Place de l'Indépendance is the closest thing Bukavu has to a downtown square — a paved open area at the convergence of the Avenue Lumumba and the road up to the cathedral. The independence monument in the centre is a modest concrete obelisk, but the square itself is always busy: taxis loading, vendors selling phone credit, knots of people waiting for buses to the hills.
Most of the city's banks have branches within a couple of hundred metres, as do the larger supermarkets and the immigration office. It is a useful orientation point and a good place to catch a motorbike taxi.