In the heart of the Vieille Ville (Old Town), this pretty as a picture 9th-century medieval market square, was once bogland. For five centuries it has been home to the city government, now housed in the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville (town hall). Opposite, you'll find the Fontaine de la Justice, from where, atop a brightly painted column, the allegorical figure of Justice herself, clutching scales and dressed in blue, presides over the square.

　　Bear left along Rue Mercière to pick up Escaliers du Marché, a timber-canopied staircase with a tiled roof that heads up to Rue Pierre Viret and beyond to the Cathédrale de Notre Dame.