France has many beautiful cities.
One of the finest, that we will be showing you in this episode is Aix-en-Provence, a
town with that special ambience of the outdoor restaurants, the cafes, the pedestrian lanes,
the little fountains, the historic buildings, street markets, and all kinds of wonderful
sights to explore.
We will be taking you there on a daytrip showing you how many wonderful things you can see
in only six hours.
Of course, if you have more time, this would be a delightful place to spend a couple of
nights, or maybe a couple of weeks.
Colorful street markets are one of the fine attractions here, and they happen every day.
But the main markets are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
We will be showing you a lot, later in the program.
And we will spend a lot of time walking through those pedestrian lanes, looking at the little
plazas, the historic sites like City Hall, fountains surrounded by café tables, and
much more.
Aix is located in the south of France in the region of Provence, an area with many other
beautiful cities.
We've been staying in the city of Avignon as a home base for this part of our adventure,
just twenty minutes away from Aix by high-speed train.
And while on board there is a good chance to meet some local people like these friendly
French high school kids.
You'll see some nice scenery along the way, and while the train ride segment is short,
just twenty minutes, you do have bus connections at both ends – from Avignon town you have
to get to the TGV station outside town, and again, arriving at the Aix TGV, you are fourteen
kilometers away from Aix, so you need to get down and hop on the shuttle bus.
Purchase your ticket from the driver as you board.
We paid about six euro and then find a seat.
It's a nice bus and the ride is short – takes you about fifteen minutes to get from the
station to the bus terminal in Aix and then it's a short walk, a couple hundred meters
to get into the center of town itself.
We were lucky to walk right into a big market day with clothing and food, the beautiful
fruits and produce, the fresh items of Provence and the area, and we will be showing you a
lot more of that later in the program, but we want to get moving along on the main street
and the big round fountain, the Rotonde.
Aix is famous for its fountains, with several big ones along this main street of the Cours
Mirabeau, and the sidewalk restaurants.
It's one of the most glorious boulevards in the country.
During our visit the main market square was under renovation, and so everything had moved
to this main boulevard of the Cours Mirabeau, which was wonderful.
It became a pedestrian promenade with all of the stalls set up and all the sidewalk
restaurants along it.
Most famously, Les Deux Garcons.
We'll come back to this main street of Cours Mirabeau later in the program, but for now
it's time to dive into the pedestrian zone – show you quickly on the map an outline
of where we're going, straight up through the main square of City Hall to the Cathedral,
then back around and down in a big loop circuit that brings us along some of the main pedestrian
lanes, then back to Cours Mirabeau and see more of that fascinating street market.
Turning away from the sidewalk cafes of the Cours for now, we take a stroll into the old
town along Rue Clemenceau, a typical street, mostly for pedestrians and lined with shops.
And there's another market one more block further on Rue Vauvenargues called Place Richelme.
It's a beautiful little plaza with trees and sunshine streaming in.
The natural lighting is filtered by the leaves to give it a golden glow, and another lovely
mix of items for sale.
This market has rather special hours, because unlike most markets in Provence, Place Richelme
is open every morning, except Sunday, from 7 AM until about 1 PM.
The vendors are the real producers, who grow, or bake, or create whatever it is they're
selling.
Then you will soon arrive at the prettiest of all squares in town, the Place de l’Hôtel
de Ville, the City Hall Square.
The clock tower was built in 1510 and became the symbol of local power in the city, towering
over the City Hall.
The main pedestrian lane continues north, changing names now to Rue Gaston de Saporta
Rue and leads to Aix's main church, the Cathedral of St-Sauveur.
The tower of the Cathedral is 210 feet high, and its construction began in the year 1323.
In English we call this Cathedral of St. Savior, built according to legend on the site of a
pagan temple.
It was constantly revised, and unites three knaves of these different styles the Romanesque,
Gothic and Baroque, that flank a legacy with that ancient baptistery and the cloister.
There's an octagonal baptistery from the sixth century that's said to occupy the site of
the temple of Apollo, and then it was rebuilt in 1577.
The main part of the church dates in its present form from the eleventh century.
The choir is from 1285 and one aisle was added in the fourteenth century, making this an
architectural patchwork, built over a 500 year period, which has now survived nearly
a thousand years.
The doors of the Gothic portal have relief statues representing the prophets and symbols
in niches, adorned with garlands and flowers.
The Archbishop's Palace is located right next to the Cathedral.
And then just in front is the University, with a history museum next-door.
Another attractive square two blocks west is the Place des Cardeurs, whose pastel façades
surround the large central plaza, creating a distinctly Provençal atmosphere, enhanced
by a row of outdoor restaurants – so it's a prime spot to have a meal, or maybe enjoy
a drink on the terrace.
Just a block away around the corner you'll find another lively street, Rue des Cordeliers,
and it is a wonderfully local kind of experience, mostly for pedestrians with a few cars coming
through, and packed with shops and cafes and all kinds of nice attractions.
Take a left and walk south a few blocks then you'll soon arrive at Place des Tanneurs,
slightly off the beaten track with some lovely outdoor restaurants, not so many tourists
around.
You'll experience a more authentic sense of place.
Here you can admire another one of Aix's beautiful fountains, this one, built in 1761, with a
magnificent vase adorning the top of the monument.
On each of the four sides of the pedestal the water flows from cast-iron lions-head
gargoyles into the basin.
Ahhh.
The name of the restaurant?
Bouddoir.
The who?
Bouddior.
We.
On Place Tanneurs?
What is that?
Chicken and grilled beef.
One of several excellent restaurants on this square, with very friendly workers.
The street heading south from the Place is also quite attractive and leads into a neighborhood
with even more little lanes, and it's a great place to wander and maybe get a little bit
lost.
The transit system here has these minibuses, a very efficient way to get around.
They can carry seven people, and they have a low floor that makes it easy to get in and
out.
You just buy your ticket from the bus driver.
Rue Espariat is one of the main streets of the old town, with many more attractive side
lanes along the way.
At this point we have just about come full circle in our little walk around the old town
of Aix.
Place d'Albertas is named after one of the city's leading 18th-century families in 1724
Henri d'Albertas built his private mansion on the Parisian model of royal palaces.
The fountain in the center was created in 1862.
Around the corner is yet another charming spot the Place St. Honore, the usual outdoor
café tables with elegant shops around it and some old streets leading off from it.
We have reached the final block of our walk through the pedestrian zone of Aix and as
you see it's not only for pedestrians.
The little electric minibus comes through, and there's a few cars on these wide lanes,
but mostly just for people.
This four-star deluxe hotel down on the corner would be a great place to stay.
A heroic statue of good King Renée greets us as we arrive back at the Cours and take
another walk along this grand boulevard, admiring the cafes and the street market.
People love these outdoor clothing markets because you have a tremendous variety of goods
for sale, and the prices are generally lower than you'll ever find in a store.
These same vendors usually come back each week catering to mostly local clientele, so
they've got to keep the quality fairly decent and the prices very good.
In the other section of the market are the wonderful foods of Provence.
You've got a big variety of fresh foods here – your vegetables, most of them grown in
the south of France.
If it's out of season, wintertime if it's they would be brought in from perhaps the
Middle East, or Israel, from Africa, or Italy, but the south of France has got a wonderful
climate for growing agricultural products all year round.
And one of the specialties is the olive.
There must be hundreds of kinds of olives that are produced in France.
As a visitor you're probably not doing any cooking, so you don't need to purchase vegetables,
but you might just get some fresh fruits, or some snacks for the road.
And there's always some kind of selection of prepared foods that are ready-to-eat, whether
it's a simple sandwich, or an elaborate paella.
And just to enjoy the people watching here in the scenery the colors the smells the sounds
the beautiful buildings all around, it makes for an adventure just in itself.
Some local honey or exotic spices would make a nice gift to bring home.
You'll find all sorts of gadgets, miscellaneous supplies, and hardware at the market, some
high-quality kitchen utensils at a bargain price, and those colorful, traditional Provençal
fabrics.
It's quite delightful to be among the French in their local market.
This is the kind of authentic experience that you're never going to get if you're sitting
on a tour bus or, just paying a quick visit to a place and taking a few photos, and then
moving along, or arrive at the wrong time, when there's no market.
This lady is not taking care of all seven of these kids by herself.
She's got a friend who's doing a little shopping at the moment.
We are winding down this visit to Aix-en-Provence, but we have several other programs about this
beautiful city that you want to look for in our collection.
And we have many other movies about the south of France, a place that we have visited many
times and love so much.
Be sure to subscribe to our channel so you'll be notified about the new movies we are making
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Thanks for watching