Springtime in Paris: Troyes

Troyes was a city I had never heard of before I began researching this trip. I spend a lot of time looking at maps and reading about travel so I'm familiar with most of the significant destination cities in Europe, but I had never seen Troyes mentioned in any context. As the second largest city in Champagne after Reims, Troyes was the obvious choice to use as a base for our second two-day stop in the region. The fact that I had never heard of it didn't really bother me. As long as it was a pleasant town with a decent covered market it would serve our purposes as we explored the southern half of Champagne.

Our Airbnb was on Rue Général de Gaulle at the northern edge of the old town, which had the promising name of Quartier Médiéval. For a moment I thought we had a parking spot right in front of our door but it was too good to be true. There was an electronic post on the sidewalk that sensed the car pulling in and immediately began counting down our allotted stopping time on an LED display. We managed to get the bags inside before green turned into red and I had to move the car. Fortunately there were real parking spots not too far away. We had a spacious, two-level apartment in a rustic-looking building with shops on the ground level. There was a decent kitchen and dining area but not much in the way of natural light and definitely not the same vintage charm as our apartment in Reims.

Five o'clock was a perfect time to begin our city walk. There was still plenty of daylight and we would be able to sit down to dinner whenever we were done with exploring. The buildings on the southern side of the street were a mixture of half-timbered and classic nineteenth century French brick-and-stone. The square Gothic belltower of the Sainte-Madeleine church rose above the rooftops. We dove into the medieval quarter through the Ruelle des Chats, a narrow alley named for the cats that regularly jumped across it from the upper levels. Doorways off the alley led into small courtyards and green spaces, some public and some repurposed into lounges and restaurants. It was too early to eat but the restaurants along the alley were enchanting and had adulatory reviews.

We emerged from the alley into the pedestrianized heart of the old town, a historically commercial neighborhood known as Le Bouchon. I found myself blinking even though the sun was nowhere to be seen. These were the most beautiful and atmospheric streets we had seen anywhere on this trip, probably the most picturesque sight in France since we had visited Alsace in 2022. The half-timbered houses were tall and narrow with steeply-pitched gabled roofs, their wooden frames and colors displaying individual expression. Many of these buildings were heavily restored or even reconstructed so it was hard to know if we were walking through a genuinely medieval tableau but the overall effect was still enchanting. This was much more than I had expected from a city I had never heard of before, a wonderful reward for our determination to let no region of France remain unexplored.

One of the buildings I had noted on my itinerary was Hôtel de Mauroy, the former mansion of a prominent merchant and now a museum of craftsman's tools. We only explored the courtyard, attractively landscaped with a mixture of neoclassical and Gothic elements. For the first time since leaving Paris I was inspired to document a magnificent town center on video.

Naturally there were several distinguished churches within the Quartier Médiéval. The Saint-Urbain Basilica is a massive thirteenth century Gothic edifice that was endowed by Pope Urban IV, born in Troyes as Jacques Pantaléon. By this point we had seen so many Gothic cathedrals that they were beginning to blend together. A couple of blocks further east we came to the Canal du Trévois, built on the orders of Napoleon to connect Troyes more efficiently to the nearby Seine. Many of the old city waterways have been filled in but this one was happily preserved. The short bridge we used to traverse it featured a whimsical bronze sculpture of a dog chasing a flock of geese off the end of a concrete barrier.

We were now in the section of the the Quartier Médiéval called La Cité, the one-time aristocratic and administrative district. This area was not as picturesque as Le Bouchon, the neighborhood west of the canal, but it still boasts the city's main church. Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul is an early Gothic edifice with a single massive rectangular belltower. The three portals at the front are later Flamboyant additions. The cathedral was the seat of Troyes' bishop and projected the power of the Catholic church into the city. Across the plaza from the church was Cellier Saint Pierre, a highly respected wine store that also distills the local liqueur made from plum pits.

We crossed over the canal at a slightly different point to get back to Le Bouchon. Here there was a sculpture of a heart in metal mesh called Le Coeur de Troyes which is sometimes illuminated at night. Soon we were back amidst the cobblestone lanes and half-timbered buildings. Someone had arranged large teddy bears on three levels of balconies above a brasserie near the market building. Teddy bear decorations have become ubiquitous in France since a bookstore owner started the tradition in Paris in 2018.

We wandered down an alley called Rue Paillot de Montabert that ran parallel to Ruelle des Chats and was similarly lined with restaurants. We came to one called Le Jardin that resembled a curiosity shop with display windows crammed with small objets d'art and porcelain figurines. The interior was similar with every wall surface covered by shelving and kitschy antiques. The reviews were amazing and I was surprised to find the place empty on a Thursday evening, perhaps because they had only just opened for dinner. Fortunately the restaurant wasn't booked out and the very friendly hostess found us a comfortable spot in the corner.

Our dinner was once again extraordinarily good, which we had by now come to expect in Champagne. The kids had become obsessed with steak tartare, which I generally avoid in France after getting sickened by it on my first visit to Paris, but it was so delicious here that I had to try some. We also had our first experience with the local specialty andouillette de Troyes, made from heavily seasoned pork intestines. Usually Mei Ling likes that kind of thing more than I do but I ended up eating most of it. Between the excellent food and the colorful environment, it might have been our best meal yet on this trip to France.

On Friday morning we were excited to check out the covered market, just a few blocks east of our apartment on Rue Général de Gaulle. It was a modern shed-like building that had probably replaced an older structure in the not-so-distant past. Of course almost all the usual classic stalls were present such as the green grocers, the cheesemongers, and the butchers. Although there were pastries available there was nowhere to buy a baguette which left me somewhat dismayed.

The only place within the market which had any prepared food available was the seafood stall, which had an impressive range of offerings considering how far we were from the ocean. Unfortunately they only opened their kitchen on Saturdays but we were still able to enjoy some pre-made paella and an assortment of seafood salads in the small cafe they operated next to the display counters.

We were eager to get on the road and see some towns within the Aube department, but we took a few minutes to check out the Juvénal des Ursins garden which we had missed the previous afternoon. The garden looks very classical but it was actually constructed less than ten years ago in a Renaissance style. It is adjacent to the hôtel particulier of the influential Juvénal des Ursins family, although it is unclear if the mansion ever had a garden in this same location. It was a beautiful space surrounded by lofty medieval buildings, an aesthetic modern addition to the Quartier Médiéval.