Streets squares and districts to visit Châteaux de la Loire

... or Place Plum' for the locals. It is one of the emblematic and unavoidable places of Tours during a visit or a festive evening. Located in the heart of the Old City, it is rectangular, paved, on two levels. It is surrounded by half-timbered houses dating from the 15th century and classified as historical monuments.

Plum' beats to the rhythm of tourism and commerce during the day, before becoming the heart of the nightlife. Because what makes it special is the numerous cafés, bars and restaurants located all around. They all spread their terraces in the center, giving the square its famous animation and its great conviviality. So it's no wonder that it's often found on the top steps of Internet podiums of "best places to have an aperitif."

But like many places in the Loire Valley, Place Plumereau also has links with the great History of France. It is notably here that Joan of Arc would have stayed the time to have her armor made and to gather her army to go and deliver the city of Orleans.
The place Plumereau has not always been called like that. It was named after Charles Plumereau, a city councilor, in 1888. At his death, he had bequeathed to the city an annuity intended for secular schools as well as houses located on the square. A place that has known many lives and that was notably an unhealthy parking lot. It is to the mayor Jean Royer that we owe its restoration in the 1960s which led to its current form.

If the place Plumereau is the heart of the city of Tours, the place Jean Jaurès is the nerve centre. This is the ideal landmark in the city: indeed, the two arteries that are Béranger Boulevard and the Heurteloup boulevard intersect here perpendicular, cut Tours in four well defined areas. The square is dominated by the Hotel de Ville, a magnificent monument designed by the tourangeau architect Victor Laloux at the hinge of the th and th centuries. It also houses the Palace of justice, built in 1843 in a Louis Philippe style, without forgetting the two majestic fountains, which are different over the seasons by playing light and landscaping of the best taste. However, when the square was created in 1745, it was named after the Gates of Iron and marked the southern boundary of the fortifications. What the city has grown up!

A little secret in Touraine to explore during your stroll on rue Colbert! Look for the sign indicating "Passage du Coeur Navré": unfortunately, this alley is not the cleanest in the city, but it is the narrowest. Legend has it that those condemned to death used this passage to reach the scaffold on the Place Foire-le-Roi. One shudders! But in the middle of the day, it is a curiosity not to be missed to contemplate the vaults, the roof, the old stones and to plunge into the heart of the history which reminds that of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.

Dating back to 1869, the hall, covered, is the old grain hall. Central point of La Ferté-Saint-Aubain, the square of the hall is now paved. This gives a stamp at this place of crossing individuals and favours meetings and animations, commercial, festive or cultural like its Festiv'Halle. To point out that this is where the open air market is taking place on Thursday. there is a parking lot, an important element in this city of La Ferté crossed by the national.

Nestled against the church, a th century building houses the Cité des Métiers de Tradition. In this place over time, a team of volunteers gathered a collection of tools and machines representative of the trades of the past. You farriers, bayberries, saddlers, potters… the City evokes about thirty business lines, forming a small village of close to 3 000 m 2. The visitor will be able to dream in front of measure dresses and hats, stroll on the shopping street or remember his childhood in front of school desks. Besides the collection, buildings and structures remain the impressive witnesses of still living know-how.