The city of Bordeaux is not only for its world-famous wines, but also for being the major space and aeronautics research center in Europe. Its Atlantic port makes it a popular stop for ocean liners and cruises, which can even go up the Garonne River into the heart of the city. Bordeaux is also very much a college town (with over 100,000 students) and serves as the administrative capital of the Aquitaine province. While Bordeaux certainly has plenty of 18th-century architecture and local wineries that evoke an image of the old French countryside, it is also an industrial and modern metropolis, with schools of medicine, economics, and nanotechnology, as well as main offices of many major European companies.
