Carpentras

A ring of heart-shaped boulevards encloses the historical centre of this delightful Provençal town with a glorious past, a Greek and then Gallo-Roman merchant settlement that became the chosen land of the Jews driven out of the region.

You can’t miss a stroll through the winding lanes of the old town with its picturesque streets, a real atmospheric labyrinth in which a beautiful covered passage (passage Boyer) and an authentic medieval street (rue des Halles) are hidden.

Things to do

• Saint-Siffrein Cathedral: built between 1405 and 1519, it is a mixture of different styles due to the long period of construction. The south doorway is said to have been used by Jews wishing to convert to Catholicism and is surmounted by the so-called ‘mouse bowl’, a carved sphere attacked by rodents, perhaps an allusion to the plague that claimed many victims in Provence.
• Hôtel Dieu: wonderful gabled palace. Don’t miss a visit to the pharmacy, authentic and intact since the 18th century.
• Roman excavations: in rue d’Inguimbert are the ruins of the triumphal arch while towards the periphery are the remains of the aqueduct.
• Synagogue: the oldest in France and on the ground floor there are baths and pools fed by spring water.
• Duplessis Museum: evocation of the history of the county of Venaissin and its popular traditions.
• Sobirat Museum: museum of decorative arts.
• Friday morning market: by far one of the most beautiful in the region, a riot of more than 350 stalls where you will find freshly baked bread, honey, cheeses, olives, hazelnuts, fruit including the famous local strawberries, almond nougat and berlingots, the colourful striped hard candies typical of the town.
• Truffle market: every Friday morning from the end of November to the beginning of March.