The lower town along the Eure is the most picturesque part of Chartres, and worth at least an hour of slow walking. Old water mills, some still with their wheels intact, line the river below the cathedral hill. Half-timbered tanners' and dyers' houses lean over the water, and the view looking back up to the twin spires of the cathedral from the bridges is the classic Chartres image.
The walk runs roughly from the Pont du Massacre (a stone bridge with a grisly name from the Wars of Religion) north past the Moulin de Chartres and through to the Saint-Père quarter. Several restaurants and cafés cluster here, and it is much quieter than the cathedral square above.