The café-lined place de l'Horloge , frenetically busy most of the time, is the site of the city's imposing Hôtel de Ville and clock tower , and the Opéra . Around the square, on rues de Mons, Molière and Corneille, famous faces appear in windows painted on the buildings. Many of these figures from the past were visitors to Avignon, and of those who recorded their impressions of the city it was the sound of over a hundred bells ringing that stirred them most. On a Sunday morning, traffic lulls permitting, you can still hear myriad different peals from churches, convents and chapels in close proximity. The fourteenth-century church of St-Agricole , just behind the Hôtel de Ville (Wed 10-11am, Sat 3.30-5pm), is one of Avignon's best Gothic edifices, though its lovely fifteenth-century facade is sadly scarred.

 

To the south, just behind rue St-Agricole on rue Collège du Roure, is the beautiful fifteenth-century Palais du Roure , a centre of Provençal culture. The gateway and the courtyard are definitely worth a look; there may well be temporary art exhibitions, and if you want a rambling tour through the attics to see Provençal costumes, publications and presses, photographs of the Carmargue in the 1900s and an old stagecoach, you need to turn up at 3pm on Tuesday (20F/¬3.05).

To the west of place de l'Horloge are the most desirable Avignon addresses - both now and three hundred years ago. High, heavy facades dripping with cupids, eagles, dragons, fruit and foliage range along rue Joseph-Vernet and rue Petite-Fusterie , with expensive shops and restaurants to match.