Place de la Loge

The Place de la Loge is the social centre of Perpignan's old town, a lively little square lined with cafés and old buildings, and its most important monument is the Loge de Mer, the Sea Lodge, a Gothic building that recalls the city's maritime and commercial past. Perpignan lay at the end of a long sea trade route in the Middle Ages, when it was a major city of the kingdom of Majorca and later of the crown of Aragon, and its merchants traded in cloth, wool, spices and other goods with the cities of the Mediterranean. The Loge de Mer was built in the fourteenth century as a place where those merchants met, did business and settled disputes, and it served as a kind of stock exchange. Next to it, a maritime tribunal, the Consulat de Mer, judged commercial cases at sea.

The building has an elegant late Gothic facade with pointed windows and a balcony, and a Renaissance wing was added in the sixteenth century, which gives the structure a mixed style. It sits next to the town hall, which has its own fine medieval and Renaissance parts, and the Palais de la Députation, a Gothic palace of the regional government, which also faces the square. A bronze statue by the sculptor Aristide Maillol, who was a Catalan from nearby Banyuls, adds a touch of modern art to the setting. The square is therefore a meeting point of buildings from different centuries, and a walk around it helps explain how the city's power and wealth built up.

Perpignan is Catalan in spirit, and in the evenings the Place de la Loge is a place where locals come for a drink and a chat. The cafés spill out onto the pavement, and the old stone buildings are lit up. The surrounding streets of the old town, the Quartier du Vieux Perpignan, are full of small squares, shops and restaurants where the cooking blends French and Catalan traditions, with dishes such as grilled fish, anchovies, sausages and cream desserts. The sweet wines of Rivesaltes and Banyuls are the local drinks.

Nearby sights include the Castillet, a red-brick gate and fortress that is the symbol of Perpignan and contains a museum of Catalan traditions, the Collégiale Saint-Jean, a large Gothic church, and the Palau Reial Major, the palace of the kings of Majorca. The Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud, the Parc de la Cerisaie and the Espace Malraux add other options. The artist Salvador Dalí famously declared the railway station of Perpignan to be the centre of the universe.

The square is free and open at all times. It suits walkers, café lovers and history readers, and it is liveliest in the evening.