Aix-en-Provence: France

Aix-en-Provence Travel: France
Aix (prounounced “eks�), or, to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, Aix-en-Provence is a city in southern France, some 30 km north of Marseille. It is located in the Provence region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Population is approximately 130,000.
The Cours Mirabeau, a wide thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses and decorated by fountains, divides the town into two portions. The new town extends to the south and west, the old town with its wide but irregular streets and its old mansions dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries lies to the north.
Aix is an important educational centre, being the seat of the faculties of law and letters of the university of Aix-Marseille, and there is a lot of students lodging and parties in the old town and around university buildings in the new part of downtown..
The cathedral of Saint-Sauveur, which dates from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, is situated in this portion of Aix. It is preceded by a rich portal in the Gothic style with elaborately carved doors, and is flanked on the north by an uncompleted tower. The interior contains tapestry of the 16th century, other works of art and a baptism pool from first century. The archbishop’s palace and a Romanesque cloister adjoin the cathedral on its south side. The church of Saint-Jean-de-Malto, dating from the 13th century, contains some valuable pictures.
The Hotel de Ville, a building in the classical style of the middle of the 17th century, looks on to a picturesque square. It contains some fine woodwork and a large library which includes many valuable manuscripts. At its side rises a handsome clock-tower erected in 1505.
Aix possesses many beautiful fountains, one of which in the Cours Mirabeau is surmounted by a statue of le bon Roi René, count of Provence, who held a brilliant court at Aix in the 15th century. Aix has thermal springs, remarkable for their heat and containing lime and carbonic acid. The bathing establishment was built in 1705 near the site of the ancient baths of Sextius, of which vestiges still remain.
The town, which is the seat of an archbishop and court of appeal, and the centre of an académie (educational circumscription), numbers among its public institutions a Court of assizes, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a chamber of arts and manufactures. It also has training-colleges, a lycée, a school of art and technics, museums of antiquities, natural history and painting, and several learned societies.
Aix is often referred to as the city of a thousand fountains. Among them are the Fontaine des Quatre Dauphins (Fountain of the Four Dolphins), built in 1667 by Jean-Claude Rambot; King René’s Fountain, built in the 19th century, of Roi René holding a bunch of Muscat grapes, which he introduced into Provence; the hot-water fountain dating back to 1734, which is covered in moss due to the 35°C (93°F) water; and the great fountain, from 1860, at La Rotonde, the large roundabout at the center of town