Stretching east along the hillside from rue Porte Chartraine, Blois’ medieval and Renaissance old town is well worth a stroll. The façade of Maison des Acrobates – one of Blois' few surviving 15th-century houses – is decorated with wooden sculptures of figures from medieval farces. Between there and the cathedral is the Hôtel de Villebrême, another half-timbered, 15th-century townhouse.
The Gothic-style Cathédrale St-Louis , rebuilt after a terrible storm in 1678, has a western façade mixing late-Gothic and neoclassical elements. Almost all the stained glass, bearing enigmatic Latin inscriptions, was created by Dutch artist Jan Dibbets in 2000.
Lovely panoramas unfold across town from the peaceful Jardins de l’Évêché (the gardens behind the cathedral) and from the top of the Escalier Denis Papin, a grand staircase linking rue du Palais with the commercial precinct around rue Denis Papin.
For spectacular views, you can climb the 60m-high campanile of the strikingly modern Basilique Notre-Dame de la Trinité, built 1949, 1km northeast of the cathedral. The shop sells monastery products.
