FIG. 224. SIDE STREET, ST PAUL-DU-VAR.
This house stands in the very diminutive and only little “place” in the town, where also is the fountain, and whence branches off the way to the church, which stands on the highest point of the site. The main street, and all the side alleys, are but continuations of the mule paths of the country, interrupted here and there with steps, and all too narrow to admit a cart or carriage of any kind. They are thus often so completely swept by the loads of firewood and brushwood on the mules’ backs, that passengers have to seek shelter in the recesses of the doorways. The walks round the walls are in part wider, and the small gardens of the houses sloping down to them, with the dark foliage and golden fruit of their orange groves, form a fine foreground to the lovely prospects visible in every direction.
FIG. 225. MAIN STREET, ST PAUL-DU-VAR.
The gateway ([Fig. 230]) at the entrance to the town from the north has an older character than the fortifications of Mandon. This gateway seems to have formed the ancient entrance through a square tower placed for defence on the neck of land which joins the promontory to the mainland. It presents the same character as the square gate towers of Avignon, having a plain pointed archway and portcullis groove on the exterior, defended by a machicolated parapet above, the interior of the tower being left open towards the town, so that, if captured, it could not be turned to account against it (see [Fig. 226]).
