Foreign Perspectives

At first glance, the shopping district in Perpignan seems to be quite small and compact. It’s mostly a pedestrian area and even those areas where it isn’t, the streets are narrow enough to really slow down both the speed and the volume of the traffic considerably so it ends up with a very calm feel to it.

After a while though, you realise that there are a whole lot more shops than you first saw because many are set back from the street in little courtyards like the one you can see here. In fact, we’ve only really started to discover the true size of the shopping area recently as many of these little courtyards contain not one but often four or five of the little shops.

They’re all different too. This one is relatively ordinary in that it’s effectively just got a longer than normal entrance hall but others come with statues, waterfalls, and the like. The range of shops is much greater than those directly on the main street where you’ll generally find the international shop brands. It’s in these little courtyards that you find the more unique shops.

Of course, the biggest plus point of this arrangement is that in the Summer, the courtyards are a good deal cooler than the street. Airconditioning isn’t that widespread here at the moment so these little courtyard shops and restaurants provide a welcome break from the intense July and August heat.

Anyway, if you’re here on a visit, keep an eye out for them and explore some of the courtyard shops of Perpignan.