Quimper: Saint-Corentin and the Odet footbridges

Quimper is the old capital of Cornouaille and it is built where the Steïr runs into the Odet, which is why it photographs so well on foot: two rivers, a dozen bridges and a medieval centre you can cross in ten minutes. The cathedral of Saint-Corentin is the anchor — a thirteenth-to-fifteenth-century gothic building whose twin spires were only added in 1856, which is why they are so tall and so sharp against the sky.

The classic frame is Rue Kéréon: a narrow street of half-timbered fronts running straight at the cathedral's west end, so the spires close the perspective. Shoot it early, because it is also the main shopping street and by ten the frame belongs to shoppers. Behind the cathedral, the bishop's garden and the surviving stretch of ramparts give the same stone with nobody in it.

The river is the other half of a session here. Low footbridges cross the Odet through the centre, and from spring to autumn they carry boxes of geraniums along both rails — colour in the foreground with grey stone and slate behind. From the quays you get the cathedral spires above the rooftops, which is the wider view most people miss.

Quimper is a working city, not a museum town, so weekday mornings are quieter than weekends and the Saturday market fills the streets around the halles. The cathedral is free to enter and asks for quiet, and photography inside should stay clear of services — worth checking the day's schedule if the interior matters to the plan.