Heading south from Tours on the Autoroute de l'Aquitaine, you'd hardly be tempted by the cluster of towers and office blocks rising from the plain, which is all you see of POITIERS. But approach more closely and things look very different. Sitting on a hilltop overlooking two rivers, Poitiers is a country town with a unique charm that comes from a long and sometimes influential history - as the seat of the dukes of Aquitaine, for instance - discernible in the winding lines of the streets and the breadth of civic, domestic and ecclesiastical architectural fashions represented in its buildings. Its pedestrian precincts, restaurants and pavement cafés - and some wonderful central gardens - make for comfortable sightseeing.
The Town
The two poles of communal life in Poitiers are the tree-lined place du Maréchal-Leclerc, with its popular cafés and lively outdoor culture, and place Charles-de-Gaulle to the north, where a big and bustling food and clothes market takes place (Mon-Sat 7am-6pm, Sun 7.30am-1pm). Between the two is a warren of prosperous streets - as far along as the half-timbered medieval houses of rue de la Chaine - with the rue Gambetta cutting north past the old Palais de Justice, with a nineteenth-century facade that hides a much older core (closed to the public at the time of writing; check with tourist office for reopening date). |
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