Aix-en-Provence, France - Cours Mirabeau

Aix (originally Aquae Sextiae) was founded in 123 BC.  The tour guide, Juan, gave an explanation how the name gradually changed from the name given by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus to the hot springs found in the area to today’s version but I don’t recall the details.  If I can figure this out, I will post the answer in the comments.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Juan explained that he is a native Frenchman whose mother is from northern Europe and gave him a Spanish name.  He said that he had no further explanation than that.  He lives in Marseille.

The bus parked on the west side of Place du General de Gaulle.  You can follow our walking tour through the city by consulting the map.  The red lines show our walk with the guide, and the green lines show our self tour as we made our way back to the bus.  I need to divide the tour into smaller sections for multiple posts, so I will add a detailed map for each post along with the over all view.

This post covers the distance from #1 to #2.

We walked around the fountain La Rotonde.  The monumental fountain was built in 1860 beneath three giant statues representing art, justice and agricultural. Of course, the cameras were whirring as we took many photos.  I also saw that some of the trees are trimmed back really far, and some are growing leafy already.  The city must cycle through giving the trees a trim on a rotation.

 Paul Cézanne was born here on 19^th January 1839.  They have a nice statue of him across the street from the fountain.

We continued to the main street Cours Mirabeau. This street is wide, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses and filled with statues, fountains and cafes.  It follows the line of the old city wall and divides the town into two sections: the old medieval section (16^th-18^th century) and the new section to the south.  Today, a large marketplace filled the southern sidewalks.  The family noted that we will need to stop here on our return.

We walked east on Cours Mirabeau for a block, then crossed and turned south on Rue Laroque to enter the newer part of the city.  The tour is continued in the next post,