Architecturally more interesting than the palace, and much more suggestive of the city's former glories, are the lavish town houses of its rich burghers. These abound in the streets behind the palace: rue Verrerie, rue Vannerie, rue des Forges, rue Chaudronnière (look out for no. 28, Maison des Cariatides ). Some are half-timbered, with storeys projecting over the street, others are in more formal and imposing Renaissance stone. Particularly fine are the Hôtel de Vogüé , 12 rue de la Chouette, and at no. 34, the Hôtel Chambellan (1490), housing one of Dijon's tourist offices and the Club Alpin. There's a good view of the latter from the courtyard, with its open galleries reached by a spiral staircase and a marvellous piece of stonemason's virtuosity at the top, where the vaulting of the roof springs from a basket held by the statue of a gardener. For a glimpse of what must be nearly genuine medieval character, take a look in the cobbled alleys by the Tour St-Nicholas , off rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau.

Also in this quarter behind the dukes' palace, in the angle between rue de la Chouette and rue de la Préfecture, is the church of Notre-Dame , built in the early thirteenth century in the Burgundian Gothic style, with an unusual west front adorned with tiers of spectacularly leaning gargoyles. Inside, the north transept windows contain some beautiful fragments of the original stained glass, while in the south transept there is a twelfth-century black wooden Virgin that has long been an object of veneration to the citizens of Dijon. Outside on rue de la Chouette, in the north wall of the church, is a small sculpted owl - chouette - polished by the hands of passers-by who for centuries have touched it for luck and which gives the street its name. High on the south tower of the west front is a Jacquemard clock, taken from Courtrai in Belgium as a present for Dijon in 1382, when Philippe le Hardi defeated the people of Ghent.

From here rue de la Musette leads to the market square , the whole area full of sumptuous displays of food and attractive cafés and restaurants, and always thronged with people. The market operates from 6am on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, spilling over into the surrounding streets, with bric-a-brac in rue de Soissons on the north side and clothes in the beautiful little place François-Rude , named after the sculptor, and a favourite hangout, with its cafés and fountain graced by the bronze figure of a grape harvester.