Streets squares and districts to visit Paimpol

The beating heart of Paimpol, this pretty cobbled square, which hosts a lively market every Tuesday, is lined with traditional two-storey granite and freestone houses. Stop in front of the one located at number 2 to admire its Renaissance décor, with its two carved jamb doors on the facade, its window which has retained its full surround with cornice, supporting stone and triangular pediment, and its niche in which a statue of Saint-Louis is installed. Dating from 1581, it is one of the oldest houses in the city. At the corner of Rue de l'Eglise, the beautiful building with a corner turret was once a hotel, where Pierre Loti, the author of Pêcheur d'Islande, stayed. In the novel, the heroine Gaud Mével lives there. From the Place du Martray there are several pretty little streets, such as the Place de l'Eglise, one of the oldest, or the Place des Huit-Patriotes, one of the most beautiful in the historic centre. Its name refers to the eight maquisards who fell on 16 August 1944. This narrow pedestrian alley, very lively with its many restaurants, bars and shops, reveals superb facades, some decorated with statues. Among the most remarkable: the half-timbered house at number 6, which has housed the Jézéquel family hardware store since 1886. This 1570 building has columns and beams, as well as statues at each corner, a sort of caryatids with a strange posture, bent knees and hands resting on their thighs.