The old town spreads north of the Cours Mirabeau in a tangled web of narrow streets and small squares. Plane trees shade the broader squares; fountains splash in the smaller ones; and bakery, cheese, and antique shop fronts open onto the cobbles. This is the half of Aix that fills with the daily life of the city — students from the law school, market vendors, residents heading home with a baguette.
Three squares anchor it. Place Richelme hosts the daily produce market in the mornings, with Provencal olives and goat cheese piled on trestle tables under the plane trees. Place de l'Hotel de Ville next door has the seventeenth-century town hall, the clock tower with its rotating wooden saints, and the flower market on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Behind it Place des Cardeurs is a long cafe-lined square that buzzes at lunch and dinner. Wander the alleys between them and you will find Aix Cathedral, Place d'Albertas, and a dozen smaller fountains along the way.