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    Senior Times
    You are at:Home»Features»Paris…but not as you know it
    Rooftop Terrace Terass Hotel
    Square Suzanne Buisson
    The Popular Bus 69

    Paris…but not as you know it

    0
    By Senior Times on October 15, 2015 Features, Travel

    Claire Bourke, who has lived in the French capital for some years, offers a guide to some of its lesser known attractions, centering on her adopted area, Monmartre

    Monmartre is like a little Paris within Paris, and is Paris’ famous
    artistic neighbourhood. Forgo the touristic spots, get away from the
    ‘Amelie’ strip, and discover some secret gems only known to locals.
    Mingle with Parisians in bustling food markets, visit the
    small streets that are  a reminder that Montmartre was once quiet
    countryside and discover a hotel-top bar to watch the sun set over the
    Eiffel Tower..
    Enquire when making your hotel booking about arranging a shuttle bus
    service from the airport direct to your hotel, or consult the many
    companies online (www.supershuttle.com, www.airport-shuttle.com/,
    www.parisshuttleservice.com).
    Stay off the beaten track in Terrass (www.terrass-hotel.com)  182,
    12-14 Rue Joseph de Maistre). The hotel has been around for more than a century and was refurbished entirely in 2015.
    The Terrass hotel is a hidden gem: great location (within walking
    distance of sights like the Sacre-Coeur, Place Tertre, Montmartre
    Cemetery and the Saint Ouen Flea Market), and fabulous views from its
    rooftop terrace of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, perfect after a
    day’s sightseeing. Room Tip: Request a large room rather than a room
    with a view. The big rooms have stylish bathtubs.
    Since  early times  Montmartre has always been a place of worship:
    from the Gallic Druids and the Romans with their temples honouring Mars
    and Mercury, to the oldest church in Paris, L’Eglise Saint-Pierre, and
    finally, the Sacré Coeur Basilica which was built during the 19th
    century. An inspiring and rare way to discover this lesser known facet
    of the hill’s soul would be spending a night in the Maison d’accueil
    d’Ephrem, the guesthouse of the famous Basilica of Sacré Coeur, which
    offers you the chance to stay in the heart of Montmartre for as little
    as 15 euro per night, ‘prayers for your immortal soul included.’
    The only drawback to your stay would be the relatively early curfew (10pm), but that would be a small price to pay for the spiritual journey and religious hospitality you would begetting in return. A booking to the Ephrem guesthouse can be made atadoremus@sacre-coeur-montmartre.com – email replies take about aweek. The Ephrem guesthouse’s address is: Maison D’Accueil Ephrem 33, Rue Du Chevalier De La Barre, 75018, Paris. Tel: 0033 1 53418909  www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/english/guesthouse-and-pilgrimages/article/the-guesthouse-of-the-basilica.
    Other hotels with reasonable prices and excellent facilities include
    the 2 star Comfort Hotel Place du Tertre
    (http://www.comfort-placedutertre.com/hotel-en_INDEX ( rooms from €75)
    as well as the large  Hotel Regyns Montmartre, with rooms starting at
    80€ (www.hotel-regyns-paris.com/). The location is magnificent: right
    on the Place des Abbesses with a metro stop on your doorstep. Other
    well-rated hotels in the heart of Montmartre include the Bonséjour
    Montmartre (www.hotel-bonsejour-montmartre.fr/, ( about €80 a night ), the Hotel Audron  (www.hotelaudran.com ( €80) and the pleasantly named My Hotel inFrance Montmartre (www.hotel-basss.com ( €90) at the foot of the hill.
    Saint Denis
    Take the Metro to Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (line12), and walk this market street, a favourite with locals. Lined withspecialty food shops, excellent cheese shops, butchers, fish shops, fruit and vegetable vendors and even supermarkets, you can findeverything you need for a gourmet meal at home along Rue des Martyrs.
    For a glimpse into traditional Parisian markets, on Wednesdays and
    Saturdays until 1pm, visit Rue Ordener’s outdoor market (Rue Ordener,
    between rues Montcalm and Championnet,  75018 Paris, Jules Joffrin
    station, Métro line 12). Mingle among Parisiens shopping for seasonal
    fruit and vegetables in this market created in March 1888, or sip a
    coffee in one of the many bistrots and people-watch.
    On the nearby Rue de Ronsard, the museum in the former Halle Saint
    Pierre covered market in the shadow of Sacré-Coeur specialises in
    contemporary & experimental paintings & graphic art
    (www.hallesaintpierre.org/, 2 Rue Ronsard, 75018 Paris, +33 1 42 58 72
    89, temporary exhibitions: 8.50€, reduced price 6.50€), in addition to
    local exhibitons, a gift shop and a pleasant café all set inside an
    old renovated warehouse.
    Far from the Sacré-Coeur hubbub, Villa Leandre, a discreet street
    named after local comedian Charles Leandre, reminds us that Montmartre
    was once quiet countryside, before being annexed to Paris in 1860. It
    is one of the quietest and more expensive streets in Paris where you
    will find yourself in a world that does not resemble Paris: houses
    built in the Anglo-Saxon style with traditional front gardens. Stroll 20m ahead of Villa Leandre to Square Suzanne Buisson – this
    small square is hidden from the public eye. Most tourists never hear
    of this square or even see it, unknowingly walking past the entry
    steps as it sits elevated above Rue Junot. An area terraced in 1951 in
    Art Deco style, it has a statue of St Denis in the centre of the
    garden, a children’s playground and open space and benches to rest for
    a Montmartre moment. 7 bis Girardon 75018
    Romantic and poetic yet strangely obscure, the lyrically named Allée
    des Brouillards (the Alley of Mists), linking the Square Suzanne
    Buisson to Place Dalida (metro Lamarck – Caulaincourt, line 12) and
    the eponymous Chateau des Brouillards which borders it are two
    Montmartre legends which seem to have remained surprisingly untouched
    by time. This charming area appreciated by artists like the poet
    Nerval, the painter Modigliani and the filmmaker Jean Renoir to name
    but a few.

    Le Gabin restaurant
    In Montmartre, hungry and looking for lunch but tired of tourist food
    at high prices, Le Gabin (25, rue Lambert, 75018 Paris, telephone: 01
    53 28 27 93), a very small and very local restaurant will be just what
    you seek. Tasty dishes, with friendly staff, and a one-, two-, or
    three-course lunch from 10 to 15 Euro! Set away from the touristy
    cafés on the Rue des Abbesses, La Mascotte dishes up some of Paris’s
    best fruits de mer and sole meunière. This typical Parisian brasserie
    is open 7/7 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. (52 Rue des Abbesses, 75018
    Paris, www.la-mascotte-montmartre.com/). A little-known bistrot, in a
    great location for people watching, is Le Nazir, 56 Rue des Abbesses,
    75018 Paris, +33 1 46 06 07 17.
    After lunch, stroll up and down rue Durantin and discover the
    ‘Monmartoises’ (‘from Montmartre’) shops windows (from the number 17
    to 35). The characteristic of this street is that old signs have been
    kept to preserve its authenticity. Discover for example an accountant
    (n°17) or a crèche (n° 26) inside ancient ‘Boulangeries’. While
    walking, look at the building fronts:  they  date from the 19th
    century and are now protected.
    Oldest church in Paris
    The Church of Saint Peter of Montmartre (église Saint-Pierre de
    Montmartre) is the oldest surviving church in Paris, dating from the
    12th Century but the lesser known of the two main churches in
    Montmartre, the other being the more famous 19th-century Sacré-Cœur
    Basilica. The church contains some original Roman columns – it is
    said that Dante came here to pray.

    Paris is not the first city that usually comes to mind when one thinks
    windmills. Hard as it is to imagine, until the beginning of the 20th
    century the Parisian landscape was dotted with numerous mills, which
    once numbered more than 300. The Radet (83, Rue Lepic) and the
    Blute–Fin (now part of an Italian/French restaurant located on the
    corner of Rue Girardon) are the sole survivors, which collectively
    form the grounds of the legendary Moulin de la Galette, known for its
    illustrious ball immortalised by Renoir’s painting Bal du Moulin de
    la Galette).
    As you wind down in the early evening, sip a refreshing drink on the
    elegant rooftop terrace and restaurant of the Terrass Hotel with
    stunning panoramic views of the Paris rooftops and be dazzled by the
    light show that is the Eiffel Tower occurring each hour on the hour.
    12 Rue Joseph de Maistre, 75018 Paris

    Fine Dining
    Montmartre offers an excellent selection of restaurants, discretely
    hidden away from the tourist traps with waiters waving menus on the
    pavement. Some of the addresses whispered conspiratorially between
    locals:
    Miroir, 94 r. des Martyrs 75018 Paris, 00331 46 06 50 73,
    www.restaurantmiroir.com/
    Bistro Poulbot, 39 rue lamarck 75018 Paris,+33 1 46 06 86 00,
    www.bistropoulbot.com
    Specialising in all thing poultry: LE COQ RICO, 98 r. Lepic 75018
    Paris, 00331 42 59 82 89 http://en.lecoqrico.com/
    And finally, want to pack as much of Paris as possible into your
    pocket? Check out these 10 indispensable apps for your smartphone:
    bit.ly/1haJPg1, including scrolling through the best of 1200 Paris
    pâtisseries, sorted by speciality, arrondissement and quality, and
    ‘Where to pee in Paris – public toilets’.

    Transport information:
    Paris public transport system, one of the world’s most comprehensive
    and efficient, includes the Métro (lines 1 – 14), the RER (light
    sub’ costs €1.80, and is valid for transport on the metro, RER, bus,
    tram and Montmartre Cable car (Funiculaire de Montmartre).  A ‘carnet’
    (karn-ay) of 10 single-use tickets costs €14.10. Carnets can be
    purchased on arrival at airports and in tobacconists.
    Paris Visite travel cards are available for 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive
    days (http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/r_61654/parisvisite/, and offer 20%
    reduction to certain monuments). However, these passes do not
    represent good value, as a traveller almost never makes more than the
    ten journeys daily needed to make the purchase worthwhile.
    Line 1 of the Parisian metro crosses the French capital from west to
    east, and serves important sites such as the Champs-Élysées, the
    Louvre, Bastille, the Pompidou Museum.
    Paris Metro tickets are valid for transfers within 1 hour 30 minutes
    of first use, but only between certain methods of transport and
    depending on the type of transport used. For example, you cannot
    transfer from the Paris Metro to the Bus. Individual tickets and
    Carnets of tickets can be used any time, even months after they were
    purchased. Keep them (and all passes) away from magnets and cards with
    magnetic strips. Skip those huge  red tourist buses and do it like a local instead, on one of the following buses:
    Bus 24
    Bus number 24 goes all the way from Gare St-Lazare (in the 8th
    arrondissement) to École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort (a little bit
    outside the city centre of Paris). On the way to the Gare St-Lazare
    you’ll pass the Jardin des Plantes and Notre Dame cathedral; then
    you’ll continue along the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay, Place de la
    Concorde, and Place de la Madeleine.
    Bus 42
    The 42 bus route begins at the Gare du Nord train station and cuts
    diagonally across Paris going through Place de la Opéra, past the
    grand Garnier Opéra, around Place de la Madeleine and Église
    Madeleine, through Place de la Concorde, up the lower Champs-Élysées,
    across the Seine on the Pont de l’Alma bridge, along the Left Bank
    quais of the Seine, through the Champs de Mars and around the Eiffel
    Tower.
    Bus 69
    The 69 bus goes from Gambetta (in the 20th arrondissement) to Champ de Mars (in the8th) and back. If you take the bus towards the Champ de Mars you’ll
    see the following things along the ride: Cimetière du Père Lachaise,
    Bastille, St Paul, the Louvre, St. Germain, Invalides Musée d’Orsay,
    the Invalides and finally a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de
    Mars.

     

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