Rue Saint-Étienne is the main cobbled street of Vézelay, climbing from the lower village gate up to the basilica at the top of the hill. It is essentially the whole of the old village: a single medieval street flanked by stone houses, a handful of art galleries, a few cafes, and the modest commerce that a place of this size can sustain.
The houses are built in honey-coloured limestone and have changed very little in centuries. Some are medieval, others 17th or 18th century, but the scale and the materials are consistent. Walking the full length of the street takes about ten minutes; doing it justice takes considerably longer if you stop to look at the houses and the views over the surrounding Burgundian hills.