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Poitiers is a country town with a unique charm that comes from a long and sometimes influential history - as the seat of the dukes of Aquitaine, for instance - discernible in the winding lines of the streets and the breadth of civic, domestic and ecclesiastical architectural fashions represented in its buildings. Its pedestrian precincts, restaurants and pavement cafés - and some wonderful central gardens - make for comfortable sightseeing.
The two poles of communal life in Poitiers are the tree-lined place du Maréchal-Leclerc , with its popular cafés and lively outdoor culture, and place Charles-de-Gaulle to the north, where a big and bustling food and clothes market takes place (Mon-Sat 7am-6pm, Sun 7.30am-1pm). Between the two is a warren of prosperous streets - as far along as the half-timbered medieval houses of rue de la Chaine - with the rue Gambetta cutting north past the old Palais de Justice , with a nineteenth-century facade that hides a much older core.
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