Saumur, at the pace it was built for

Saumur is built almost entirely from tuffeau — the soft white limestone quarried from the hills behind it, which gives the whole town its pale, luminous face. Dig into that same stone and you get the other half of Saumur: miles of troglodyte cellars running under the vineyards, cool and dark, where Crémant de Loire ages in the rock and where they once grew mushrooms and cut homes straight into the cliff. Above it all sits the château, medieval fortress turned royal residence, watching the river. This is a town you walk. The centre is flat and small; the Loire runs along one side; the Saturday market fills Place Saint-Pierre under the half-timbered houses. Nothing here needs a car, and a car would only put glass between you and it.