The Porte Cailhau is a fortified city gate on the Place du Palais, built in 1495 to celebrate the victory of Charles VIII at the Battle of Fornovo and to serve as the ceremonial entrance to Bordeaux from the river. The gate is highly decorated in the Flamboyant Gothic style, with turrets, arrow slits, and carved royal emblems — a rare example of a gate built primarily as monument rather than defence.
You can climb the tower for a modest fee and enjoy views over the Place du Palais and the river. The exterior is more impressive than the interior, but the context — standing where medieval Bordeaux met its harbour — is worth taking in. The gate is one of the few places where you can sense the city's medieval topography beneath the 18th-century overlay.