Fodor's Expert Review Place Plumereau

North from the Basilique St-Martin to the river is Le Vieux Tours. This lovely medieval quarter—a warren of quaint streets, wood-beam houses, and grand mansions once owned by 15th-century merchants—has been gentrified with chic apartments and pedestrianized streets. It's centered on Place Plumereau, Tours’s erstwhile carroi aux chapeaux (hat market). Local college students and tourists alike love to linger in its cafés, and the buildings rimming the square have become postcard staples. Numbers 1 through 7 form a magnificent series of half-timber houses; note the wood carvings of royal moneylenders on Nos. 11 and 12. At the top of the square a vaulted passageway leads to medieval Place St-Pierre-le-Puellier. Running off Place Plumereau are other streets adorned with historic houses, notably Rue Briçonnet—at No. 16 is the Maison de Tristan, with a medieval staircase.