Rue des Teinturiers and its waterwheels

The Rue des Teinturiers follows a branch of the Sorgue through the south of the old town: cobbles on one side, an open channel of running water on the other, plane trees leaning over it and four surviving waterwheels, green with moss, still turning against the house walls. It is where the dyers and printed-cloth workshops were, and it has stayed scruffy and lived-in while the rest of the centre polished up.

After the scale of the Palais des Papes, this is the human-sized half of Avignon. Everything is close: a couple on the little footbridges over the channel, a wheel turning behind their shoulders, ivy and shutters and café chairs. The lane is narrow and green, so the light is soft and the backgrounds are busy in a good way.

The canopy makes timing forgiving. Mid-morning and late afternoon both work, and midday is usable because the plane trees diffuse everything — this is the Avignon location that still functions when the rest of the town is in hard July light. Autumn, when the leaves turn and the water runs high, is the best-looking season. In winter, bare branches let in more light and the wheels read more clearly.

Practical: the cobbles are uneven and the channel edge has no barrier in places, so watch footing near the water. This is an evening street with bars and small venues, so it is quiet in the morning and busy after dark. And it stays photogenic in rain, which makes it the sensible wet-weather fallback in a city where the other frames are all wide and open.