Bordeaux, France.

Bordeaux has been around since Roman times when it was capital of Aquitana Secunda, in around the 3rd century BC. Bordeaux has had two great financial booms in its time. The first was when Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II of England in 1152, thus beginning a 300-year period of English rule and kick-starting the export wine trade (the English were very fond of the red wine they called claret)

Then in the 18th century colonial trade brought riches to Bordeaux and paid for the central architecture. The centre is attractive and quite small, so even if you are just stopping off here on the way somewhere else, you could easily discover Bordeaux's charms in a day. The 18th-century town stretches from the western banks of the River Garonne to the cathedral in the west and the place de la Comédie in the north. Any Roman remains are further north in the Jardin Public, but there is not much to speak of.