Aix-en-Provence — Cours Mirabeau

The Cours Mirabeau is the grand central boulevard of Aix-en-Provence in Bouches-du-Rhône, a tree-lined avenue of 17th and 18th-century mansions (hôtels particuliers) that has served as the social and intellectual spine of the city since its creation in 1649. Stretching 440 metres from the Fontaine de la Rotonde fountain at its western end to the Place Forbin at the east, the boulevard is flanked by a double row of plane trees whose canopy closes overhead in summer to create a cool, dappled tunnel effect. The north side of the cours is lined with pavement cafés, brasseries, and bookshops, the most celebrated of which is the Café Les Deux Garçons (known as Les 2G), a Belle Époque institution that opened in 1792 and was frequented by Cézanne, Zola, and other notable figures associated with Aix. The south side presents the more formal frontage of Baroque mansions built by the Aix nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries, including the Hôtel de Villeneuve, the Hôtel d'Isoard de Vauvenargues, and the Hôtel de Forbin. Three thermal fountains run along the central reservation of the boulevard, their water naturally warm (about 17°C) due to the underground thermal springs that gave Aquae Sextiae (the Roman name for Aix) its identity as a spa city. The Fontaine des Neuf Canons at the central point of the cours is the most photographed. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings, the southern half of the Cours Mirabeau hosts an open-air market of flowers, vegetables, and local products that spills from the Place Richelme onto the boulevard. Paul Cézanne grew up near the cours and studied at the Collège Bourbon (now the Lycée Mignet) at its eastern end; his father's hat shop stood at number 55. The Atelier Cézanne, preserved as it was when Cézanne died in 1906, is a 20-minute walk north of the cours on the Avenue Paul Cézanne.