Sights of Paris. Descriptions & Excursions.

Paris is the capital and the most visited city of France.

Here we start our half-day & day trips to Castles, Palaces and Provinces: Normandy, Champagne, Loire Castles, Mont Saint Michel, Versailles, Fontainebleau ...both for Small-groups and as Private Experiences.

We start as well in Paris our Multi-day small-group trips to the Provinces of France : "Paris - Champagne - Burgundy - Alsace",  "Paris - Normandy - Brittany" and others.

In Paris each street or boulevard has its own story; monuments and museums are known almost all over the world. The carefully preserved architecture of Paris contrasts with the innovative structures that emerge from time to time in the heart of the historic center. It is a city that is not afraid of change, a city that is the patron saint of beauty, art and fashion.

The heart of Paris and the place of its foundation is Île de la Cité (the island of Cite) on the Seine, where, in the time of Caesar, the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Parisians, Lutetia, was founded. The most famous building on the island, associated with numerous historical events, is the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral), built in the XII-XIV centuries. One of the greatest Gothic structures has a high central spire (82 m), which is hidden behind two square towers.

The western tip of the Island of Cité is almost entirely occupied by the Palais de Justice complex, a huge Gothic structure where the first 12 kings of the Capetian dynasty lived. Part of the palace is the Conciergerie, a former prison where Marie Antoinette spent her last days. Adjacent to the Conciergerie is the Saint-Chapelle, a resplendent Gothic gem built in 1248.

On the right bank of the Seine, the Louvre Museum is located - a complex of buildings of one of the largest art museums in the world, where such world masterpieces as La Gioconda by Leonardo da Vinci, statues of Nika of Samothrace and Venus de Milo are kept.

The magnificent royal palace is complemented by architectural structures in the Jardin des Tuileries: the triumphal arch of the Carousel, completing one of the longest vistas in the world, bypassing the ancient Egyptian obelisk in the Place de la Concorde, through the Arc de Triomphe in Place de la Etoile to the Grand Arch (La Grande Arche de la Défense) of the new Parisian district of Défense and the Glass pyramid at the Louvre, designed by the American I. M. Pei.

In the vicinity of the Louvre, there is the Place Vendôme with the eponymous triumphal column - an example of architectural harmony of the 17th century, the Palais Royal, built by Cardinal Richelieu, and quarters of the 17th century. If you move eastward parallel to the Seine, you can get to the ultra-modern shopping center Forum des Halles, built on the site of the famous market "Belly of Paris" (Le Ventre de Paris) and the avant-garde Beaubourg palace or Pompidou Center.

It is always crowded here: a bright crowd of spectators, performances of fire eaters, artists painting on the sidewalk, mimes and musicians. The Pompidou center with its glass façade and brightly painted sloping pipes, is the site of numerous contemporary art exhibitions. The roof of the Center offers a magnificent view of the city.

Not far from the Center Georges Pompidou is Hotel de Ville (the Parisian city hall), restored to its original form after the fall of the Paris Commune (1871).

In the old part of Paris, also known as the Marais (swamp), tourists' attention is attracted by ensembles of the charming rectangular Place des Vosges with the house where V. Hugo lived and the Place de la Bastille, where once there was a gloomy prison of the Bastille with walls 11 m high, built in the XIV century. The prison was destroyed during the Great French Revolution (1789), and the July Column was erected in its place. The ensemble of the square includes the super-modern building of the New Opera (Opera de la Bastille), opened in 1989.

Another equally attractive area for tourists includes the famous Champs Elysees, stretching from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe in Place de la Etoile (or Charles de Gaulle). A stroll through the beautiful Champs-Elysees with the contemplation of shop windows leaves unforgettable memories.

Relatively not far from the Arc de Triomphe, there is a complex of buildings of the Chaillot Palace, which offers a beautiful view of the 300-meter Eiffel Tower - the symbol of Paris, built for the 1889 World Exhibition. There are observation decks and restaurants on the tower. On the other side of the tower, on the left bank of the Seine, is the Champ de Mars.

Moving further east along the Seine, one can see such gradient structures as the Les Invalides with the tomb of Napoleon, the Marie de Medici palace in the Luxembourg Gardens, where the Senate is now located, and even further, behind the famous Quartier Latin with the buildings of the University of Paris and cozy boulevards Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain, there is the Panthéon - the burial vault of prominent people of France, built in the XVIII century.

Here are buried V. Hugo, Voltaire, A. Rousseau, E. Zola and others. On the banks of the Seine, in the building of the former railway station, there is one of the most famous museums in the world - Musee d'Orsay with a colossal collection of Impressionist paintings.

On the left bank of the Seine, behind the Louvre, begins the zone of the so-called Grands Boulevards with fashionable residential and shopping districts built in the 19th century. Among the most famous architectural structures here can be called the building of the Grand Opera, around which the Madeleine Cathedral, numerous restaurants and shops, including such famous ones as Galeries Lafayette and Printemps  etc. are located. Here are the famous Parisian cabarets Moulin Rouge, Lido, Folies Bergère and others.

Further to the north is the highest Parisian hill - Montmartre, the top of which is crowned by the white-stone Sacre Coeur basilica, built in 1876. The inhabitants of Montmartre have long considered their area a separate village from the rest of the city. For the artists of Toulouse-Lautrec and Utrillo, and later for Picasso and Matisse, the poet G. Apollinaire and the pianist E. Satie, Montmartre was the embodiment of freedom; from the end of the 19th century, it gained fame as a bohemian habitat.

More information You can find at the Official website of Paris.

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