Cours Mirabeau

Cours Mirabeau is the grand boulevard of Aix-en-Provence, an avenue some 440 metres long that runs from the Fontaine de la Rotonde at the west end to Place Forbin at the east. It is often compared to Paris’s Champs-Élysées, though it is far more intimate: a wide, level street shaded by a canopy of plane trees, with fountains in the middle and cafés on one side and handsome townhouses on the other. For most visitors it is the natural starting point for a walk around the town.

The Cours was laid out in the middle of the seventeenth century. Aix was then the capital of Provence, and its lawyers, parliamentarians and nobles wanted a place for carriages and promenades. When the old ramparts were taken down, the empty strip between the medieval town and the new Mazarin quarter, named after Archbishop Michel Mazarin, became a spacious avenue. It was first simply called the Cours, and in 1876 it was renamed for the Comte de Mirabeau, the orator and revolutionary statesman elected from Aix in 1789.

The south side is lined with mansions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, whose facades have carved doorways, mascarons and wrought-iron balconies. They were built for the families of the Parlement, and several are still private homes. The north side is occupied by shops and cafés. The most famous café is Les Deux Garçons, which has welcomed artists and writers since the eighteenth century, and Paul Cézanne and Émile Zola, who grew up together in Aix, are among those linked to the town. Hotels and brasseries fill the shade, and the pavement terraces are best at the end of the day.

Three fountains punctuate the avenue. The big fountain at the western end is the Rotonde, a monumental piece surmounted by statues. The Fontaine d'Eau Chaude, covered in moss, is fed by a warm spring, and the Fontaine du Roi René carries a statue of the medieval count of Provence who encouraged arts and learning. A few minutes' walk takes you from one to the next.

The avenue is free and open at all times, and it works as a gateway to the Quartier Mazarin on the south and the old town to the north, where the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur and the Hôtel de Ville stand. The Musée Granet and the Atelier de Cézanne are within walking distance, and the weekly markets in the nearby squares make the street even livelier. Early morning offers calm, and evening brings the crowds.