Basilique Saint Michel

UNESCO world heritage

There is a market under the beautiful spire every Monday and Saturday morning, and the shops around the square make for a lively and authentic atmosphere that the Bordelais poets such as Meste Verdié and Ulysse Despaux have always appreciated.

The flat-bottomed river boats loaded with wood from Quercy, Rouergue and Gascogne moored beneath Saint-Michel, unloading the wood that was sent to the carpenters' workshops in rue Carpenteyre, and the coopers in rue de la Fusterie. The blacksmiths and armourers worked in the forges of the rue des Faures. The salt, stored on the quai Des Salinières, was used for conserving fish and meat in rue de la Rousselle.

Craftsmen, seamen from around the world, porters, passers by and the bourgeois mingled and bargained; beggars and merchants harassed all that came with their colourful and vulgar language. There was singing, card games and drinking in the numerous cabarets that served drinks of the day.