Saint-Catherine Street

If you’re a shopping freak, this is Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping street! 1,250 metres of shop windows stretch out before you! Cutting through the city centre from north to south, it links the Grand Theatre to Victory Square. It’s one of the busiest streets in the city,and it’s nothing new. Back in the day, millers came here to sell their flour from nearby mills. Butchers and trimmers were not allowed to sell their meat anywhere else.!  Trade was therefore already omnipresent on Saint-Catherine Street. Amidst the turmoil of the Fronde, a turbulent chapter in French history marked by opposition to Anne of Austria’s regency and the policies of her Cardinal Mazarin, the street became a battleground for opposing factions. This conflict claimed the lives of over 400 people. In 2007, over half of Bordeaux was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including Saint-Catherine Street.