The quartier de la Banasterie,
lying behind the Palais des Papes, is almost solid seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century, and the heavy wooden doors, with their highly
sculptured lintels, today bear the nameplates of lawyers, psychiatrists
and doctors.
Between Banasterie and place des Carmes
are a tangle of tiny streets guaranteed to get you lost. Pedestrians
have priority over cars on many of them, and there are plenty of
tempting café or restaurant stops. At 24 rue Saluces, you'll find the
peculiar Musée du Mont de Piété , an ex-pawnbroker's shop and
now home to the town's archives (Mon-Fri 8.30-11.30am &
1.30-5.30pm; free). It has a small display of papal bulls and painted
silk desiccators for determining the dry weight of what was the city's
chief commodity.
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