Built on high ground above the River Aveyron, the old town , dominated by the massive red-sandstone CathA©drale Notre-Dame , is visible for kilometres around. No matter from what direction you approach, you will find yourself in the place d'Armes , where the cathedral's plain, fortress-like west front and the seventeenth-century bishop's palace sit side by side - both buildings were incorporated into the town's defences. The Gothic cathedral, its plain facade relieved only by an elaborately flowery rose window, was begun in 1277 and took three hundred years to complete. Towering over the square is the cathedral's 87-metre belfry , decorated with pinnacles, balustrades and statuary almost as fantastical as that of Strasbourg cathedral. The impressively spacious interior, architecturally as plain as the facade, is adorned with a magnificently extravagant seventeenth-century walnut organ loft and choir stalls that were crafted by AndrA© Sulpice in 1468.

Leaving by the splendid south porch, you find yourself in the tiny place Rozier in front of the fifteenth-century Maison Cannoniale , whose courtyard is guarded by jutting turrets. From the back of the cathedral to the north and the south, a network of well-restored medieval streets connects place de-Gaulle, place de la PrA©fecture and the attractive place du Bourg, with its fine sixteenth-century houses. In place Foch, just south of the cathedral, the Baroque chapel of the old lycA©e is worth a look for its amazing painted ceiling, while in place Raynaldy, the new HA?tel de Ville and the mA©diathA?que are interesting examples of attempts to graft modern styles onto old buildings.