Aix-En-Provence Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur

Generally speaking, the older and more seemingly disorganized a cathedral, the more interesting we find it. Saint-Sauveur in Aix is hard to beat in that regard. We have seen older cathedral renovations: e.g.,  a baroque church built on top of a Greek Doric temple in Sicily. But Saint-Sauveur was built on top of the Roman forum, incorporating bits of it, first as a parish church, then revised as the church of one of the orders, then finally revised as a cathedral when Aix became the capital. It's always fascinating to see the layers of Romanesque, Gothic, then Baroque, side by side or one on top of the other. Add a conspicuous layer of Roman, or Greek, and you really have something.

Facade of the cathedral complex

Guess who attended the university across the street

Gothic facade

Helpful floor-plan; looks like a conventional nave with two side aisles; but it's
more complicated than that, with the aisles (and chapels) having come in in
different ages and for different purposes...

It's all fascinating, but the Baptistry is the most fascinating: eight Roman columns
with Corinthian capitals, recycled from the Forum; we'll see this octagonal baptistry
design again in Frejus, a few miles down the road

Gothic nave/aisle

Interesting non-Christian-looking pediment up high in the
Romanesque nave

Few windows

So visits to the cloisters are by guided tour only, so we interrupt this visit to the
cathedral to have a look into the Romanesque cloisters

Thus nicely landscaped

The carving quite good, old, generally well-preserved

"Please proceed to the left"

The capitals in the four corners are the attributes of the four gospel writers;
here, my personal favorite, the lion, Mark 

Highly regarded statue of St. Peter

Now in the Baptistry, looking up at the dome and oculus, much later additions

Original baptistry pool, the oldest bit, going back to early Christian times

Remnant of painting in Baptistry

Remnant of mosaic, on the wall, thus probably very late Roman, Roman/Christian

Ample info on evolution of the Baptistry

The pediment again

Vaulting in Gothic aisle

Barrel vaulting in Romanesque nave

Note the non-Christian-looking little columns up high

Exposed bit of the Roman Forum under the church

Crossing...fascinating church!

Aix-En-Provence, 2

Continuing our fun day in Aix...

Pigeon City; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6mTMShVyk

Anyhow, it was lunch time and Vicki found us a nice little
restaurant off the beaten track...

My veggie tart and salade

We both had the steak and patatas, etc; not pictured, her dessert an apply thing
so good it disappeared before I could fire up the camera

Back on the street, more XVIIeme  hotels

Pretty square

Outside the Hotel de Ville; XVII Siecle

One of the better ghost signs, I thought, Creme Eclipse

At the nougat shoppe; Halloween approaches; very big in France

At the madeleine shoppe, where Vicki bought a bunch;
"all them memories come floodin' back"

Cute

Provence cloth shoppe

Another of the interesting fountains

Hotel renovation

Hotel fixer-upper

Cezanne painted Mt. St. Victoire some fifty times (sometimes two coats) but
generally without the smokestack and the power lines

What might very well be the actual summit

Aix-En-Provence, 1

Just for the record, Aix is not an RV-friendly town, parking-wise, and we ended up in the inner outskirts at a Geant (a hiper-super-mercado), directed to a nice covered space by the chef-du-stationment, who rode around on a scooteur. Six hours later, Le Duc was still there, unmolested, so, no harm, no foul, as the saying goes. In any case, a short bus ride took us into the old town, and we were in business. Aix is an old city, with much history, but the chief things to remember are: hotels (big old houses), pigeons, fountains, and Cezanne. See illustrations. All this on October 18.

Statue of the painter, Cezanne; not the last we'll hear from him

Major city icon: the Fountain of the Three Graces: Gracie Allen, Princess Grace,
and Coup de Grace

Sort of like Joyce and Dublin: everywhere the painter stepped, pissed, spat, or
had an epiphany, gets a sidewalk medallion

Boulevard

"Oh Lord, we beseech thee, sendeth Thou a plague to punish these vile,
malevolent pigeons and all whomsoever that desecrate Thy statues and
fountains and other holy objects, Amen"

The little plaque to the right says it all: "XVII Siecle"; all the big houses are of
that vintage

Among the many fountains in Aix, this one a thermal fountain

Another hotel, the headache guys

The Two Boys cafe, where Cezanne and Zola met after classes in college; they were
close personal buds until Zola caricatured Cezanne in one of his novels (be careful
befriending novelists); Aix has pretty much disavowed Zola, which is a shame since
he is exponentially more important, in his art, and also in the life of the nation

Like most of France, Aix takes very good care of its history;
note direct pigeon hit, a difficult shot from above

And Aix also has some superb ghost signs (more to come)

Monochrome monotony, I thought

On the right it says "Le Peintre Paul Cezanne est ne dans cette
maison le 19 Janvier 1839"

Both Cezanne and Zola were heavy smokers

Sushi very big in Aix

Announces that the ghost sign for Cezanne's dad's hat shop is above

Thus

Place Albers; XVII century, creamy yellow