital, with about 117,000 hectares of vineyards, 57 appellations, 9,000 wine-producing châteaux, 13,000 grape growers, 400 traders and sales of 14.5 billion euros annually.

Culture

Bordeaux is also the first city in France to have created, in the 1980s, an architecture exhibition and research center, Arc en rêve, still the most prestigious in France besides Paris IFA.

Sports

The Stade Chaban-Delmas is the largest stadium. It can host 35000 spectators. There are two major sport teams in Bordeaux :

Girondins de Bordeaux is the football team in the French football championship.

The USB-CABBG team is part of the Pro D2 (Second Division) of the Rugby Union Ligue Nationale de Rugby.

Transport

Bordeaux is served by an international airport, Aéroport de Bordeaux Mérignac, located 8km from the city center in the suburban city of Mérignac.

Bordeaux has an important public transport system called TBC.