In the ruelle des Chats (Cats Alley) you’ll see it is so narrow that the houses lean in and touch at the top (photo P15). It got that name as cats would cross by jumping over the central gutter. At the side of the office of the Mutuelle Societe at 111 rue Emile Zola you can enter a gate and at the back you’ll discover a stunning renaissance house looking exactly as it did when it was built. At the Cour du Mortier d’or, the ancient timber frames still bear the workman’s trademarks.
Everywhere you go here you’ll discover traces of history from hundreds of years ago, quaint, quirky and irresistibly charming.
12th Century poet Chrestien de Troyes, the father of the modern novel was born in Troyes; Henry V married Catherine of France in 1420 at the city’s Eglise St Jean au Marché and Pope Urbain IV was born there in 1185 and his remains are buried at the 13th Century Basilique Saint Urbain. King Louis X married in the town, and Anne of Bugundy married the son of Henry IV of England there – it was for a while the wedding spot of choice for the celebrities of yesteryear.