This people-watching square throbs with students lingering over drinks on the vast cafe terraces here. Tray-wielding waitstaff dodge passing pigeons and buses, while children clamber on the bronze mother-and-baby turtles in the center of the square. The turtle sculpture (2005), by artist Ivan Theimer, stands beneath the Colonne de la Vigne et du Vin, a marble obelisk by the same artist. Look closely to spot whimsical grape bunches – on obelisk and turtles – in celebration of Bordeaux' deep-rooted wine culture.
Porte d'Aquitaine, built in 1753 to celebrate the birth of Louis XV's grandson, the Duke of Aquitaine, stands tall at the foot of the main shopping strip rue Ste-Catherine – Bordeaux's longest pedestrian street that legs it 1.2km north from place de la Victoire to place de la Comédie.
