Montmartre is a district in the North of Paris known for it’s theatres, entertainment, and general arty-ness. It spans a few subway stops on the blue metro line, approximately from Barbes Rouchechouart to Blanche (right near the Moulin Rouge). But whether you’re into art and theatre or not, Montmartre will wow you, if for no other reason that it’s geography.

Basically, Montmartre is a city on a hill; a hill so big that from the top, it offers the best aerial view of the entire city of Paris you could possibly get.

Getting off the Metro at Anvers you begin your ascent up the Mont, your destination (if you take this route, which I recommend you do) is the Sacre Coeur Basilica, a grand old church perched on top of the hill. This picture alone is a sight to behold, that of an ancient gothic cathedral hoisted into the sky by a capable mountain, shamelessly flaunting it’s beauty and prestige for all to see.

Your climb takes you through the streets of the city, through open air markets, tourist gift shops, and plentiful crepe stands as you gradually move closer to the peak.

What you can’t forget to do on your journey to the top is stop and look backwards. As you make your way higher and higher, incy by inch, the sprawling city shows more and more of itself to you.

It’s a district where you feel like you want to take your time, relatively quiet for its level of activity. If you do choose to linger, you’ll find no shortages of spots to do so at, whether it be a quiet cafe, a bar, or a local restaurant. Whatever you do, you’ll want to have plenty of energy for the final leg of your ascent.

Getting past more of the buildings, you’ll come to a point where you’re making your way up steps, through what would be, if the ground were flat, something like the churches courtyard. The Sacre Coeur will be looming with grandiose before you, waiting to share with you the view that it enjoys each and every day. The street performers on the church’s steps are a spectacle indeed, but what comes next is a memory for a lifetime.

Reaching the top and looking backward is breathtaking. Now at the top of the hill looking over the entire city, you proceed to pick out the different objects you recognize in the Parisian skyline. You take the obligatory photos, and you take a seat and a rest on one of the church steps, just in case the view is too much to take standing up.

What happens next depends on who you are. Maybe you lament the way the light hits certain buildings in the scene; Maybe you imagine all the historical figures of France who have surely stood in the same spot and felt the same feelings of awe any number of decades before you; Or maybe you continue to muse at the other tourists, mulling around in random fashion equally unsure of how to properly appreciate the beauty confronting them.

Whoever you are you’ll face the conflict of wondering at what point to trade one memorable scene for another… the view from the cathedral’s steps, to the view inside the cathedral.

The Basilica is a smaller church than the Notre Dame cathedral, and if you’re not an afficionado of gothic architecture or one who appreciates a good cathedral for religious reasons, you might be tempted to skip going inside the Sacre Coeur Basilica. I advise you don’t.

Actually parts of the inside of the Basilica, Elysia and I judged to be more spectacular than that of Notre Dame. For example there’s an enormous single mural painted on the inside of the cathedral’s main dome which in it’s own right is worth the visit.

Even when you’re finished at the cathedral, your time at Montmartre is not up. Next you can make your way back down the hill on whichever route you choose. Here you can wander aimlessly through side streets, cobblestone paths, and countless points at which you can appreciate an historical building in the foreground, and between structures, an aerial view out to the city in the background.

When you retire from the day you’ll feel like you experienced something special, and uniquely Parisian… because you did.

Montmartre is a place to go on your Paris trip where you don’t need to spend any money if you don’t want, where you can spend as long or as little time as you like, and where there’s something to experience that will be pleasing regardless of your age or interests.

It can also be tougher if you don’t speak French (we don’t), so I hope this is helpful.

1. Subway Tickets

Called “billets”, you can buy tickets for the Metro either in single or in bunches. You can buy a “carnet” which is 10 tickets for about 11 euros and is about the best value if you’re in the city for more than a couple of days.

There’s one thing you really need to remember which fortunately we were told, and that is that when you use a subway ticket for a single journey, and you get it back as you walk through the gate, it doesn’t look any different after it’s used than before it’s used. So you HAVE to make sure you keep separate your used tickets and your unused ones.

Furthermore, use of one ticket means putting it into the machine when you go into the station to take the train AND when you leave the other station that is your destination. So you HAVE to make sure your current ticket stays with the unused tickets and the USED tickets go in the bin or in another pocket. Even knowing this, we had a number of times where we stood feeding numerous tickets into the gate trying to find which one hadn’t been used.

2. Which line?

The main lines you’ll use are:

a) The yellow number 1. This is the main line that runs up and down parallel to the Champs Elysees (amongst other places) On it you can get to the Arc Du Triomphe (Charles De Gaule Etoile Station), The Louvre Museum (Louvre Rivoli Station), Hotel DeVille (Hotel DeVille Station), Chatelet (short walk from here across the bridge to the Notre Dame Cathedral) and many more. This line runs between (and you’ll see this on the signs) Ch. de Vincennes and La Defense.

b) The blue line number 2. This is the line that’ll take you from the train station (if you came in on the Eurostar or some other train) into town. After the Gare Du Nord stop (La Chapelle station) it passes along the Montmartre area (stops like Anvers and Pigalle) and by the Moulin Rouge (by the station called Blanche). This line runs between (keep a lookout on the signs) Nation and Port Dauphine.

c) Light green line number 6. This is the line with a stop closest to the Eiffel Tower, the Bir Hakeim station. You’ll also go to this station if you want to catch the C train over to Versailles (well worth the trip!). Light green line runs between Charles De Gaulle Etoile and Nation.

3. Stations where many trains pass through = helpful.

There are certain stations you can use as guide points because many different lines pass through there. Our hotel was very near to one such station, Charles De Gaulle Etoile. The yellow, light green, blue and red lines all run through this station (closest the Arc Du Triomphe) so if you’re ever lost you can find your way to this station and can get to almost anywhere else in town. The station NATION is another one similar but at the other end of the city. Chatelet is another one that’s in the middle of the city, between those 2.

That’s probably all you need to know to get around Paris efficiently as a non French speaking Paris traveler.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Paris

We eat Indian in every country we visit.

We love it.

That being the case, I consider myself a connoisseur.

I have a hyper sensitivity to the combination of spice and flavor in my curry, an obsession with the tenderness of my, in the best cases real Tandoor cooked meat, and a partiality to the perfect texture of great Naan.

Unfortunately, our experience at the New Jawad on Avenue Rapp in Paris allowed me to indulge none of these passions.

We were pleased on arriving to see the restaurant well crowded with seemingly upper class folk for a Tuesday night, and after being greeted by our friendly Parisian Indian hosts, we sat down expecting big things.

I quickly ordered my staple for first time at a new Indian restaurant. Butter Chicken, regular Naan, and a serving of Basmati.

Elysia ordered her typical Paneer, not the Palak that would be her normal choice, but another seemingly similar dish, unfortunately not privy to the meaning of the french word “pois” which may have otherwise influenced her decision.

Incredibly, our meals arrived not more than 5 minutes after placing our order!

As excited as this makes an empty hungry stomach, a fast meal must always be met with appropriate suspicion, as in this case, turned out to be well founded.

Our curiosity over the word “pois” was quelled when Elysia got handed her curry, 90% of which was peas, splattered with what we are fairly certain was Philadelphia cream cheese; a distant leap from the delicious home made cottage variety regularly associated with the word Paneer.

My Butter Chicken on the other hand was visually delicious. It took it hitting the taste buds to realize that it had not spice or flavor, and the chicken was as dry as you’d expect a chicken to be that had been sitting out waiting for someone to order it. Amazingly the sauce was so boring that it even ruined my favorite part of the meal, dipping the Naan in my curry to top things off.
In fairness, despite having to be enjoyed sauceless, The New Jawad’s Naan was of decent quality.

To top it off it was, being Paris, the most expensive Indian we’ve ever had too, making the cut that little bit deeper.

Like I said to Elysia as we left, serving me bad Indian I take as a personal slap in the face. We left unfulfilled and… I’ll be honest, borderline angry.

If you’re in the area and you’re considering it, we say give the New Jawad a miss.

Technorati Tags: Paris